Ones to Watch: Ben Jervey

Writer and environmental activist Ben Jervey grew up in a small Massachussets town of 2,000 people, and attended college at Middlebury - whose town was barely larger in size.  And yet, in 2002, he found himself wanting to live in either of two very populous cities: Portland or New York City. He had just returned from a post-graduate trip to Curitiba, Brazil, considered by many to be the ecological capital of the world. There, he had seen firsthand how a city could solve a majority of its problems in a sustainable fashion, without disrupting its ecological balance or compromising its natural resources. "It's an incredible place," says Jervey, 29.  "They understand that sustainability ultimately crosses a lot of fields and boundaries: education affects environment affects health affects business. It's all tied together."

When deciding between Portland and New York, Jervey wanted the city that would benefit more from sustainability. "New York was the biggest city in the country and really was like this huge disorganized, chaotic beast," says Jervey. "It seemed there was a lot potential." He moved to New York and found himself pleasantly surprised on how mistaken he was. "Here I was, showing up from Vermont thinking I was the only green-minded guy coming to NY," says Jervey, who currently lives in Brooklyn. "There are all of these incredible organizations around, whether it's in food, whether it's in renewable energy or in waste or in green building, and all these things are in place or are starting."

His findings would eventually lead him to write The Big Green Apple, a guidebook that highlighted New York City's many eco-friendly services while demonstrating how the average New Yorker could be "green." His tips included where to buy eco-friendly shoes and how a five minute call to ConEdison Solutions could help the average New Yorker switch their whole electric load to wind energy. But upon the release of The Big Green Apple, he found that the sustainability scene had grown considerably from when he first started writing the book. For one, his book's directories had many listings that had become out of date. "It's enormously frustrating that that's the pace of the print publishing world," says Jervey.

Jervey would eventually rely on the speed and access of new media to push his message of sustainability. He started a "Big Green Apple" blog that focused on environmental policies and activities throughout New York. "When they talk about bringing solar (panels) on the rooftops all over New York City, or putting wind turbines in Fresh Kills in Staten Island, there are some real technical issues that need to be figured out, and it's stuff like that that could serve as a good demo to the rest of the world." The "Big Green Apple" was recently relaunched as "SustaiNYC", while he recently started writing "The New Ideal," a blog for GOOD Magazine. "The New Ideal" will feature his thoughts on how build a clean energy economy in the 21st century.

Jervey also agreed to edit a new citizen's journalism website for the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), a grassroots environmental action group with whom he's worked for in the past. Called "Green Light," the project will be the first citizen journalism site with a specific environmental focus. Anyone wanting to report environmental issues in their local neighborhoods may now do so to a potentially national audience. "If there is a concerned mom in West Virginia who thinks these mountain top removal coal mines are polluting their groundwater and affecting her children's health," says Jervey, "this is a place where she could do a little digging, do a little reporting, and actually have her voice heard."

Despite Jervey's success in spreading the message of sustainability, he still knows that the current state of the environment needs a great deal of improvement.  "I think there's no denying that 'all things green' have gotten a lot sexier in the past four years," he says. "For all the 'green' fluff that's out there, we have not yet done a good job of actually preventing anything or working our way out of any of these crises. The national carbon emissions were higher in 2007 than they were in 2006," he says. "That's what motivates me."

Jervey remains convinced that his adoptive home of New York City is the perfect place to demonstrate green urbanity to a global audience, and that the evolving national debate on the environment isn't just limited to "farmers and horses."

"I think that cities are the front lines of our battle against climate change, our battle against resource depletion, and against proliferation of waste and pollution," says Jervey. "If we can figure out things in New York, it's a pretty good chance you could figure them out in any other city." 

In this 4-part series, writer Daniel Edward Rosen profiles creative professionals in the early phases of very promising careers.