Peoples’ CLIMATE WEEk 2023

The Tishman Environment and Design Center is committed to uplifting the experiences and voices of EJ Movement Leaders and to be of service to the EJ Movement.

We work at the intersection of different global communities, grassroots organizations, philanthropic allies, and academic thought partners who are ready to work towards a Just future–with the Movement at the center of all of it.

Join us in movement-led events during the Peoples’ Climate Week 2023 that offer the opportunity to listen, exchange ideas, and build stronger alliances. See our calendar of recommended external events here.

During the month of September, the Tishman Center participates in #CLIMATEWEEKNYC. Our center hosts, co-sponsors, and promotes programming. The theme this year is: "We Can. We Will.” We will host and support events on how to build power, knowledge, and resources within the environmental justice movement.

Below, you can view and register for events hosted by the Tishman Center, The New School events, along a list of events from People's Climate Week.

You can RSVP below for all upcoming events. Follow and tag us at @newschoolTEDC on Twitter, @tishmancenter on Instagram, @newschoolTEDC on Facebook, and send us your #ClimateWeekNYC highlights at tedc@newschool.edu.

#Climateweeknyc #ClimateWeek2023 #EnvironmentalJustice #ClimateJustice #EJDistruptDesign #EJisNonNegotiable #JustTransition #keepitintheground #TishmanCenter #TheNewSchool

Health & Safety Information

Effective February 23, 2023, event guests and/or visitors to the New School are no longer required to provide proof of up-to-date vaccination or negative result from a PCR test and do not need to use the CLEAR app to present their vaccination status.

Wearing a mask is highly recommended but not required on campus.

Tishman Center Events

[ONLINE] Mandatory Emissions Reductions: Centering Environmental Justice in Climate Policy

TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 19, 2023, 1:00PM-2:30PM (EDT)

Climate mitigation policies are among the most urgent and politically viable pathways to realize EJ gains in the form of co-pollutant mitigation. There are a variety of climate mitigation policies in place across the country and while these climate policies seek to reduce GHG emissions, they rarely, if ever, target or track the location-specific reduction of GHG emissions, and they neglect co-pollutants or simply assume that a concomitant reduction in co-pollutants will occur.

A just and equitable climate mitigation policy, makes the elimination of the sector’s outsize and inequitable impact on low-income communities and communities of color an explicit goal. From an environmental justice perspective, climate change mitigation measures, whether they use a technology-based standard, a greenhouse gas (GHG) target, or a market-based or other mechanism, should explicitly incorporate mandatory emissions reductions (MER) of health-harming co-pollutants in EJ communities.

A new report by Nicky Sheats and the Tishman Environment and Design Center in collaboration with New Jersey Environmental Justice Alliance, Environmental Justice Health Alliance for Chemical Policy Reform, and Center for Earth Energy and Democracy, lays out the justification and framework for an MER policy in the U.S. power sector.

Please join us to celebrate the launch of this report, share findings, and speak with advocates about centering EJ in climate policy.

[IN PERSON & ONLINE] Ensuring Federal Funding Goes to Environmental Justice Communities

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023, 6:30PM to 7:45PM (EDT)

The Tishman Environment and Design Center is excited to delve into the critical issue of ensuring that the historic levels of federal funding resource frontline solutions for the climate crisis and environmental justice. This conversation will be focused on the opportunities and challenges for leveraging federal funding for environmental justice communities.

The session will be moderated by our Senior Fellow, Danielle Deane-Ryan, with panelists: Harold Mitchell from Regenesis Institute, Trenton Allen from Sustainable Capital Advisors, Maria Lopez-Nunez from Ironbound Community Corporation, Joe Evans from the Kresge Foundation, Helen Chin from Communities First Fund. Michelle DePass, Senior Advisor of the Tishman Environment and Design Center, will give remarks.

