Changes With the Season

As we transition into a new season and year, I want to share an important update about my professional journey with the broader Tishman Center community.

I am thrilled to start a new role as the Resource Mobilization Officer at the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), an organization I've known and admired for a long time. My work will focus on resourcing GAIA’s mission to catalyze a global shift toward environmental justice by strengthening grassroots social movements that advance waste and pollution solutions, working across the globe. In this role, I will continue my efforts to move philanthropic resources to be more justice-centered, equitable, and accessible to the broader climate and environmental justice movement. This career shift feels like a natural continuation of my work here, as GAIA’s values deeply align with those of the Tishman Center.

Demand Response at The New School: Interview with Ashley Kossakowski

As you may have seen from emails and posters around campus, The New School has recently started a Demand Response program to save energy over the summer. Ashley Kossakowski, Director of Energy and Sustainability at TNS, spoke with us to clarify how DR works, why it’s important, and how it will impact members of the TNS community.

interviews, Staff WorkTishman CenterAugust 3, 2023campus sustainability, energy, demand responseComment

*Has Existential Crisis* - Artist Interview with Mike Harrington

Mike Harrington, the Director of Sustainability Engagement here at the Tishman Center, has recently had his photo series “Has Existential Crisis” selected to be part of the Human Impacts Insittute’s Creative Climate Awards exhibit. This annual exhibit showcases climate-inspired work from artists around the world, focusing this year on the theme “Inspiring a Climate Renaissance.”

Staff WorkTishman CenterMay 2, 2023staff, art, photography, climateComment

Tishman Center RA Enrique Valencia Published in Critical Planning Journal

In January 2023, Critical Planning published my article “Evaluating Meaningful Engagement Under Environmental Justice Mandates: A Case Study of California’s SB1000 Implementation in Santa Ana”. The article is connected to environmental justice (EJ) advocacy that fellow EJ organizers and I led in Santa Ana, CA.

EJ, Staff Work, StudentsTishman CenterFebruary 9, 2023environmental justice, pollutionComment

Report on Furniture Waste in Oakland Reveals Unexpected Findings

I want to share an emerging area of opportunity: furniture waste. A topic that resonates in its ubiquity and infamy.

For 15 months, I documented the street furniture I came across in my SF Bay Area neighborhood and was stunned by what I discovered: over 50,000 pounds of furniture within two miles of my home, of which, 89% was reusable, with about a third needing repair…

Staff WorkTishman CenterApril 13, 2022blog, Featured Staff, wasteComment

Hope, Truth and Solidarity with Palestine

I grew up during the first Intifada. If you were a child in the late 1980s, you might remember images of Palestinian boys and young men hurling rocks at Israeli tanks and soldiers as they tried in vain to save their homes and families. I remember deeply; those images are etched in my brain because this was my first exposure to where my mother is from. I didn’t understand what was happening, but I would watch my mother watch the news and could tell how bad it was. She would sit on our couch, her hand gently tapping the wall above her head and sadness, fear and anger on her face. I never could understand how these young boys with their little rocks and stones could be considered terrorists and predators, while a well-armed and organized national military could be seen as the victims.

Staff WorkTishman CenterFebruary 3, 2022palestine, history, solidarity, staffComment

Resilience Roundtable Panel with USL

Assistant Director Mike Harrington participated in a virtual roundtable that was co-sponsored with the Urban Systems Lab (USL). The panel featured USL Director Timon MacPhearson along with former Environmental Studies Chair Alan McGowan, Parsons faculty Ana Fisyak, Resilience quarterly contributor Jimmy Pan.

Webinar, Staff WorkTishman CenterDecember 11, 2020roundtable, staff, Urban and Global Issues, community

Tishman Center Contributes to Report to Address EJ & Urban Heat

Before we start, I want you to do a thought experiment. Think about the images you see on news coverage when there is a heat wave in a city (when it is about 95 F/ 35 C for a few days). What immediately comes to mind? Who do you picture?

Staff Work, EJ, NewsTishman CenterJune 22, 2020Environmental Justice, Urban design, urban heatComment

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