NY Climate Tech: June 6-13
NY Climate Tech: June 6-13
Under the cobblestones, the beach! Ocean week, pools and climate equity, a conference on cellular agriculture, and so much more
Hi all,
There’s no shortage of climate news making the rounds in our inboxes every day. Starting this week, we’re going to highlight one news story right in our backyards at the intersection of climate and the city.
In This Newsletter
Events Roundup
Hot Take: Pools, Parks, and Climate Equity
Join the Fun! Submit Events & Volunteer with NYCT
Event Listings
🗽 Don’t forget about our June Meetups! 🗽
Next week we’re hosting our first subject-specific meetup, focusing on climate policy: Working with Governments to Deploy Climate Solutions, with an incredible lineup from NYSERDA, NYC, and Cornell.
The next NY Climate Tech meetup will be at Madison Square Park on June 23. RSVP here!
Events Roundup
This week starts on Wednesday with World Oceans Day at the UN, featuring government officials, NGOs, entrepreneurs, and activists. It ends at 1:30 PM, leaving you enough time to get back to terra firma and head downtown to meet 10 Belgian startups working on sustainable buildings. Stick around FiDi for a discussion group on Effective Environmentalism or head over to Brooklyn for the DER Taskforce meetup (and if you’re interested in renewable energy, join their Slack!).
On Thursday, visit Columbia Teacher’s College (or forward the event to your educator friends) for a morning of workshops on K-12 sustainability education, or stay home and zoom into two webinars: one on NY’s Climate Mobilization Act, and the other on electrifying Brooklyn. Or if you’re more on the food and biotech side, check out the New Harvest conference at Newlab, on the latest breakthroughs in cellular agriculture.
Finally, take Saturday to learn from Trees for the Future, an event in which native trees will be distributed for free in NYC. Or head to Coney Island for a beach cleanup followed by an all-night oceans and sustainability themed party back at Prospect Park!
Hot Take: Pools, Parks, and Climate Equity
Treasured public spaces across the five boroughs. Photographs by Stephanie Mei-Ling for The New York Times.
Many of us likely hit the beach, relaxed in the city’s beautiful parks, or cooled down in the libraries this weekend. Despite living in a ‘concrete jungle,’ we’re blessed with public spaces that give us respite from rising temperatures. But these city treasures are not spread equally, and the results can be life-threatening.
In the 1930s, New York built grand public pools - symbols of civic pride that gave the city’s new immigrants a chance to stay cool. But these masterpieces have not kept up with the growing demand. In this excellent NYTimes deep dive, we learn that New York has less than 1 pool per 100,000 residents, far lower than comparable cities globally. Black and Latino children trail in access to swimming lessons and drown at higher rates. In fact, many of the city’s pools remain segregated, and facilities in low-income areas are often closed due to lack of staff. Speaking from personal experience, I grew up in a neighborhood where it took us an hour on the public bus to get to our “local” pool; I’m now a proud student taking adult swim lessons at the YMCA! These stories are in plain site across our communities, and we must utilize our resources to address these inequities head on.
The same is true for other public spaces - with libraries providing critical services such as internet or workforce training, but with stark differences in facilities in wealthy vs. poorer neighborhoods. Tree cover, which can reduce surface temperatures by 20 degrees on a hot summer day, can differ highly even by a few blocks. For example, vegetation covers 63% of wealthy Riverdale; a few neighborhoods to the south in low-income Mott Haven, only 18% of streets are green. Heat kills about 350 of our fellow New Yorkers every year, and black residents are twice as likely to die from heat as white residents according to city data.
Surface Temperature and Green Spaces across NYC. Data from Leaflet, OpenStreetMap, and CARTO.
A slew of new climate solutions are helping cities like New York understand these stark differences, and utilize data to make investments in the communities that need it most. Aclima maps and analyzes air pollution on a block-by-block basis, recently launching its service in Brooklyn. Gramener and Evergreen are working together to utilize geospatial analytics, artificial intelligence, and data visualization tools to examine urban heat islands across cities. Microsoft and the Sustainable Environment and Ecological Development Society, are developing an AI model to predict heat wave risks, thereby helping governments allocate limited disaster response resources.
So next weekend as you aim to cool down, think about what tools and resources can help policymakers, advocates, and our fellow neighbors achieve equity in an ever-warming world.
By Sonam Velani
Join the Fun!
Submit Events
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 650+ 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!
Events This Week:
🇺🇳 United Nations World Oceans Day
When: Wed, June 8, 10:00 AM – 1:30 PM EDT
Where: United Nations Headquarters, 760 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
This year's United Nations World Oceans Day (UN WOD) celebration will be taking place on Wednesday 8 June 2022 around the theme Revitalization: Collective Action for the Ocean .
United Nations World Oceans Day is hosted by the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and the Law of the Sea, Office of Legal Affairs (DOALOS) with the generous contribution of Oceanic Global, made possible by La Mer.
🏢 Sustainable Real Estate: Shaping Our Future
When: Wed, June 8, 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM EDT
Where: Building Energy Exchange, Surrogate's Courthouse, 31 Chambers Street, Suite 608, New York, NY 10007
Brussels is considered a pioneer in sustainable construction, with Passive House standards becoming mandatory in 2015 for all new buildings. For more than a decade now, the Brussels construction sector has been able to respond brilliantly to the self-imposed ambitious standards, which became an inspiration for New York to follow. In New York, the equally ambitious Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act requires New York to reduce economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions 40% by 2030 and 85% by 2050 from 1990 levels.
