Cotton-industry greenwashing or earnest effort? Next week Earnest Sewn and the National Jean Company will host a fashion show in New York where the donation of an old pair of jeans is required for admittance: "Donated jeans will go to the ‘Cotton. From green to blue’ project run by Cotton Inc., which is an environmentally aware initiative where denim is recycled into ‘UltraTouch’ natural cotton fibre insulation and is donated for rebuilding houses in the hurricane-affected Gulf Coast region." [ecotextile.com]

The new Yankees and Mets stadiums will not follow the lead of Fenway Park, which installed "BigBelly" trash compactors to replace regular trash bins. The manufacturers of the bins claim that because the receptacles compact the trash, the number of pickups required is reduced (and as we know, it's as much the diesel fuel expended in New York's waste-management system as the solid waste itself that creates environmental issues). [nydailynews.com]

The Columbia Spectator finds evidence that cash-strapped students pay premiums to purchase local and organic produce. [columbiaspectator.com]

A jury at the New York Auto Show voted the BMW 118d the "Green Car of the Year." It gets 62.8 miles per gallon with CO2 emissions of 119g/km. [wicklowpeople.com]

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell has called on the New York City D.E.P. to release water from its Catskill reservoirs; Delaware Valley residents have long contended that New York's lack of reservoir void space contributes to flooding in the Delaware Valley. [recordonline.com]

New York Sun columnist Alicia Colon, a frequent antagonist of the Green movement, doesn't like congestion pricing. Also: "Is there really such a thing as a carbon footprint? Is it anywhere near Area 51? Want to buy a bridge?" [nysun.com]

• Apple has filed an official objection to New York City's attempt to trademark a new logo, in the shape of an apple, for its GREENYC campaign. An early placement of the apple logo on reusable shopping bags, produced in conjunction with Whole Foods, is causing mass confusion, the Cupertino, Calif. company argues. [wired.com]
• New York is joining that multi-state suit against the Environmental Protection Agency over air pollutants. [WPTZ-Burlington]
• The Emerald Ash Borers are coming! The Emerald Ash Borers are coming! [13wham.com]
• The Times' Peter Applebome takes up the Broadwater project in today's column. [nytimes.com]
• AP's Jacob Caruso looks at the big-city garbage problem Steve Cohen addressed earlier today on his blog. [AP via Jackson Hole Star Tribune]

"The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's approval of a floating, $700 million liquefied natural gas terminal raises the stakes for New York and Connecticut residents who see this project for what it is: a short-sighted grab at the region's energy market at the expense of public safety, the environment and the enjoyment of Long Island Sound." [courant.com editorial]

Automobile bloggers weigh in on the "greenness" of the just-finished New York Auto Show. [dvice.com]

The City Council will consider congestion pricing today. [wcbstv.com]

The Daily News brings our attention to another reason congestion pricing may be a good idea: "Researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health have just shown that high levels of traffic-related air pollution in cities like New York may be harming kids' brains and lowering their intelligence in much the same way cigarette smoke and lead paint do." [nydailynews.com]

While environmental protections have limited the use of coal-burning power plants in the United States, there's nothing to say that other countries can't use coal for power, which is why the U.S., due to a reorganization of the coal industry, will become the world's chief exporter of its only abundant fuel source. [ibtimes.com]

Democracy Now! interviews Dr. James Hansen on his new book, Censoring Science. democracynow.org]

Last night, the E.P.A. announced "a modest tightening" of its smog standard, despite the unanimous call of the agency's scientists to adopt a more protective standard. [The New York Times]

But fourteen New York counties don't even meet the slack standard set last night. [News10Now (Central New York)]

Lobbying by labor and environmental groups on Democratic campaigns is seen as one reason President Bush will have a hard time passing a free trade agreement with Colombia. [The New York Times]

When big tech companies go green, make sure you read the list of the ingredients they are using to make their products before you get too excited. It's the subcontractors, silly! [PC Magazine]

Discovery Network will launch Planet Green with advertiser tie-ins including Home Depot, S.C. Johnson Waste Management and General Motors. So the big guys want to market green ... but what does that mean? [Media Daily News]

"A task force appointed by Gov. M. Jodi Rell to evaluate a liquefied natural gas terminal proposal for Long Island Sound is critical of federal regulators backing the project." [Danbury News-Times / AP]

An orchard grows in a Brooklyn backyard. [The New York Times]

How architecture can encourage—or discourage—physical fitness: Meet Bruce Fowle, the man behind those fantastic stairs at the new Times building on Eighth Avenue. [Metropolismag.com]

Sign that speaks of the World Trade Center in the present tense to be removed. [NY Times]

Owner of Brooklyn home linked to Underground Railroad may lose it to foreclosure. [NY Post]

Sarkozy's ex checks out Plaza condos. [NY Post]

City offers plan for Manhattan, Queens small-business owners to offer health insurance. [Daily News]

Part of Nelson Rockefeller's Fifth Avenue triplex on market for $27.5 M. [WSJ]

