In This Issue
Tele-Town Hall on Climate Change

 
On December 1st, Mayor Bill de Blasio hosted a Tele-Town Hall on climate change and sustainability.
Our 
Executive Director, Eddie Bautista, was asked to introduce the Mayor and give welcoming remarks. 

In case you missed it, you can listen to the Tele-Town Hall here. Eddie's remarks begin one minute in. 
South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda

Angela Tovar presents on the South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda








On November 10th, Angela Tovar, Director of Community Development
at THE POINT CDC, presented some of our Waterfront Justice Project research at Boston's WGBH Green Media Innovation IdeaLab. This research laid the groundwork for our joint South Bronx Community Resiliency Agenda, which we will continue to implement with our stakeholders in the South Bronx. 
North Brooklyn Waste Transfer Station 
Brooklyn Transfer

North Brooklyn residents are mobilizing to hold 5-Star Carting accountable. Residents who live near the facility complain about the smells, fumes, sprays, and constant truck traffic on their streets and sidewalks. Click here to watch their film
In The News

State of Politics:   Left Launches Climate Change Push to Pressure Cuomo (12/16/15)



Politico New York: A Progressive caucus pushes two energy policies (12/14/15)



Independent Sources - CUNY TV: Still Struggling (11/11/15)
 


City & State: Talking Up Trash Zones: Union, recycling advocates promote plan to revamp city's sanitation setup (10/23/15)
 

 
NY Daily News: NYC sanitation system needs cleanup: survey (10/21/15) 

 

 
 

 
NYC-EJA on Social Media  
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December 2015 - Volume 6, Issue 5
Dear   

Winter is Coming... Isn't it?
For your Winter Solstice reading pleasure:

An international spotlight was cast on climate change at the recent Climate Conference in Paris.  Unfortunately, the Paris Agreement falls short of what is needed to protect the  communities that stand to lose the most from global climate change. 

This Fall, we at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA) have continued our  push for true climate justice at a more local level through our ongoing campaigns and projects-- and even started a few new ones.
NY Renews 
NY Renews Launch Event

Over 1,000 people turned out for simultaneous launch events of the NY Renews campaign in NYC and Buffalo last Wednesday! 

NY Renews is an unprecedented coalition of community-based organizations, environmental justice groups, labor unions, faith groups, business leaders, and other advocates from across the state working together to demand healthy communities, good jobs, and 100% clean energy. The campaign is calling on Albany to make New York State's climate commitments legally enforceable and ensure accountability. 

NYC-EJA is a proud co-convener of the coalition.  Check out  NYRenews.org  to learn more, and text NY to 97779 to receive action alerts as the campaign progresses. 
National Day of 
Climate Action 


October 14 was the National Day of Climate Action, galvanizing 150+ events across the United States and a special tweet from the White House. Here in New York City, we targeted Chase Bank for investments in the fossil fuel industry and destructive financial policies that undermine communities of color. Hundreds took to the streets of Midtown with colorful artwork highlighting seemingly disparate themes such as fossil fuels, home foreclosures, and private prisons- all bankrolled by Chase. 

"Climate change is too big for any one organization or sector to address alone," said Eddie Bautista, executive director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA). "That is why we are building a multi-sector, broad-based movement that unites communities, led by those on the frontlines, to demand bold action and to show those in power that climate change is everyone's issue." 
NYC-EJA In NYTimes Opinion Pages
Flooding the day after Sandy
Source: The New York Times













On Hurricane Sandy's third Anniversary, the New York 
Times'  Room For Debate  asked an important question: are coastal communities safer? 

Drawing from NYC-EJA's research on climate change impacts in industrial neighborhoods throughout the city, Executive Director Eddie Bautista injected the experiences of New York's most vulnerable residents into the debate. " Low-income and elderly individuals are disproportionately at risk in disaster, as they were in the aftermath of Sandy in 2012," he writes. 

Read on in The New York Times.
Community Co-Ownership of Microgrids?

NYC-EJA continues to confront the evolving state of climate change with ground-breaking community-led environmental interventions.  A growing conversation was triggered at the Sandy Regional Assembly where NYC-EJA, our members and allies first began strategizing around community control of infrastructure - including microgrids.

Through our pioneering efforts with the Brooklyn Alliance for Sustainable Energy (BASE), NYC-EJA has partnered with energy start-up BlocPower to explore the possibility of community co-ownership of a microgrid, located within the Brooklyn Queens Demand Management (BQDM) Program area run by Con Edison.  Funded by NY Prize, NYC-EJA, BASE and BlocPower's feasibility analysis of how a clean energy microgrid might operate under an innovative community co-ownership equity stake could be a game-changer for the myriad microgrid discussions underway - all while advocates and elected officials closely monitor NYS' s Reforming Energy Vision initiative, the state's largest overhaul of energy policies and infrastructure in a generation.  Stay tuned...

Commercial Waste is Failing Small Businesses
 
In New York City, individual businesses have to hire one of the hundreds of private hauling companies that the city has licensed to handle commercial waste. Every night, thousands of commercial garbage trucks from these companies crisscross New York City's streets collecting garbage and recyclables with great inefficiency and little accountability.

The Transform Don't Trash coalition recently released research which found that the commercial waste system fails many of the businesses, in particular small businesses, that are required to pay for and utilize it. In interviews with more than 500 business owners conducted for this report, one theme became clear: the commercial carting industry needs to change. Despite a major overhaul two decades ago, intended to eradicate organized crime associated with the industry, standards to ensure that private haulers process waste sustainably, transparently, and at a fair price are greatly lacking.

It Takes Roots To Weather The Storm

In September 2014, the People's Climate March drew more than  400,000 people   to the streets of NYC- making it the largest climate march and environmental justice mobilization in history. 
 
This could not have been done without a  massive collaboration  between local, regional and national organizations, coalitions and alliances. The Climate Justice Alliance and the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance have  just released their story   of all the planning and organizing that went into this mobilization. 

Be sure to check for more exciting news from NYC-EJA on our website and in future newsletters!
 
In solidarity,

Eddie Bautista
Executive Director
The New York City Environmental Justice Alliance