New York
Stay
Over the next few years, two new eco hotels are set to open in the Big Apple: an outpost of Starwood’s 1 Hotels and another courtesy of Greenhouse 26, the city’s first green boutique hotel. In the meantime, a good alternative is the Hilton New York (1335 Avenue of the Americas, hilton.com ). As well as subscribing to the group’s standard sustainability policy, the hotel has also installed an energy-efficient fuel cell power system to provide energy and hot water. Doubles from £168 (room only).
Eat
From all-natural, all-organic cupcakes at Babycakes (248 Broome Street, babycakesnyc.com) to organic wines and cocktails at Counter (105 First Avenue, counternyc.com ), New York has ethical eating covered. One of the latest arrivals is Gusto Organics (519 Avenue of the Americas, gustorganics.com ), the first USDA-certified organic restaurant in New York. A stylish but laid-back spot, it specialises in pizzas, but also serves homemade meatballs, steak, pasta dishes and gourmet organic baby meals.
Shop
AuH2O (84 East 7th Street, auh2odesigns.com ) is an East Village boutique that specialises in green and socially conscious fashion. Its clothes and accessories are recycled, redesigned and reconstructed on site and, if something doesn’t quite fit, they’ll customise it on the spot free of charge. Also worth checking out are Gominyc (443 East 6th Street, gominyc.com ) for ethical clothing, gifts and jewellery, and Q Collection (915 Broadway, qcollection.com ) for grown-up homewares that are non-toxic, biodegradable or otherwise green. For other environmentally minded retailers, log on to Greenopia’s NYC directory ( greenopia.com/NY ).
Must do
The new 1½ mile-long High Line Park ( thehighline.org ), situated on Manhattan’s West Side, is the ultimate low-carbon way to see the city’s sights. Or go on an urban kayak tour for views of the New York skyline from the water. The Manhattan Kayak Company ( manhattankayak.com ) runs over 30 city tours, including 1½-hour sunset trips (£37 per person). For guilt-free pampering, book a ‘river rock’ facial at Great Jones Spa (29 Great Jones Street, gjspa.com ). One of the best day spas in the city, it uses organic products, has a non-chlorinated Jacuzzi and an organic juice bar and café.
Getting around
New York recently unveiled PlaNYC 2030, a regional transport strategy that includes several potential green initiatives, such as improved rail services, expanded bus services, the promotion of cycling and the piloting of congestion charging. In addition to the city’s current public transport network (to plan a journey, see tripplanner.mta.info ), plans to make the city’s taxi fleets more fuel-efficient are well underway, while companies such as OZOcar ( ozocar.com ) offer hybrid limo services.