ZOOM LIVESTREAM on 9/20

Co-Sponsored Events

[IN PERSON] A Peoples' Climate Week

MONDAY SEPTEMBER 18 - TUESDAY 19

Join us for the Peoples’ Climate Week launch (9/18) and teach-in (9/19) at The New School (NYC) led by grassroots frontline, Indigenous, Black, Latinx, Asian, Pacific Islander, Arab, and South Asian organizers. We will advance a Peoples’ agenda for climate and environmental justice movement building and strategic visioning for systemic change. Come build with frontline leaders from Nigeria to Brazil, and across Turtle Island leading Just Transition solutions grounded in decolonization, grassroots feminism, Indigenous Sovereignty, the defense of human rights, and climate reparations. We will bring together climate activists mobilizing to NY Climate Week in alignment with frontline climate justice grassroots movement leadership.

Join us Monday (9/18) for a Plenary & Movement Social as the launch of Peoples’ Climate Week. On Tuesday (9/19) we will host a teach-in led by EJ/CJ frontline and BIPOC organizers on real versus false climate solutions.

This Peoples’ Climate Week will serve as a counter-space to mainstream NYC Climate Week events where movements advance a Peoples’ Agenda of real alternatives as we also intervene and disrupt the promotion of false solutions to climate change including Hydrogen, Climate Geoengineering and techno-fixes, Liquefied Natural Gas and Carbon Markets and offsets, and more, all being advanced by corporate, governmental and big green NGOs inside Climate Week and the UN Ambitions Summit.

Presented by It Takes Roots and the Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management program at Milano.

other new school events

Check Out The New School Climate Week Hub for all TNS Events

[IN PERSON] Harnessing the Positive Potential of AI for Urban Climate Action

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023, 9:00AM to 11:00AM (EDT)

As communities and cities increasingly experience the impacts of climate change, the need for solutions and scalable actions have never been more important. This is especially true in large cities like New York, which are wrestling with a range of hazards from extreme heat and rainfall, to sea level rise and coastal flooding. But what are some of the emerging ideas, technologies, and solutions that organizations are advancing worldwide to address the ongoing climate crisis? Join senior leaders from across the public, private, and social sectors for an engaging discussion on the potential and challenges of leveraging technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) to accelerate climate action.

Organized by The New School, Google.org, the Centre for Public Impact, and World Resources Institute (WRI), this event will feature live demonstrations of two novel solutions from The New School’s Urban Systems Lab and WRI which will be followed by a moderated panel discussion. The event encourages attendance from those in roles of government, industry, community activism, academia, and philanthropy interested in understanding more about how AI can unlock climate resilience at the community level. There will be an opportunity to network with attendees and organizers after the event.

Registration is required and first come first serve. The event will be recorded and live streamed for remote access with a link sent to all registrants ahead of time. Speakers will include:

Rohit T. Aggarwala, Commissioner, New York City Department of Environmental Protection

Gino Van Begin, Secretary General, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI)

Jaya Dhindaw, Interim Director, WRI India Ross Centre for Sustainable Cities

Evan Tachovsky, Data Lab Global Director, World Resources Institute

Timon McPhearson, Director and Professor, Urban Systems Lab, The New School

Joel Towers, Professor & Co-Director, Tishman Environment and Design Center, The New School

Josh Sorin, Global Director for Climate Action, Centre for Public Impact

PEOPLEs’ CLIMATE WEEK EVENTS

[IN PERSON] BIPOC Climate Justice Dialogue III

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2023, 1:00PM - 6:00PM (EDT)

Bridging commitment to action. The Justice40 Initiative and the Inflation Reduction Act embody the current national commitment to environmental justice aiming to tackle a legacy of disinvestment and pollution in overburdened, underserved, and disadvantaged communities. More than one year into their signature into law can provide great insights into lessons learned, gaps, and opportunities to accomplish their goals.

Discussions will feature Administration and federal agency representatives and BIPOC climate justice leaders. Topics feature will include national climate justice implementation strategies and the roles of people, policy, pedagogy, and philanthropies in delivering them.

As part of the New York Climate Week, the BIPOC Climate Justice Dialogue will be hosted on September 15th from 1-5 PM in The Forum at Columbia University. Followed by a reception from 5 - 6 PM on September 15th.

This special gathering is collaboratively hosted by the HBCU Green Fund, Donors of Color, Columbia World Projects, and Columbia University Climate School.

