NY Climate Tech: March 6 - March 13, 2023
60 events this month, women in climate, water tech, and our next meetup!
Hi friends,
What a month! We have 60 events in this newsletter for the rest of March, and there are even more on the horizon. Before diving into this week, we wanted to shout out our themes for the month: women and water. We’ll be carrying on with these themes throughout March in our events, hot takes, and more!
🙋🏽♀️ First, this Wednesday, March 8th is International Women’s Day, and we at NY Climate Tech are excited to be part of the WE Connect ClimateTech Ecosystem Showcase. It’s a half-day event, featuring women innovators in climate tech, an ecosystem showcase, pitches, and networking.
🥂 Next, we’ll be hosting the
FirstThird Friday Meetup on March 17th along with Edo Italia, a super casual get-together at a bar in the East Village.💧 Then on Thursday, March 23rd we’re hosting two events as part of NY Water Week in partnership with the Consulate General of the Netherlands. The first is Making Waves, an absolutely killer panel on Water Tech. This starts at 4:30 and is apply-to-attend with a focus on having a group of people really engaged with the topic.
🗽 Immediately after on Thursday, March 23rd, we’ll have the NY Climate Tech March Meetup in the same space in midtown, with food and drinks provided by our friends and the world’s water experts from the Netherlands.
It’s a big month, and we’re excited to see you there and everywhere! There are 14 other events this week, with events on education, climate justice, film, fashion, startups, design, buildings, energy, women and LGBTQ+ in climate, circularity, international development, finance, and offshore wind – read on for more details.
Cheers,
Alec and Sonam
Hot Take: Climate Change = Water Change
“If you see me, then weep” - inscribed on a hunger stone in the 15th century along the Elbe River in the town of Děčín in the Czech Republic was a hidden site until one of Europe’s longest rivers ran dry last summer. This centuries-old tale of despair was a sign of the times, now in the 21st century.
On the other side of the world in Pakistan, one third of the country was underwater in a matter of days. Months after the devastating floods in one of the world’s poorest countries, over 4 million children are still living near contaminated and stagnated flood waters, and hundreds of thousands of homes, schools, and public health facilities have been destroyed. As Sherry Rahman, Pakistan’s Minister of Climate Change aptly portrayed at the country’s COP27 pavilion in Sharm-el-Sheik, Egypt: What Goes on in Pakistan Won’t Stay in Pakistan.
Approximately 74% of natural disasters over the past 20 years were water-related, from hurricanes and floods to droughts and wildfires. Both the frequency and intensity of these events are expected to increase with climate change, with global weather patterns shifting drastically as planet earth warms up, getting dangerously close to a point of no return. While these disasters have an impact on the built environment and will cause upwards of $5.6 trillion in losses across the global economy by 2050, the effects are much greater on individual families and communities. About half the world’s hospital beds are occupied by someone with a water related illness. And by 2025, half of the world’s population will be living in water-stressed areas → that’s in 3 years, folks.
While climate change is the problem, water is the chariot that brings that message to your streets and neighborhoods.
Whether it’s the intricacies of your municipal water system collecting, cleaning, and bringing clean drinking water to your tap at the flick of a knob to federal agencies like the US Army Corps of Engineers determining how to build green and gray infrastructure along our nation’s shorelines to protect your local community from rising seas - every single level of government is working behind the scenes to make sure you have just the right amount of water at your doorstep.
We will be diving into all this and more in upcoming posts all month in celebration of NY Water Week, and you’ll have a chance to engage with water experts from across the globe at our upcoming NY Climate Tech event in partnership with the Dutch and Danish consulates on March 23! But, if you’re a huge infrastructure nerd like me and can’t wait to dive in, I highly recommend this Views from the Watershed podcast to learn about how the 1.1 billion gallons of water New Yorkers use every day travels through a stream of 19 reservoirs, 3 controlled lakes, and 6,000 miles of water mains, tunnels, and aqueducts all the way to your sink (I promise it makes good fodder for the next cocktail party conversation!).
