NY Climate Tech: March 20 - March 26, 2023
When it rains, it pours: a deluge of events for NY Water Week
Hi friends,
It’s NY Water Week and that means that in addition to everything else, there’s a flood of extra events this week. We’ve listed 26 below (and have more than run out of water emojis), but if you’re thirsty for more, check out the official website for even more things to do.
Once again, we’ll keep it short with our picks: scroll down past the hot take for the full list!
All week, watch the NY-based Water Film Festival online.
Tomorrow, check out the NYCDR Happy Hour at Houston Hall to meet New York’s carbon removal community.
On Thursday at noon, dial into Cap and Improve, a webinar by NY Renews on building equitable climate policy in NY State.
Thursday afternoon, register for Making Waves, our very own panel event for NY Water Week – it promises to be great, and seats are limited!
Finally, Thursday evening, come to the NY Climate Tech March Meetup! Unfortunately, we’re limited to 150 attendees, so please arrive on time as this one will be first come, first serve, and we can’t guarantee entrance.
Looking for more? On Tuesday: tech & water, collective action & water, crafting futures, pitch night. Wednesday: water & underserved populations, trees and West Africa, volunteer w/ GreenHomeNYC, sustainable streets, SJC Green Drinks. Thursday: better buildings, droughts and floods, water & support, water governance, climate resiliency, water innovators, stormwater, ocean water, climate tech roundtable. Saturday: biogas, microbiome. Sunday: climate museum. Monday: sustainable fashion.
It’s just amazing to see the incredible energy this year for water and climate and the growth of the NY community – y’all are so inspiring.
Cheers,
Alec, Sonam, and Kathy
The full list of this weeks events can be found below.
Hot Take: Keeping our shores safe and sound
New York exists because of the water around it. It’s simply fact - the vast natural harbor at the mouth of the Hudson River was home to the Lenape Indians and the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam that settled back in 1624. Over the course of the past 400 years these waters have led to New York’s rise as a great port and the world’s great commercial power.
The 520 miles of coastlines along these fabled waters are now vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding. Since 1900, NYC’s sea level has risen ~12 inches; this is nearly twice as fast as the rest of the world and is quickly accelerating. In fact, the NYC Department of City Planning’s (DCP) has developed a Flood Hazard Mapper, which helps to illustrate this – areas in Southern Brooklyn and Queens that have the greatest projected flood risk.
In recent decades, events like Hurricane Sandy in 2012 have devastated NYC with dangerous storm surge and coastal flooding. Marginalized communities, such as those living in less-resilient housing and with limited means of mobility, are the most susceptible to storm-related fatalities.
In large areas of NYC, Hurricane Sandy knocked out power for days and flooded essential infrastructure such as subways, roads, and hospitals. NYC’s stormwater runoff and wastewater treatment facilities were overwhelmed during Sandy, and billions of gallons of sewage overflowed into our waterways.
High profile storms like Sandy have brought visibility not just to our city’s emergency response platforms, but also motivated proactive decision making across all levels of government: "We now embed sea-level projections into rebuilding policies… and understand the importance of having local climate risk information available on demand,” reflects Cynthia Rosenzweig, the former senior research scientist at the Columbia Climate School and Co-Chair of the New York City Panel on Climate Change.
All of these maps and numbers are now used as a part and parcel of NYC’s planning apparatus! The city has updated its building codes and adopted Zoning for Coastal Flood Resiliency to account for the impacts of sea level rise and coastal flooding. Though many real estate developers and homebuyers remain undeterred from investing in the waterfront, NYC government has started embedding climate resilience design into its capital projects in high risk areas.
More recently, in 2021 Hurricane Ida generated in-land flood heights as high as 4 feet in parts of Queens, highlighting the need for a range of localized community-centered solutions to address in-land flooding and sewage backup beyond large coastal barriers. Earlier this month, NY Governor Kathy Hochul announced $110 million in grants funding for 86 projects to improve water quality across the state, with a focus on Environmental Justice communities disproportionately impacted by environmental pollution. NYC DEP received $2 million to upgrade street medians with green infrastructure to help absorb excess rainwater and protect against flooding.
