This is a photo taken in Fine Fare super market. It shows the wide variety of pesticide products available in a typical LES market. Many LES apartments have problems with roaches and people use these toxic products to kill the roaches. They are using the sprays without knowing how dangerous they are especially for young children and  pregnant women.  I think the product labels should offer more warnings to let people know how toxic it is to routinely use these sprays. Consumers have the right to know!!!!!!!!

Yesterday, the Girls Gone Green were on a mission to compare the prices of fruits, vegetables and meats at different grocery stores in the LES such as Whole Foods, Key Foods, and Fine Fare. When we examined the meats not only did we compare the price but also compare the meats price per pound and how much filler is in the meat.  It was really interesting to find out that our meat does actually says if the animal was in a coop or was able to roam freely, or whether it was fed corn or grass, we just have to read the labels. As we passed by 4th street Key Foods, we took pictures of the recycled cans and the bags the people had waiting to recycled. An elderly lady freaked out and popped a bottle out at us! It was so funny and yet scary, so BEWARE! and never take pictures of people recycling their cans..it can get dangerous

On the bright side, we found a peach shaped like a heart; here i am with it:

This week the Girls Gone Green did some research on the cheap and unhealthy foods and expensive and healthy foods in the LES.  We realized that the cheaper stores have organized their products badly and expensive stores like Whole Foods have organized theirs much neater. We also realized how cheap and unhealthy foods are every where and how hard it is to find healthy foods. For example, in my neighborhood in Brooklyn I have not seen any healthy food stores like a farmers’ market or a Whole Foods. This week we took more pictures of the unhealthy cheap eats than healthy foods because it was harder to find them.

These photos are an example of cheap and unhealthy foods and the way they are displayed in the deli.

But this photo is an example of how products are displayed in whole Food. It’s neat and artistic.

On July 21st the Girls Gone Green were on a mission to explore the neighborhood around Con-Edison. By doing so, we’d be able to see how communities were affected by industries surrounding them. As we approached Con-Edison, the first thing we noticed was all the smoke coming out of the factory.Worst part, ALL the smoke was heading in the direction of apartment buildings. While we stood taking pictures, we discussed a bit and the question of “can imagine what its like for all these buildings around Con-Ed, with all that smoke?”

It’s amazing to see that a building (Con-Edison) that gives most of Manhattan its electricity, which is considered a great thing to New York’s, is also negatively  impacting the community.

All that smoke and chemicals being released into the air can worsen kids asthma or health conditions of others. We came up with the idea that maybe the city should use solar power or other alternatives instead of releasing pollution into the air.

This walk to Con-Edison helped us became aware of all the pollution our city faces daily.

This is a photo taken in a Lower East Side supermarket. The girls in the Girls Gone Green program at the Lower East Side Girls Club went to the super market to see how many toxic cleaning products the store had a how many environmentally friendly products they had. These cleaning products are volatile organic compounds, which are liquid solvents that evaporate rapidly in at room temperature. When people clean their houses with these products they breathe in the toxic chemicals in them. As you can see in the picture the supermarket has more toxic cleaning products than non toxic.

On July 14 we when out to interview people at fast food places. We were asking them why were they eating there, do they go there often, what they order, and how much did they spend.This interview was in front of Pinkberry. These nice ladies on the left we nice enough to let us interview them and take pictures. This was their first time eating at Pinkberry. They were saying because of the recession and because Pinkberry is not so affordable they’re not able to go everyday.

The Girls Gone Green visited  Exit Art Gallery for the show CONSUME: an investigation of the world’s systems of food production, distribution, consumption and waste. The girls are jumping for the joy of the spaciousness of the gallery and not at the disturbing content in the show.

The Lower East Side Girls Club went to the Essex Street Market. Then, we took pictures & then went to a gallery called “Cuchifritos”. It had this amazing art & the art work seemed so thought about & took time to make. Even though there was noise from the store next door & they were ruining our interview with Felicity Hogan. I just loved the art work that looked like the artists put their heart into it. I would totally recommend it to my family & my adult friends.

Xoxo

Pnyessa

With the girls club, we went to this art place located on second street. It is called Kenkeleba & it has specialized in African-American work. There was beautiful work that the had worked on & I liked what I saw. The art amazed me & I was glad that I had went. The woman that told us each piece, Corrine Jennings, is the gallery owner & curator. She was also the curator of Abstraction Plus Abstraction that was located right across the street. She said her husband had done one art work, but I loved it all. There was one painting that was my favorite, but I did not get a photo of it. I would totally recommend it to you.

Love,

Pnyessa

This is the first photo which caught my eye. It had a certain effect on me when I saw it and with the back round and the outline of people I found it very interesting. The back round was something like a desk with notebooks, pencil and some kind of fabric placed in the upper left corner. The outline of the two women holding each other was also eye catching. The photo just attracted me to it.