NY Climate Tech: August 22 - August 29
10-years after Sandy, a rooftop climate party, and a hot take on our parched waterways
Hi all,
This week starts off with the Women and Climate dinner tonight (sold out, but sign up at their website to find out about the next one!). Tomorrow, check out a walk along Hudson River park with filmmaker and academic Micaela Suminski, for a discussion on Hurricane Sandy’s impacts on the city 10 years on and how spaces like the Hudson River Park can play a role in alleviating future disasters. Finally, close out the week with a party for the climate community hosted by Marketplace of the Future at the Selina Rooftop in Chelsea.
NY Climate Tech will be off next week and returning after Labor Day.
Hot Take: Dry Take
I don’t know about you, but my #climatetwitter feed has been dominated this week with some grim photos: The Chongqing River in China, The Loire River in France, The Colorado River in the US, and the list goes on. The before and after images are striking.
In the city of Chongqing, China, the water level dropped to reveal previously submerged Buddhist statues thought to be about 600 years old.
Here at home, 21 counties across New York are on a drought watch by the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation - unfortunately this fate will likely become the norm as the world heats up. Public water utilities are conserving water supplies and urging people to reduce water use for everything from morning showers to industrial processes.
Across New York State, over 9 billion gallons of water are withdrawn EVERY DAY from the lakes, rivers, streams, estuaries, and groundwaters, primarily in upstate New York (fun fact: NYC’s water comes from a giant network of 19 reservoirs and 3 controlled lakes as far away as the Catskills). We use this water for all sorts of things: thermoelectric power generation, agriculture, industrial factories, aquaculture, drinking water, and even to keep the greens on the golf courses, well, green.
Total water usage in New York State by category. Chart from NY Department of Environmental Conservation.
The fact of the matter is that most of us take water for granted; the reality on the ground proves otherwise. We must grapple with the consequences of climate change and shift our consumption patterns - thereby reducing the use of this precious resource. Lower water use is beneficial for all - from reducing our energy footprint to our greenhouse gas emissions, and keeping our water bills affordable in an increasingly unaffordable city.
So, what can you do? On an individual level: Take shorter showers (a 10 minute shower uses about 9 gallons of water), buy fewer things (1800 gallons of water goes into the production of a single pair of jeans), and do full loads of laundry in an energy efficient washer (EPA certified washers can save you up to 7,000 gallons of water every year. Want to learn more interesting water facts to drop at the next cocktail party, check out a full list from ThinkH2O here!
The good news is that there are several new climate tech solutions hitting the market to help us manage our water resources. Cambrian Innovation from Boston uses bioelectric processes to treat wastewater and simultaneously generate biogas energy, and each reactor can handle about 20,000 gallons daily. TaKaDu from Yehud, Israel offers monitoring and analytics as a cloud service, and has prevented 1 billion liters of water loss across the Unitywater utility system in Australia. Desalination pioneer WaterFX from San Francisco uses solar panels to remove the salt from drainage water from farms in California’s Central Valley, producing 8 gallons per minute of pure water from the saline discharge.
WaterFX has debuted its Aqua4 Concentrated Solar Still, which can produce 65,000 gallons of freshwater a day just by using solar energy.
Our friends at Imagine H2O are on the case! The organization runs annual competitions to support early stage companies applying new technologies to the water problem - everything from precision agriculture to wastewater processing. So far, more than 250 startups have participated!
Over 1.8 billion people live in regions that face absolute water scarcity - and unfortunately this number will continue to grow. There’s significant room for new climate tech companies to provide solutions across the board to better manage this resource. Reach out to us and share your ideas – we’ll include them in upcoming newsletters. Every drop counts!
– Sonam Velani
This Week
🙋♀️ Women & Climate NYC Networking Dinner (Sold Out): Tue, August 23
🚶♂️Park Tours: Climate Justice: Wed, August 24
For the Early Birds
🌊 Climate Lab: Sarah Cameron Sunde and 36.5, Sept 6
🧬 For Climate Tech Summit and Global Innovation Challenge, Sept 13-15
🎸 Big Climate Thing: Sept 16 - Sun, Sept 18
🗽 Climate Week NYC, Sept 19-25
👩🏻🔬 Women and Climate Celebration, Sept 20
🦋 The Nest Summit, Sept 21-22
🙋♀️ Women & Climate NYC Networking Dinner for August (Sold Out)
When: Tue, August 23, 6:30 PM – 8:30 PM EDT
Where: Jajaja Mexicana, 63 Carmine Street, New York, NY 10014
Make new friends, enjoy vegan dining, and chat climate. No climate experience necessary!
If you are looking for an opportunity to talk climate with individuals identifying as women, you are in the right place! No climate experience necessary. For alerts on future events and access to our free Slack Community, head over to our main site here!
🚶♂️Park Tours: Climate Justice
When: Wed, August 24, 6:30 PM - 7:30 PM EDT
Where: Hudson River Park's Pier 26, Pier 26, New York, NY 10013
Join filmmaker and critical disaster studies researcher, Micaela Suminski, in a walking tour exploring the immediate and far-reaching impacts of Superstorm Sandy on local communities.
“There’s no such thing as a natural disaster,” wrote the late geographer Neil Smith. Starting at Hudson River Park’s Pier 26, we’ll discuss how and why Smith’s statement rings true especially in New York City. As we wind our way along the Park’s waterfront to the Pier 40 Wetlab, we’ll discuss Hurricane Sandy’s impacts on the city and its inhabitants, both human and wildlife, and learn about innovative recovery efforts. Additionally, we’ll consider how spaces like the Hudson River Park can play a role in alleviating future disasters.
👩🎤 Future Meets Party: Episode 1
When: Fri, Aug 26, 7:30pm – 11:30pm
Where: Selina Rooftop, 518 W 27th St
Imagine a future in which the rainforests are full, the oceans & skies are clean, and humans everywhere are keeping it moving. When you look closely, you’ll see that future is shining through to this present moment, just like the gleam of a disco ball.
This is a night of friends, family, climate comrades. A time to connect, vibe, dance, and build momentum towards Climate Week NYC in September - the largest Climate Week on Earth. Wear white, blue, or green and expect some delicious house, hiphop, 90s RnB, house, afrobeats, house, and... house.
Join the Fun!
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We know all of you are cooking up great events across New York that highlight the latest and greatest in our collective effort to save our city - and our planet! 🌍 We would love to spread the word. Please share any event details and we'll add them to the list.
Volunteer
We're excited to grow the Climate Tech community in cities across the globe - starting right here in our hometown of New York! 🗽 What started as an 8-person mid-pandemic outdoor dinner has since morphed into a 1,500+ strong and ever-growing group of rockstars trying to change the world. We're looking for volunteers to help us expand our programming into a full roster of community-wide meetups, subject-specific events, mentorship programs, site visits, and more. We aim to be a community resource - built for and by our community. Share your thoughts and we look forward to working with you!