On the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Ida, NYC agencies in collaboration with NYU and CUNY launched FloodNet, the city’s first flood-monitoring network. The interactive map combines flood sensor data with citizen reports to show flood threats in real time, and an additional $7.2 million of city funding will expand the number of censors from 31 to 500 over the next five years.
To reduce NYC’s coastal flood risk, construction on mega-infrastructure projects like the $1B+ East Side Coastal Resiliency (ESCR) Project and $900M Lower Manhattan Coastal Resiliency LMCR) Project are underway, with considerations for accessibility, and parks, and& recreation as core parts of the design. Although the 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act offers significant funding opportunities for NY resilience projects, local residents continue to push for local government to close the resiliency gaps within NYC with greater urgency, across funding, planning & implementation.
So, what can you do to get involved in your streets and neighborhoods? Educate yourselves on some of the issues your community is facing and explore all of the new policies, technologies, and community resilience programs that are underway. As NY Water Week gets started, there is no better time than now to drink from the fire hose!
Community Shoutouts
Events This Week
💧 Can Technology Solve the Water Crisis?: Tue, Mar 21
🌊 Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship: Tue, Mar 21
🧵 Crafting Sustainable Futures Exhibition Opening: Tue, Mar 21
📣 ERA Climate Founders Pitch Night (Virtual): Tue, Mar 21
🌱 NYCDR Happy Hour: Tue, Mar 21
🚰 Water Management Innovation for Underserved Populations: Wed, Mar 22
🌳 How Histories of Trees and Peoples Can Help West Africa Plan for the Future: Wed, Mar 22
🏡 Volunteer with GreenHomeNYC!: Wed, Mar 22
🚸 Sustainable Streets: Fixing our cities's street infrastructure: Wed, Mar 22
🍻 Socialize at SJC Green Drinks: Wed, Mar 22
🌊 Climate & Water Risk: Technology Showcase: Thu, Mar 23
♻️ Cap and Improve: What NY must learn from the failures on the West Coast: Thu, Mar 23
🏙 Better Buildings for Everyone: How High-Performance Building Hubs Catalyze Action: Thu, Mar 23
🚰 Climate Resilience: Addressing Drought and Flood: Thu, Mar 23
💧 Side Event at the Water Conference - Why We Need a Technical Support ?: Thu, Mar 23
🌊 Making Waves: UN Water Week with NY Climate Tech and Consulate General of the Netherlands: Thu, Mar 23
💦 Innovation in Water Governance: Breaking boundaries for water and climate: Thu, Mar 23
🏙 Climate Resiliency in NYC: Thu, Mar 23
🗽 NY Climate Tech March Meetup: Thu, Mar 23
💧 Water Innovators Reception with BIV and IH20: Thu, Mar 23
🍽 Climate Tech Roundtable: Thu, Mar 23
🌊 Urban Stormwater & Coastal Resiliency: Fri, Mar 24
⛵️ Ocean Stewardship from the Bronx to Brooklyn: Fri, Mar 24
🥦 Food and Energy Resiliency with Small Scale Biogas: Sat, Mar 25
🧫 Exploring the Microbiome: Sat, Mar 25
🚌 The Climate Museum - Field Trip: Sun, Mar 26
👖 Sustainable Fashion Community Meeting: Mon, Mar 27
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Upcoming Events
🗑 Curbside Compost Sustainability Coordinator Full Day Training: Tue, Mar 28
🌇 Climate Mobilization Act Primer: Tue, Mar 28
👩🏫 Climate Tech: Why It Needs the Humanities and Social Sciences: Tue, Mar 28
🍱 NYC: Shifting the Narrative to Create a Sustainable Food System: Wed, Mar 29
🌿 Learn about sustainability in NYC : Green For Blue: Wed, Mar 29
🧶 Sustainable Fashion: A Mending and Repair Workshop: Wed, Mar 29
🧑🏫 Transformative Education for Sustainability: Thu, Mar 30
🚣 Venice: Laboratory of Sustainability for the Earth: Thu, Mar 30
👷♀️ WISE: Women's History Month, Where Are We Now?: Thu, Mar 30
🍽 A Taste of the Future: Thu, Mar 30
🧩 New York Zero by Fifty? Decarbonization Pathways & Local Action: Fri, Mar 31
⚡️ 2023 MIT Energy Conference: Tue, Apr 11
Events This Week
💧 Can Technology Solve the Water Crisis?
