August 26, 2020
The coronavirus pandemic has brought massive challenges to our city, upending economic stability and ways of life for Brooklynites and all New Yorkers. The protest movements demand we pay attention to structural racism and other inequities in our culture. In these six pandemic months the climate crisis has not abated, and it is urgent that we see the connections between issues of personal health, climate change, and social justice. âNature-based solutionsâ and âgreen infrastructureâ are crucial in addressing the climate crisis, especially in the urban environment.Â
Nature-based solutions improve community health and create jobs
Low-income communities and communities of color, hit hardest by the pandemic, also face a disproportionate risk of heat-related illness and higher rates of respiratory disease caused by poor air quality. Â âEnvironmental justice communities are on the frontlines of climate change,â says NYC-Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) research analyst Jalisa Gilmore. To achieve climate justice, says Gilmore, âwe need to follow the leadership of those on the ground doing work in their communities.â This includes planting and maintaining street trees, rain gardens and other nature-based infrastructure, all of which can improve neighborhood health and drive job creation.
Take Action
Volunteer with and support the partner organizations of NYC-EJA
Care for urban nature and get advice from NYC Parks here: Caring for Street Trees and Greenstreets.
Get involved with the Street Tree Stewardship program at Brooklyn Botanic Garden, which âempowers everyday New Yorkers to correctly care for their trees.â The garden has other âcommunity greening programsâ as well.
For more examples of local initiatives, see the 2020 NYC-EJA Climate Justice Agenda.
Resources
Medium, (Green) infrastructure today, for resilience tomorrow
National Geographic, How ânature deprivedâ neighborhoods impact the health of people of color
Just Nature NYC Partnership, How a healthy and equitable urban forest can help communities thrive
NYC-Environmental Justice Alliance, NYC-EJA Climate Justice Agenda
NRDC, Climate Change and Health: Extreme Heat
Giving back to the land restores climate and community
A healthy urban ecosystem uplifts the people and places responsible for managing waste, and demonstrates the power of a regenerative green economy in healing the land and the community. BK ROT is NYCâs first bike-powered, fossil fuel-free food waste hauling and composting service, staffed by young people of color who haul organic waste from small businesses and transform it into high-quality compost. âComposting, sharing ancestral stories, and sharing land-based work all support the landâs ability to withstand climate effects and mitigate emissions,â says BK ROTâs Ceci Pineda. Pineda adds that composting and regenerative agriculture âare rooted in Black Indigenous and Brown ancestral practicesâ that strengthen the connections between one another and âheal our communities and the earth.â
Take Action
Check to see whether BK ROT serves your Brooklyn neighborhood. If not, BK ROT accepts organics form composting at their Bushwick location on Sundays between 12 and 3 pm. Their website also features a model of vermicomposting.
Support the Save Our Compost coalition, which is working to preserve and expand composting for NYC residents, and has up-to-date info on places that are currently accepting compost.
Resources
Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Easy Compost
Leah Penniman, Farming While Black
Via Campesina, Small Scale Sustainable Farmers Are Cooling Down the Earth
Green roofs improve quality of life, reduce buildingsâ environmental impact, and boost property values
By “greening” a city’s built environment using green infrastructure (green roofs, living wall gardens), the local environment is improved in ways that benefit not only building owners and occupants, but also the local ecology and all city residents.  Some of the most important benefits include storm water management, reducing the urban heat index, improving air quality, fostering wildlife diversity and conservation, reducing greenhouse gases and promoting urban agriculture.
Take Action
Support Congresswoman Nydia Velazquezâs bill to create a federally funded Public School Green Rooftop Program. The bill, H.R. 7693, has been referred to the House Committee on Education and Labor.
Ask your landlord or co-op/condo board what they are doing to improve their buildingâs energy efficiency. Are they making the most of their rooftopâs potential? Do they know that  20+ states (including NY) offer 100% financing for building energy efficiency upgrades with no money down?
Resources
Dickson Despommier, The Vertical Farm: Feeding the World in the 21st Century.
Paul Hawken (editor), Drawdown: The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming
Vicki Sando, What Is a Green Roof? (children’s book)
Living Architecture Monitor, COVID 19 and the Rise of Green Roof Top Classrooms?
Terrapin Bright Green, The Economics of Biophilia: Why Designing with Nature in Mind Makes Financial Sense
Built for Health: Biophilia (podcast)
Seeds and the City (podcast, episode on green roofs)
We need to ban offshore drilling, reduce single-use plastic, stop new offshore fossil fuel infrastructure, and invest in nature-based coastal infrastructure
350Brooklyn, NYC Chapter-Surfrider Foundation, and their allies led the successful campaign to stop the $1 billion Williams pipeline that would have carried fracked gas under the waters off Brooklyn, Queens, and Staten Island. But much more is needed to clean our waterways and protect our coastlines. âEight years after Superstorm Sandy, New Yorkers are still waiting for needed investments in coastal protection and shoreline resiliency construction,â reports NYC-EJA in its 2020 Climate Justice Agenda.
Take Action
Urge the federal government to  pass the Break Free From Plastic Pollution Act, which would have a huge impact in NYC and beyond.
Tell Congress to protect our coastlines from new offshore drilling.
Support NYC Chapter-Surfrider Foundationâs Respect Rockaway and Respect Jamaica Bay campaign through the Solo Beach Cleanup Initiative.
Resources
HuffPost, This Fisherman Wants Us to Use the Oceans to Fight Climate Change
Pages 50-51 of 2020 NYC-EJA Climate Justice Agenda
Surfrider Foundationâs 2019 Clean Water Report
Press release from 350.org, New York State Denies Williams Fracked Gas Pipeline: A People Powered Victory
On nature and climate
On the bigger climate picture
© 2020 350Brooklyn