Hear from 10 leading Belgian companies in this sustainable buildings space as they share their experience on how they’ve transformed the built environment in Brussels and which lessons can be applied to the New York City landscape.
This conference will be followed by a networking session. Refreshments will be provided.
💬 Effective Environmentalism NYC Discussion Group
When: Wed, June 8, 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM EDT
Where: Winter Garden Atrium, Brookfield Place, 230 Vesey St, Manhattan, New York
Effective Environmentalism NYC is hosting an in-person discussion group: ‘Effective Climate Mitigation Basics’. Here is the curated list of recommended readings (90 min) to read before the discussion. Note that the event is open to people with any experience level with environmentalism/climate. All are welcome!
⚡️DER Taskforce Happy Hour
When: Wed, June 8, 6:30 PM - 8:30 PM EDT
Where: Urban Energy, 116 Ainslie Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Hey DER TF! Join us at Urban Energy's office for our monthly hang on the second Wednesday of each month. There's isn't a reoccurring agenda, but we may have guests or topics to discuss for a particular events.
📚 Climate Education on Chancellor's Day
When: Thu, June 9, 8:30 AM – 11:30 AM EDT
Where: Teachers College, Columbia University, 525 West 120th Street, New York, NY 10027
Join the Office of Sustainability for our first in-person event in over two years! Workshops are facilitated by the DOE's Climate Education Leadership Team. 3 CTLE credits are available for this training!
Workshop 1: En-ROADS Tutorial for Climate Modeling (Grades 8-12 Educators Only)
Workshop 2: Place-Based Education: Bring Climate Education to Your School (All Grades)
Workshop 3: How to Host a Climate Teach-in At Your School (All Grades)
Workshop 4: IPCC and Me: Make High-level Climate Info Accessible to Your Classroom (All Grades)
🏘 Climate Mobilization Act Primer
When: Thu, June 9, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM EDT
Where: Virtual, Zoom
Get informed on New York City climate legislation and its impact on buildings. Register now for the Climate Mobilization Act Primer, a one-hour seminar examining the basic principles of the Climate Mobilization Act. The Primer is designed for property owners, managers, developers, and other key stakeholders interested in gaining a foundational understanding of the Act and for those seeking direction as they navigate these new regulations.
⚡️ Electrify Brooklyn - Virtual Transportation Town Hall
When: Thu, June 9, 6:00 PM – 7:30 PM EDT
Where: Virtual, Zoom
Learn about green energy initiatives on the city & state level and an exciting new transportation option that can be coming to Brooklyn soon
Do you want clean transportation that reduces local air pollution, helps to overcome transportation challenges, and improves public safety?
Join the conversation!
🌾 New Harvest 2022
When: Thu, June 9 and Fri, June 10, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM EDT
Where: Newlab, 19 Morris Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11205
New Harvest 2022 is our fifth annual cellular agriculture conference.
For two days, researchers, students, companies, investors, and policymakers will convene to chart a path forward for cultured meat and other cell ag products.
We will discuss the latest scientific breakthroughs, regulatory challenges, and industry developments in cellular agriculture—the growing of animal products like meat, milk, and eggs from cells instead of animals.
Please check our conference website for more information about our theme, speakers, exhibitors, and event schedule.
🌱 World Sensorium Conservancy | Lewis Ziska on Climate Change & Plant Biology
When: Sat, June 11, 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM EDT
Where: Olfactory Art Keller at 25 Henry Street, New York, NY
This talk is a part of the programing for Trees for the Future, a World Sensorium Conservancy (WSC) event in which native trees will be distributed for free in NYC.
Lewis Ziska, PhD, is a Plant Physiologist at Columbia University who works at the nexus of climate change, carbon dioxide, plant biology, and public health.
Seats are first come, first served. Additional standing room provided.
Visit WORLDSENSORIUM.COM to learn about World Sensorium Conservancy (WSC) and the upcoming event, Trees for the Future. WSC will be distributing free native trees in the gallery. Reserve your tree online starting on Earth Day, April 22nd, then pick up your tree in person at the gallery on June 10th and 11th.
🏖 Beach Clean-up, Yoga and bike ride for the oceans
When: Sat, June 11, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM EDT
Where: New York Aquarium, 602 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11224
You are invited to the Beach clean-up, Yoga and picnic lunch at Coney Island on Saturday, June 11! Help us preserve the ocean and our beautiful coastline by keeping it clean with our community clean-up. This year we are also encouraging everyone to bike to the beach if you can to keep up our wellness and environmental sustainability for this beach activity. We will have two groups cycling if you would like to join us.
🌊 World Ocean Festival
When: Sat, June 11, 4:00 PM – 10:00 PM EDT
Where: Gaia NoMaya, 510 Flatbush Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11225
We are thrilled to bring together so many amazing non-profits, creative communities, musicians, artists, healers, and Brooklyns diverse and multi-dimensional culture for a great cause to support ocean education for the youth.
Funds from the event will be donated towards supporting underserved communities of youth to participate in educational programs through the "Youth for the SDG's" Scholarship, focusing on the UN sustainable Development Goals.