New Yorkers are going to have to go all the way to Flushing to get their fake Gucci fix from now on. The NYPD raided what it called a "counterfeit triangle" in Chinatown today, shuttering 32 illegal vendors and seizing $1 million worth of counterfeit goods. [City Room]

The head of Goldman Sach's Corporate Real Estate Strategy division bought a $5.1 million condo at 704 Broadway today. [TRD]

The Department of Housing Preservation detailed the final two bids under consideration to develop the public space along the polluted Gowanus Canal last night. Related and Hudson Companies submitted similar proposals, though the latter includes more retail and community space. [Gowanus Lounge]

Esca, Le Bernadin, and Gramercy Tavern are a few of the restaurants that will charge customers $1 for tap water from March 16-22 as part of UNICEF's Tap project to provide clean drinking water in Third World countries. [Grub Street]

McDonald's is among the chain restaurants in Manhattan evoking the First Amendment to challenge a law requiring them to post calorie information on their menu boards. [NPR via Griddskipper]

The MTA is planning to study the possibility of connecting the G subway line to the larger Brooklyn network. [The Brooklyn Paper]

UBS is bracing for a downturn in 2008 after it revealed $26.6 billion worth of exposure to risky US mortgages. [NY Times]

Designer William Harvey bought a garage in the center of Williamsburg and transformed it into a "Scando-Monican Brutalist artist studio and apartment." [NY Times]

Gimme Shelter: Hedge-fund couple pays well above the $53 million sales record for Bob Guccione's on-the-market/off-the-market Upper East Side townhouse. [NY Post]

Morgan Stanley shuts its UK mortgage business and cuts 1,000 jobs at its US mortgage branch. [Crain's]

Will the Port Authority pitch in funds for Penn Station's redevelopment? [NY Sun]

The GM building sale behind the numbers. [NY Sun]

A safety director has been hired to oversee all the construction projects at Ground Zero. [NY Post]

Council speaker Christine Quinn vowed to continue campaigning for a tax rebate for renters. [NY Post]

Lawmakers and the New York Racing Association have hammered out an agreement to keep New York's race tracks operational. [NY Post]

Atlas Capital will flip Fifth Avenue office condo in a $150 million sale. [NY Post]

Mayor Bloomberg's plan to transform the polluted industrial area of Willets Point, Queens into a $3 billion commercial complex is sent back to drawing board by community groups. [NYDN]

Ben Ashkenazy bought 650 Madison Avenue for less than $1,200 per-square-foot, well below the peak commercial property price hit last summer. [Real Estate Weekly]

Landmarks Preservation Committee gives two Queens buildings landmark status--one for the third time. [NY Sun]

Governor Spitzer promised that the construction of Moynihan Station will not suffer the same fate as the Jacob Javits Center. [NY Sun]

Vornado chairman Steve Roth in a classic fight with Harry Macklowe. [NY Sun]

Public and private hospitals across the five boroughs are spending millions to bring order to New York's chaotic emergency rooms. [NY Times]

Credit Suisse cut full-year subprime writedowns to $1.82 billion, but profits fell more than expected. [NY Times]

The developer of the "heavy-metal" condo complex in Carroll Gardens axed architect Robert Scarano yesterday, in an apparent concession to disgruntled residents. [NY Post]

CUNY puts Hunter College's Brookdale campus on the market. The "hush, hush" sale is expected to fetch $250 million. [NY Post]

Bank of America, Citigroup, and four other US lenders will announce a 30-day freeze on foreclosures to allow a portion of subprime and prime mortgages to be modified. [Bloomberg]

The Historic Preservation office has thrown a last-minute spanner in the long-awaited plan to demolish the congested Kosciuszko Bridge in Queens. [NYDN]

The state is at least $1 billion behind in funding the $3 billion construction of Moynihan Station. [NY Sun]

The Yellow Rat Bastard clothing chain agreed to pay over 1,000 current and former employees $1.4 million in unpaid wages and overtime to settle a lawsuit, the Attorney General's office announced. [NY Sun]

Habitats: From the "open air mall" of the East Village to the more "down to earth" neighborhood of Forte Greene. [NY Times]

Living In: Residents engage in "a battle for the soul of the East Village." [NY Times]

A six-story luxury condominium may be of the first of its kind in Inwood, soon to be known as "NoMa" if brokers' branding effort pays off. [NY Times]

The price of being an international city? About $4.5 million in foregone property taxes. [NY Times]

Luxury apartment sales pushed average price of a condo up 21 percent last month to nearly $2 million. [NY Times]

Vendors at the Caribbean market on the outskirts of Williamsburg fight against an impending eviction. [NY Times]

Artful (and sometimes artless) toll dodgers cost the city $13 million per year. [NY Times]

After just 21 years, the Jacob Javits Center is a $1 billion mess. [NY Post]

Yankees and Mets tickets hit their highest prices in years to cover costs of both teams' new stadium construction projects. [NY Post]

Nearly 20 law firms have set up supprime practices in the past four months. [Crain's]

City and state governments are bracing for a steep drop off in real estate tax revenues according to the latest budget projections. [NY Sun]

Corporations expected to pay record amounts for naming rights at new sports stadiums. [NY Sun]