Workshop

A People’s Climate Action Plan for New York

Fri, May 3, 2019

9:30 AM–6:00 PM

Room 9204

Watch the recordings for this event below.

What would popular plans for climate action in NYC look like? The city recently took history-making steps in the right direction with its Climate Mobilization, which regulates carbon emissions from big buildings. But at the same time the mayor has promised billions of dollars in climate adaptation funding for Wall Street while offering nothing to frontline communities in other parts of the city. How would the city’s resiliency-building efforts look different if the urban majority rather than wealthy special interests got to make decisions about adapting to climate change? How might such climate action also help address other crises in the city, including soaring economic inequality and gender disparities?

Join the CUNY Climate Action Lab, which brings together activists, researchers, and artists to reimagine climate politics through the lens of the city as both the frontline impact-zone and the potential source of grassroots, artistic, and scientific alternatives informed by the principles of climate justice, for A People’s Plan for Climate Action for NYC. Join us for a day-long event of workshops, talks, and collaborative activities to generate a plan/toolkit organized around the idea of a People’s Climate Action Plan.

A People’s Climate Plan for NYC Pamphlet

Click here (or below) to view or download A People’s Climate Plan for New York City pamphlet was released on September 20th 2019, in solidarity with the week of Climate Strike actions that will took place in New York and across the world. The pamphlet, considered a living document, emerges from this event and the work of the Climate Action Lab from the Center for the Humanities at The Graduate Center, City University of New York. It crystallizes a year-long series of workshops with activists, researchers, and artists intended to reimagine climate politics through the lens of the city as both the frontline impact zone and the source of grassroots alternatives informed by the imperatives of climate justice.

PROGRAM

9:00am – 9:30am: Breakfast and informal networking

9:30am – 10:00am: Overview and Introductions: Ashley Dawson, Professor of English, The Graduate Center & College of Staten Island

10:00am – 10:45am: Morning Keynote Presentation, The Upper Manhatta(n) Project
Aurash Khawarzad, Artist + Urban Planner

10:45am – 12:00pm: Workshop #1
Brainstorming Climate Action Strategies

12:00pm – 1:00pm: Lunch Presentation, New York City in the year 2100
Vanessa Keith, Author and Architect

1:00pm – 2:15pm: Workshop #2
Speculative Futures Exercise – Envisioning a Sustainable City

2:15pm – 3:30pm: Workshop #3
Bookstorm – Creating Content for Climate Action (planning collaborative publications for the fall 2019)

3:30pm – 4:00pm: Next steps for the CUNY Climate Action Lab

4:00pm – 6:00pm: Public Event – Working with Communities to Prepare NYC for Climate Change

• Presentation of Student Work for Spring 2019
• Response Panel with Tom Angotti, Danny Peralta, and others

Co-sponsored by Climate Action Lab, and the Art, Activism, and the Environment research group as part of the Seminar on Public Engagement and Collaborative Research from the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center, CUNY.