Beyond the H20 that you consume on a daily basis, as a society we need to take it one step forward and demand that governments, corporates, and startups build and invest in the sustainable water management practices that will help us adapt to climate change – fostering resilience and saving lives along the way. This means removing methane from water to use as a new source of renewable energy as our friends at Bluemethane are doing, creating natural coastal resilience barriers like Natrx’s adaptive infrastructure that’s tailored to each native habitat, or creating floating solar arrays like RETTEW’s 4.4 MW project in New Jersey that reduces evaporation AND provides clean energy (gotta love all that climate tech that provide the 2-for-1 deal!). Stay tuned for more – but in the meantime, we’ve got you covered with Parachute’s comprehensive piece on climate solutions that are changing the water industry and keeping our most precious resource intact!
Climate Change = Water Change. I’ll leave you with that!
Community Shoutouts
🏢 Blocpower’s $155M Raise for Greener Buildings
HUGE congrats to our friends at Blocpower for raising their Series B last week, complete with $24M in equity and $130M in debt financing. A mainstay of the NY Climate Tech community for almost 10 years, here’s to building smarter, greener, and healthier buildings across the globe!
👩🏻🔬The Carbon 2 Value Initiative
The Carbon 2 Value Initiative is bringing innovative carbontech solutions to scale— and accepting applications for the Year 3 Cohort! Read the RFP and submit your solution to collaborate with Urban Future Lab, Greentown Labs, Fraunhofer, and NYSERDA by March 31!
♻️ Clean Tech Open
Applications are now open for the 2023 Cleantech Open (the world’s largest cleantech accelerator!). Get access to expert and specialized mentors, a full business development training program, and investor networking! Apply today at bit.ly/cto2023. The application period is open until 11:59 PM PST on April 16th.
Events This Week
🌍 2023 World Climate Tech Tour Launch: Tue, Mar 7
🏡 2023 EGE Sustainability & the Next Generation Workforce: Tue, Mar 7
✊ Climate Justice and Technological Empowerment: Tue, Mar 7
🎬 WISE Media Club: ‘The Hottest August’ Screening: Tue, Mar 7
👗 Climate Museum + Fashion Act Social: Tue, Mar 7
✍️ Climate Designers NYC Spring Social: Tue, Mar 7
🙋♀️ Women and Climate BOLD Afterparty NYC: Tue, Mar 7
🏗 New York Build 2023: Wed, Mar 8
📚 Book Tour: A Sustainable Future: Wed, Mar 8
👩🔬 WE NYC: International Women’s Day ClimateTech Showcase: Wed, Mar 8
⚡️ DER Taskforce Happy Hour: Wed, Mar 8
🏳️🌈 Out in Climate - NYC meetup at Free Agency + panel on talent: Thu, Mar 9
♻️ Circularity Day NYC 2023: Fri, Mar 10
👩🌾 Rural women as key actors in combating Climate Crisis: Fri, Mar 10
🧥 Clothing Swap: Best of the Best: Sat, Mar 11
Read on for more details about this week’s happenings and upcoming events this month
Events This Month
📈 2023 Wall Street Green Summit: Mon, Mar 13
💨 New York City Offshore Wind Drinks: Mon, Mar 13
🌱 NYU Stern Center for Sustainable Business Practice Forum: Tue, Mar 14
🔌 The Grid Collective - Growing NY's Green Businesses and Jobs: Wed, Mar 15
🏙 Urban Green Council Spring Member Reception: Wed, Mar 15
🍻 Green Drinks Brooklyn: Wed, Mar 15
🚿 Good Trouble: Design for Water: Wed, Mar 15
🌃 NW Battery Park City Resiliency Project Workshop: North Cove: Wed, Mar 15
🌱 Climate is the New Economy: Thu, Mar 16
🍺
FirstThird Friday Meetup: Fri, Mar 17📽 World Water Film Festival: Sun, Mar 19
💦 Forum on Circular Water Economy & Student Poster Exhibition: Mon, Mar 20
🥗 A Seat at the Table: Uplifting Voices for Equitable Food Systems: Mon, Mar 20
🐟 The United Nations of Rivers, Deltas and Estuaries: Mon, Mar 20
💧 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
🚰 Water Management Innovation for Underserved Populations: Wed, Mar 22
🌳 How Histories of Trees & Peoples Can Help West Africa Plan for the Future: Wed, Mar 22
🏡 Volunteer with GreenHomeNYC!: Wed, Mar 22