When: Tue, Mar 21st from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM
Where: ABInBev Commercial Strategy Office, 125 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
In this session, experts from Accenture, Deltares, Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Google, Microsoft, Water Resources Management Authority in Zambia, World Wildlife Fund, and World Resources Institute will discuss the role of advanced technology and multi-sectoral collaboration in addressing nexus issues, and provide a deep dive into the Global Water Watch platform with a chance for the audience to provide feedback on this tool.
🌊 Aligning and accelerating collective action for water stewardship
When: Tue, Mar 21st from 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Where: AB InBev Commercial Strategy Office, 125 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10011
Beginning with this event in New York at the UN Water Summit, a group of conveners in the water stewardship community will be initiating a series of dialogue events on collective action, with the aim to align thinking, geographies, understanding of ground-level capacity, and re-thinking how we fund shared work. Ultimately, the intention is to accelerate and scale our impact through enhanced collective action.
🧵 Crafting Sustainable Futures Exhibition Opening
When: Tue, Mar 21st from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Bobst Library Gallery, 70 Washington Square South, New York, NY 10012
Join us for the exhibition opening Crafting Sustainable Futures, a show that creatively envisions a world that recognizes our shared responsibility for preserving the planet we all call home. This community showcase features artwork from NYU students, faculty, staff, and alumni that explores our interconnected existence and a positive ecological future.
📣 ERA Climate Founders Pitch Night (Virtual)
When: Tue, Mar 21st from 5:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Where: Online
Join ERA on March 21st at 5:00PM ET to celebrate NYC’s vibrant founder community. Learn from a panel discussion featuring some of NYC’s top climate founders, investors, and experts, and apply for the opportunity to pitch your startup. Please note that this event is specially targeted at Climate Startups.
🌱 NYCDR Happy Hour
When: Tue, Mar 21st from 6:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Houston Hall, 222 W Houston St, New York, NY 10002
Come join us on the first full day of Spring, Tuesday, March 21st, for our bi-monthly NY CDR/carbontech happy hour starting at 6pm at Houston Hall on 222 W Houston St.
🚰 Water Management Innovation for Underserved Populations
When: Wed, Mar 22nd from 3:30 PM to 4:45 PM
Where: United Nations Plaza, New York, NY
The IBM Sustainability Accelerator is a pro-bono social impact program speeding and scaling nonprofit and governmental organization environmental sustainability initiatives supporting vulnerable populations. At the 2023 UN Water Conference, IBM will provide the first formal impact and innovation updates on two on-going projects at the intersection of water and sustainable agriculture.
🌳 How Histories of Trees and Peoples Can Help West Africa Plan for the Future
When: Wed, Mar 22nd from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Where: Fayerweather Hall, Room 513, 1180 Amsterdam Avenue, New York, NY 10027
Across West Africa, the environment varies from the desert to rainforests. In between, monsoon rains support grasslands and savannahs, and the livelihoods of farmers and herders. Planning a development pathway that is resilient to climate requires understanding both the expected range of climatic conditions and how climate affects people's choices.
🏡 Volunteer with GreenHomeNYC!
When: Wed, Mar 22nd from 5:30 PM to 6:15 PM
Where: TOTO Showroom, 20 West 22nd Street 1st Floor, New York, NY 10010
GreenHomeNYC has been promoting sustainability and energy efficiency issues, and supporting green professional development in NYC since 2003. Our volunteers develop, organize and manage all our programs. If you are looking for an interesting and challenging experience to help the environment, connect with like-minded professionals and meet new people, join us at our next information session to learn more.
🚸 Sustainable Streets: Fixing our cities's street infrastructure
When: Wed, Mar 22nd from 6:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: Toto Showroom, 20 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10010
Join GreenHomeNYC at this month's Forums event for an in-person panel discussion + Q&A with professionals who work in advocacy and public service. At this month's forum, we will hear from organizations that are on the forefront of advocating for change to make NYC streets more equitable, greener, and safer.