[IN PERSON] March to End Fossil Fuels

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 17, 2023, 1:00PM - 4:00PM (EDT)

On September 17th, we will hold the March to End Fossil Fuels in New York City calling on President Biden to stop fossil fuel expansion and extraction. The march will take place ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit – a first-of-its-kind meeting hosted by the United Nations Secretary-General (UNSG) Antonio Guterres, who is asking heads of state to come with concrete steps to keep fossil fuels in the ground.

Remember, the power to make a difference lies within each of us.

Join us and be part of the movement that will shape a sustainable and just future for all. Let’s march together for a fossil-free world!

While the Biden administration continues to green light mega-polluting fossil fuel projects, we are mobilizing around the summit to leverage as much national and international pressure as possible to force Biden to change course. This is a critical moment for mass mobilization on fossil fuels that could move Biden before 2024.

Are you in? Learn more at endfossilfuels.us.

[IN-PERSON -Sold out & ONLINE] Afterglow: Envisioning a Radically Different Climate Future

Monday September 18 2023 • 7:00pm - 8:30pm ET

*FREE LIVESTREAM AVAILABLE HERE ON 9/18.

Join us for an evening of literature, imagination, science, and hope as part of Climate Week NYC!

The stories we tell about the future have the power to shape the world we eventually create. From creative scientific solutions to climate change, to an economy built on ecological restoration, to the pursuit of right relationships in social systems and inclusive design, imagination has the power to shift what we see as possible.

Inspired by cutting-edge literary movements, such as Afrofuturism, hopepunk, and solarpunk, Afterglow imagines intersectional worlds in which no one is left behind—where humanity prioritizes equitable climate solutions. Whether through adaptation, reform, or a new understanding of survival, Afterglow offers flickers of hope, even joy, and a springboard for exploring how fiction can help create a better reality.

The SciFri Book Club from Science Friday and Looking Forward from Grist invite you to join us for a live event featuring New York Times bestselling author Morgan Jerkins (This Will Be My Undoing, Wandering In Strange Lands and Caul Baby), environmental health professor and researcher Dr. Yoshira Ornelas Van Horne, Grist’s Creative Manager for Climate Fiction Tory Stephens, and artist and social movement strategist Aisha Shillingford, exploring the role that creativity and imagination play in helping society envision and achieve a just, sustainable, and inclusive world for all people.

The event will also feature live readings from OBIE Award-winning writer and actor Eric Lockley (playwright, Sweet Chariot, The Public Theatre).

If the ticketing options are not accessible to you, please email events@sciencefriday.com—we have saved a limited number of seats for those who wish to attend, but are unable to pay at the levels offered.

This event is made possible thanks to sponsorship support from Marine Stewardship Council.

REGISTER HERE

[IN PERSON] Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels and Leading a Just Transition

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023, 4:45PM - 8:00PM (EDT)

Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017

We are in a climate emergency, and now more than ever we need to end the era of fossil fuels and advance the solutions of women and gender diverse leaders to ensure a healthy and just planet for current and future generations!

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Registration Information

Registration is required. Registering on this page is for access to both events. Registration does not confirm a seat at the event, the events are first come, first serve. Doors open at 4:30 for light refreshments and networking. The program will start promptly at 4:45. Please arrive early due to heavy traffic in this part of the city.

This event is free and open to the public. Importantly, due to security in this part of the city because of the UN General Assembly and Climate Ambition Summit, registration is required. Please remember to have your tickets ready to show security, either in the Eventbrite app or print them out and bring them with you. You also need a government issued ID.

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Event Details

As global leaders gather in New York for the UN Climate Ambition Summit and General Assembly, we are calling on governments to reckon with their role in fueling climate chaos, and harm against communities and the planet by continuing the extraction of fossil fuels. We only have a limited amount of years left to address and mitigate the worst impacts of the climate crisis.