🚸 Sustainable Streets: Fixing our cities street infrastructure: Wed, Mar 22
🍻 Socialize at SJC Green Drinks: Wed, Mar 22
🚰 Climate Resilience: Addressing Drought and Flood: Thu, Mar 23
💧 Side Event at the Water Conference - Why We Need Technical Support: Thu, Mar 23
🌊 Making Waves: NY 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
🌊 Urban Stormwater & Coastal Resiliency: Fri, Mar 24
⛵️ Ocean Stewardship from the Bronx to Brooklyn: Fri, Mar 24
👩🌾 Indoor Farming through Hydroponics, a solution based practice: Sat, Mar 25
🥦 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
🗑 Curbside Compost Sustainability Coordinator Full Day Training (In-Person): Tue, Mar 28
🌇 Climate Mobilization Act Primer: Tue, Mar 28
👩🏫 Climate Tech: Why It Needs the Humanities and Social Sciences: Tue, Mar 28
🌿 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
🧩 New York Zero by Fifty? Decarbonization Pathways and Local Action: Fri, Mar 31
Events This Week
🌍 2023 World Climate Tech Tour Launch
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 5:00 PM to 7:00 PM
Where: Margalit Startup City, 122 Grand Street, New York, NY
The 2023 World Climate Tech tour will kick off in New York and continue on to Jerusalem, Paris, Munich, Stockholm and wrap up at COP28 in the UAE. Our goal is to discover the next generation of innovative solutions from across the world to tackle climate change through global partnerships. We leverage our deep experience in Cyber, FinTech, InsurTech, FoodTech, AgTech, AI, and Smart Cities to redefine the ClimaTech space, with the aim of targeting and building the next international market leaders.
🏡 2023 EGE Sustainability & the Next Generation Workforce
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 9:00 AM to 2:30 PM
Where: United Federation of Teachers Headquarters - Shanker Hall, 52 Broadway, New York, NY 10006
The W!se Institute's Engineered Green Economics (EGE "edge") conference works to advance sustainability education, address the concerns of young people today and help cultivate the next generation of workers. The 2023 Conference will focus on Buildings and Sustainable Cities. Speakers will be discussing key aspects of building development in New York City, the future of architecture, climate pedagogy and climate data.
✊ Climate Justice and Technological Empowerment
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM
Where: Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza 10th Floor, New York, NY 10017
We will focus on the intersection of climate justice and technological empowerment with a focus on women in leadership. A small panel of leading women within these fields will explore innovative interventions in practice that address a more equitable world for all women. Utilizing a global lens combined with community action based approaches, this panel aims to share insight into the progress being made and provide actionable steps we can all take toward the advancement of climate justice.
🎬 WISE Media Club: ‘The Hottest August’ Screening with Director Brett Story
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 5:45 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Building Energy Exchange, 31 Chambers St., Suite #609, New York, NY 10007
Join the Women in Sustainability and Energy (WISE) community for popcorn, movie, and Q+A with Director/Producer Brett Story. Watch ‘The Hottest August’, an award-winning documentary on climate change in New York City, disguised as a portrait of collective anxiety.
👗 Climate Museum + Fashion Act Social
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: The Climate Museum Pop-Up, 120C Wooster St, New York, NY 10012
Swing by for a post-work drink and meet your neighbors at the Climate Museum. In addition to an after-hours tour of our climate art & action exhibition, we will be writing postcards in support of The Fashion Act, a groundbreaking piece of sustainable fashion legislation, and making signs for the following day’s rally in Albany.