🍻 Socialize at SJC Green Drinks
When: Wed, Mar 22nd from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: 902 Brewing Co, 101 Pacific Avenue, Jersey City, NJ 07304
Meet your eco-conscious neighbors and learn what they're doing to make our neighborhoods better! Learn how to get involved with our 2023 campaigns like Community Solar or our Trees & Trash Action Campaign! Meet local "Go Green" businesses whom we will be spotlighting at the event! Hear from SJC's star volunteers and enjoy some team trivia gameplay!
♻️ Cap and Improve: What NY must learn from the failures on the West Coast
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Where: Online
NY Renews is hosting a series of webinars dedicated to some of the most pressing issues that face New Yorkers. Kicking off the series is the Cap and Invest Webinar co-developed with the New York City - Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA). Governor Hochul’s recent executive budget proposal will include a cap and invest model that will also fund our landmark Climate Act. Done right, a cap and invest system could be a key tool in securing climate justice in New York: money for frontline communities, paid for by polluters. Done wrong, a cap and invest system would only widen the gap between the haves and have-nots in our state.
🏙 Better Buildings for Everyone: How High-Performance Building Hubs Catalyze Action
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM
Where: Online
Developing a scalable resource and engagement Hub in collaboration with a local non-profit partner organization is key to supporting the jurisdiction to inclusively engage and aid their communities in achieving policy objectives and rapidly scaling competitive markets for high-performance buildings. As new federal funding becomes available, Hubs are an essential resource to helping the community and building stakeholders access these funds to retrofit buildings.
🚰 Climate Resilience: Addressing Drought and Flood
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 2:00 PM to 6:30 PM
Where: Bronx Community College/City University of New York, 2155 University Ave, Gould Memorial Library (GML), Bronx, NY 10453
This 2023 UN Water Conference Side Event at Bronx Community College of City University of New York will feature a key address by Dr Rajendra Singh, "the Waterman of India." The event is being organized by International Association of Advanced Materials, People's World Commission on Drought and Flood, and Bronx Community College/City University of New York.
💧 Side Event at the Water Conference - Why We Need a Technical Support
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Where: 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
We are working on strengthening the participation of local communities in improving water and sanitation management (Goal 6.b). Our speakers include Professor Hassan Kaya, Director of the Centre in Indigenous Knowledge Systems (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa) and Dr Kanwaljit Singh, Head of Environment Conservation Project (Nishan-e Sikhi, India). Cross-sectoral partnerships between academia, community organizations and international partners is essential to ensure human rights to water for all, especially in the Global South.
🌊 Making Waves: UN Water Week with NY Climate Tech and Consulate General of the Netherlands
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 4:30 PM to 6:00 PM
Where: 666 3rd Ave, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10002
Join us for "Making Waves," a panel discussion for UN Water Week featuring experts and innovators from the world of climate tech and water management hosted by NY Climate Tech and the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.As climate change continues to impact our planet, access to clean water has become an increasingly urgent issue.
💦 Innovation in Water Governance: Breaking boundaries for water and climate
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 5:00 PM to 6:15 PM
Where: United Nations, 405 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017
The status quo to addressing water challenges is Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM). While the past three decades have seen IWRM having a profound impact on water planning practices, it has not yet yielded sustainable water outcomes. To address these gaps, we have invited panelists from different geographies and professional backgrounds, from the local to the government level, to share their experiences and best practices, and discuss what could be our joint next steps to fulfill the Water Action Agenda.
🏙 Climate Resiliency in NYC
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 5:30 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Building Energy Exchange
ASHRAE NY and BE-Ex host a panel event on climate resiliency, diving into the dual challenges of efficient and GHG-free building design that responds to increasing flooding, precipitation, and heat in the near future.