For years, global climate movements have been calling for governments to phase out fossil fuels and stop expansion. We continue to pressure governments, corporations, and financial institutions to adhere to the demands of science and communities, and implement an immediate equitable phaseout of fossil fuels. Governments must invest in and deploy a Just Transition that is grounded in a climate justice framework and uplifts care economies, community-led solutions, Indigenous rights, and a different vision than business as usual. During this event, we will host two panels, please see below for descriptions. Doors open at 4:30 for light refreshments and networking. The program will start promptly at 4:45. Please arrive early due to heavy traffic in this part of the city.

“Women Ending the Era of Fossil Fuels”

During this panel discussion, global women leaders will share expertise and frameworks for transitioning away from extraction and share ongoing policy advocacy and campaigns that seek to phase out fossil fuels and other harmful extractive practices.

Confirmed speakers to date include: Sharon Lavigne, Founder and President of RISE St. James, Turtle Island/USA; Farhana Yamin, Coordinator, Climate Justice & Just Transition Donor Collaborative, United Kingdom; Thilmeeza Hussain, Permanent Representative to the United Nations & Ambassador to the United States from the Maldives, the Maldives; Eriel Tchekwie Deranger (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation), Executive Director of Indigenous Climate Action, Canada; Tzeporah Berman, Chair, Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty, Canada; Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.

“Women-led Climate Solutions Are Central to a Just Transition and Thriving Future”

In the second panel we will hear from global women leaders and policy experts on how to implement and support solutions that are advancing a Just Transition. Speakers will share demonstrated successes of women’s leadership in implementing community-led climate solutions.

Confirmed speakers to date include: Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous Youth Climate Leader, Ecuador; Ozawa Bineshi Albert (Yuchi and Annishnaabe), Climate Justice Alliance Co-Executive Director, Turtle Island/USA; Elizabeth C. Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE, Turtle Island/USA; Moderation and comments by Osprey Orielle Lake, Executive Director, WECAN.

[IN PERSON] Climate Survival: Visioning the Next Era of Our Movement

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20, 2023, 5:00PM - 8:00PM (EDT)

The New School's Lang Café (65 West 11th St)

Join us this NYC Climate Week for our Climate Convergence event! The event will open at 5pm with an Indigenous Danza ceremony and free food followed by interactive workshop from 6-8pm EST where participants will be introduced to the revolutionary concept of "dual power organizing" as a way to build climate power, strengthen mutual aid organizing, and build the type of community infrastructure we need to survive climate change.

ABOUT THE DANZA CEREMONY

Cemanahuac is the unity between the Eagle (North America), Condor (South America) and Quetzal (Medo America). Our danzantes are from these places and will be sharing prayer with the attendees at the Climate Convergence through dance to honor generations to come (youth), ancestors (the stories of our families), the land, and its protectors (community organizers and members -- you!).

ABOUT THE WORKSHOP

With every passing year, NYC Climate Week takes on added urgency. The climate crisis is already here, but many residents don't feel like they are equipped with the tools, survival skills or political power to fight for climate justice and protect themselves when another disaster hits.

What does it mean to truly build community power? What types of community care infrastructure does our movement need to build in order to sustain our organizing + overall climate survival?

In examining these questions, Start:Empowerment and Climate Mobilization Network are organizing Climate Survival: Visioning The Next Era of Our Movement as part of the 2023 Climate Convergence.

Join us to explore what dual power organizing is (understanding that the relationship between state/capitalism and oppressed peoples can never be reconciled) and discuss the need to shift from a climate emergency and crisis mindset in our movement to a climate survival focus. We will also consider how we can build mutual aid/community/disaster preparedness infrastructure needs within our work to support mass direct action and build anti-capitalist ways of living to support people through crises and uprisings that are being accelerated by the climate crisis.

This session will also shift power in several ways and invites participants and participating groups to engage after the session in collective learning, organizing, and movement building towards shared climate survival strategies.

Walk away with strategies and solutions to keep yourself and your community safe during disasters by building a shared collective narrative and equipping yourself with the organizing tools to plug into your organizing homes and make your organizing more powerful.