✍️ Climate Designers NYC Spring Social
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 6:30 PM to 9:00 PM
Where: Parklife, 636 Degraw Street, Brooklyn, NY 11217
Climate Designers NYC, a local chapter of climatedesigners.org, will be hosting a spring social networking event for designers of all disciplines interested in sustainability and climate action. This event is part of Climate Designers' global Chapters Week. Designers of all disciplines, as well as all who are interested in design or climate action are welcome!
🙋♀️ Women and Climate BOLD Afterparty NYC
When: Tue, Mar 7th from 6:30 PM to 9:30 PM
Where: OCabanon, 245 West 29th Street, New York, NY 10001
Come celebrate International Women's Day with Women and Climate! Our International Women's Day programming, BOLD, will take place on March 7, and we invite our members and friends to celebrate together after! We'll all be heading to Ocabanon, a cash wine-bar near Penn Station! Spots are limited, be sure to RSVP!
🏗 New York Build 2023
When: Wed, Mar 8th at 9:30 AM to Thu, Mar 9th at 4:30 PM
Where: Javits Center Hall 3 (Level 3), 445 11th Ave New York, NY 10001
350+ inspiring speakers across 12 conference tracks including Future of Construction, Architecture, BIM & Digital, Real Estate, Facilities Management, Sustainability and Government. New York Build 2023, the leading construction and design show for New York, officially supported by the Mayor of New York, is set for the biggest takeover of the Javits Center.
📚 Book Tour: A Sustainable Future
When: Wed, Mar 8th from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM
Where: The Forum at Columbia University, 601 W. 125th St., New York, NY 10027
Join for a book talk by Climate and Society alum, Brian Llamanzares, on his book A Sustainable Future, which looks at sustainability issues from the context of the Philippines. Brian will be joined by three members of the Philippine Commission on Women at the United Nations.
👩🔬 WE NYC: International Women’s Day ClimateTech Showcase
When: Wed, Mar 8th from 2:00 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Consulate General of Canada in New York, 466 Lexington Avenue 20th Floor, New York, NY 10017
Join WE NYC, RBC Women in Cleantech Accelerator powered by MaRS, NY Climate Tech, Scale for ClimateTech, the Consulate General of Canada in New York, Women.nyc for our International Women’s Day ClimateTech Ecosystem Showcase - an afternoon dedicated to celebrating women innovators in ClimateTech and showcasing the ecosystem that breaks the glass ceiling.
⚡️ DER Taskforce Happy Hour
When: Wed, Mar 8th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Urban Energy, 116 Ainslie Street, Brooklyn, NY 11211
Join the Distributed Energy Resources Taskforce at Urban Energy's office for our monthly hang on the second Wednesday of each month. There isn't a reoccurring agenda, but we may have guests or topics to discuss for a particular events.
🏳️🌈 Out in Climate - NYC meetup at Free Agency
When: Thu, Mar 9th from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Where: Free Agency, 16 West 22nd Street #Floor 8, New York, NY 10010
Out in Climate is a non-profit dedicated to building a community among LGBTQ+ professionals in the climate space (e.g., policy, renewables, investing, corporate sustainability, environmental law). Our mission is to foster networking, community-building, and mentoring, and to help connect folks with opportunities and resources in the space. Sign up for our newsletter at outinclimate.com.
♻️ Circularity Day NYC 2023
When: Fri, Mar 10th from 1:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Where: Barnard College: Diana Center Event Oval, 3009 Broadway, New York, NY 10027
Barnard College is teaming up with Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine and the Columbia Climate School to host a city-wide celebration of the powerful sustainability practice known as circularity.
👩🌾 Rural women as key actors in combating climate crisis
When: Fri, Mar 10th from 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Where: Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017
Panelists will discuss how women active in politics and public life should respond to those who deliberately seek to disrupt civil activism, mobilization, or even elections and government in social media.
🧥 Clothing Swap: Best of the Best
When: Sat, Mar 11th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Where: 409 Lewis Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11233
Reclypt and Indigo Style Vintage invite you to bring 5 of your best pieces you no longer wear, to swap for 5 new pieces! In an effort to eliminate disposable fashion, Reclypt helps facilitate clothing swaps and is partnering with Indigo Style Vintage to curate a best of the best swap.
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!