The Red Horse Café at 497 6th Avenue in Park Slope, Red Horse Café will celebrate the
planet by not serving beverages in disposable paper or plastic on Earth Day.

And there's more: On Earth Day (April 1  22 ), Red Horse Café will debut a new line of stainless steel and
ceramic mugs with the café’s rocking horse logo. Guests of the café are
also encouraged to bring their own mug to the café. Guests of the busy
neighborhood café are enthusiastically supporting the growing efforts
to become more green.

In addition to recycling, composting and reducing energy
consumption, “No Paper Cup Day” is the latest effort from the
husband-and-wife owners at Red Horse Café toward reducing the café’s
carbon footprint. In January 2009, the café launched an initiative
called “Bring Your Own Mug”. This initiative works similar to a coat
check, in which guests bring a mug from home and leave it at the café
on a shelf behind the bar. The guest takes a number that hooks onto
their keychain and then shows the number when they return to the café.
Thus far, “Bring Your Own Mug” has been a phenomenal success and guests
have said that they feel a sense of community by having their very own
mug at the café.

Most recently, Red Horse Cafe owner Carolina Whitson, in
collaboration with the Events and Marketing Coordinator, Carolyn
Gilles, built a solar powered horse and cart at a recent Solar 1 “I ♥
PV” event in Brooklyn. Upon testing the design and functionality among
other contestants, judges determined that the solar powered horse and
cart by the Red Horse team won a blue ribbon. The winning model is on
display at the café.

Photo by Carolyn Gilles