[ONLINE] Advancing Justice: A Transformative Movement Approach to the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund Implementation

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023, 02:00PM (EDT)

For the last decade, frontline communities have been building out innovative, community-led climate solutions grounded in justice, equity, and sustainability — from community-owned solar and relocalized food systems to worker cooperatives and regenerative finance mechanisms. With the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act and the creation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, we are in a rare, catalyst moment that has the power to jumpstart the regenerative economy, transform impacted communities, and support visionary community-led projects. That is why ten climate justice and regenerative finance groups with more than 150 members and hundreds of years of combined experience, expertise, and trusting relationships with impacted communities, came together to co-create the emergent Regenerative Economies Network. Community-led projects grounded in justice and equity simultaneously reduce emissions, build community wealth, maximize community benefits, and demonstrate scale and impact in new and innovative ways. However, without coordination and bottom-up community accountability, these monies will be captured by corporations and large-scale, top-down approaches that will not address the root causes of the climate crisis and that continue to leave out marginalized communities. Join the Regenerative Economies Network on Thursday, September 21 from 2-4 PM ET for a webinar to learn about a transformative approach to non-extractive lending that will catalyze lasting community impact and integrate grassroots solutions into the implementation of the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.

[IN PERSON] A PEOPLE’S COP DISCUSSION

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 21, 2023, 6:00PM - 8:00PM (EDT)

What: A forum at UPROSE to discuss and conceptualize what a People’s COP might look like in 2024.

This November, world leaders, and civil society members will meet in Dubai as part of COP 28 to negotiate international commitments to protecting our communities from climate change. The Conference of Parties (COP) was created to be an international space that breaks the wall between leaders, activists, educators, and youth to talk about climate change (including its cultural dimensions) to hold nation-states accountable. Instead, it's become a space for elite representatives and fossil fuel corporations - especially from the Global North - to drown out our voices, water down climate change agreements, and wash away our futures.

But it doesn't have to be this way. Come on Thursday, September 21, 2023 - exactly 9 years since the 2014 People's Climate March - for a forum at UPROSE to discuss what a People's COP might look like in 2024.

When: Thursday, September 21 from 6pm-8pm ET

Where: UPROSE's office at 462 36th St, Brooklyn, NY 11232

For any questions, please contact info@uprose.org.

We look forward to seeing you at the forum!

-UPROSE Team

[IN-PERSON] How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2023, 5-8PM (EDT)

Scandinavia House at 58 Park Ave., NYC

We are at a choice point for humanity. As social and ecological crises escalate globally, it is clear that the dominant cultural worldview, informed by colonization, patriarchy, capitalism, and racism is displaying a relationship with Nature and each other that is devastatingly unjust and out of balance.

To live in a healthy and equitable world, we must fundamentally change how we respect and interact with the Earth and one another. To change the present and future, it is imperative to change the narrative and amplify worldviews and stories of climate justice solutions that transform the dominant worldview from an extractivist, colonial paradigm of “exploit and extract” to a sustainable, globally-conscious one of “respect and restore.”

At this event, movement leaders and change-makers will weave together stories, worldviews, and experiences of restoration and justice that demonstrate the healthy and equitable world we know is possible and needed. We knew in our bones this time was coming, and now we must act in solidarity more than ever, continuing to build a powerful movement founded on principles of justice, love, and a fierce dedication to our planet and our communities.

Speakers include: Casey Camp Horinek (Ponca Nation), Ponca Nation Environmental Ambassador and WECAN Board Member, Turtle Island, USA; Helena Gualinga (Kichwa from Sarayaku), Indigenous Youth Climate Leader, Ecuador; Jacqui Patterson, Founder and Executive Director of The Chisholm Legacy Project, USA; Osprey Orielle Lake, Founder and Executive Director of Women’s Earth and Climate Action Network (WECAN); moderation by Antonia Juhasz, Senior Researcher on Fossil Fuels, Human Rights Watch, and Investigative Journalist.

This event is also the pre-launch of the forthcoming book by Osprey Orielle Lake, "The Story is in Our Bones: How Worldviews and Climate Justice Can Remake a World in Crisis," to be released in January 2024. Abundant hors d’oeuvres and drinks will be served. Please arrive early due to heavy traffic in this part of the city.