New York City is home to 3 of the country's largest public library systems - New York Public Library, Queens Public Library and Brooklyn Public Library. Although the city's libraries serve 10s of millions of visitors a year, libraries tend to be under resourced and under appreciated. In fact, NYC libraries are currently facing drastic budget cuts which would impact millions of library patrons, young and old. In this episode, we unpack the importance of the library system to communities as well as the challenges city libraries are facing going into the next budget cycle.

We've all been taught the "Three R's" since grade school - Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Recycling has been engrained in our culture to a point that we sometimes forget about what it really means - and costs - to really make an impact. Following our episodes on Trash and Compost, we are closing out this chapter by unpacking New York City's recycling - how it works, what it's impact is, and what we could be doing better. Listen to all three episodes to get the full picture on New York City's opportunity to reduce emissions and save millions of dollars.

30% of what NYC sends to landfills is organic waste. Which means the city is paying a lot of money and adding to carbon emissions with material that could otherwise be composted. In this episode, we breakdown the benefits of composting and spend a bit more time talking about the practicality of composting - and how the city is changing its approach to make composting easier and more accessible. Composting is likely coming to your neighborhood soon, so mark the dates and get ready to save your organic material, doing your part as a New Yorker!