🗽 NY Climate Tech March Meetup
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: 666 3rd Avenue, 21st Floor, New York, NY 10017
Join NY Climate Tech for our March meetup – this month we'll be hosted by the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands for UN Water Week! As a community organization connecting activists, investors, policymakers, entrepreneurs, artists, academics, jobseekers, and climate leaders, we are dedicated to uniting local communities around deploying climate solutions equitably. This monthly meetup is a casual and accessible way to connect with others in the climate community.
💧 Water Innovators Reception with BIV and IH20
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Where: Midtown Manhattan (RSVP for Location)
Join us for a gathering of water's entrepreneurial ecosystem to celebrate moving the sector forward. Cocktails, mocktails and appetizers will be served.
🍽 Climate Tech Roundtable
When: Thu, Mar 23rd from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM to Fri, Mar 24th at 12:30 AM
Where: Newlab - 19 Morris Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11205
You will have the unique opportunity to meet climate tech founders, operators, enthusiasts, doers, innovators & solution providers, and openly discuss and seek resolutions to challenges faced by the industry. Whether you're looking to gather insight on the industry, showcase your technology, or to ask for guidance/feedback on problems you are facing today - this event is a great opportunity to connect with like-minded individuals who are passionate about making a positive impact in this space.
🌊 Urban Stormwater & Coastal Resiliency
When: Fri, Mar 24th from 8:30 AM to 5:30 PM
Where: Brooklyn College's Graduate Center for Worker Education, 25 Broadway #700, New York, NY 10004
At this highly interactive half-day symposium, we will bring together national and international experts from academic, public and private sectors who are currently engaged in cross-sectoral IWM approaches for urban stormwater and coastal resiliency to share their experiences, lessons learned in these endeavors and to discuss plans for meeting future challenges.
⛵️ Ocean Stewardship from the Bronx to Brooklyn
When: Fri, Mar 24th from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: East 34th Street Ferry Terminal, New York, NY 10016
Hosted by RETI Center and South Bronx Unite, tour the East River from Bronx Kill Park to Gowanus Bay with community and environmental justice activists to see their remarkable revitalization projects as guide you through the past, present and future of New York’s coastline and marginalized communities.
🥦 Food and Energy Resiliency with Small Scale Biogas
When: Sat, Mar 25th from 12:00 PM to 3:00 PM
Where: Earth Matter NY, 758 Enright Rd, New York, NY 10004
Food and Energy Resiliency with Small Scale Biogas is part of our 2023 Branch Out & Deepen Your Roots collaborative 12-month long learning series. Learn how to collect and store biogas and use it to cook with. Enjoy some biogas prepared herbal teas to top off your experience.
🧫 Exploring the Microbiome
When: Sat, Mar 25th at 2:00 PM to Sat, Apr 1st at 6:00 PM
Where: Genspace, 132 32nd Street #108, Brooklyn, NY 11232
In this workshop, participants will learn about modern concepts and techniques in microbiome studies. Participants will receive hands-on experience in the experimental and computational techniques to identify bacterial species from environmental samples.
🚌 The Climate Museum - Field Trip
When: Sun, Mar 26th from 1:30 PM to 4:30 PM
Where: The Climate Museum Pop-Up, 120C Wooster Street, New York, NY 10012
Join the NYC FTC Fam for an afternoon of climate awareness and support as we listen, learn, and process. This is a private tour for members and non-members followed by light bites. After party venue TBD. All proceeds will be donated to the Climate Museum.
👖 Sustainable Fashion Community Meeting
When: Mon, Mar 27th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Kent State University, 315 West 39th Street #STE 402, New York, NY 10018
Join the NYC FTC Fam for an evening of sharing, snacking, and connecting with liked-minded individuals. We'll start with a short presentation on DfE (Design for the Environment), move on to sharing upcoming opportunities and events, and follow up with short, sweet, and to the point presentations from a few members.
Join the Fun!
Submit Events
We know all of you are cooking up great events across 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!
Climate Tech Cities
We are expanding! We started as an 8-person dinner and now have over 4,000 members in our community. We’ve had people across the world reach out to us to start their own chapters - so we’re launching a new Climate Tech Cities organization this year! If you have friends who are interested in becoming chapter leads, please share the word. Here’s to a global network of local communities making a positive impact!