August 4, 2022
Green Careers – Building Electrification
Most of New York City was built before “sustainability” was even a word, but now it is poised to become the most environmentally friendly city in America. Retrofitting buildings, greening the grid, installing solar, and more will require a lot of people in boots making it a reality. Join us to talk about the trades, crafts, and the education needed to be part of what promises to be a huge workforce of green collar jobs. Come hear from professionals involved in various aspects of converting our buildings from using fossil fuels to electricity.
(more…)May 8, 2022
Monthly Forum – Removing Barriers to Sustainable Urban Living
As the populations of cities continue to grow, there is more pressure to increase housing stock and expand the transportation system to keep up with demand. While cities like New York City certainly have parts of the puzzle solved, there isn’t widespread implementation of best practices to make buildings and the neighborhoods in which they reside sustainable in an affordable, equitable way that checks off all the boxes.
(more…)April 17, 2022
Monthly Forum: Flood Resiliency in NYC 10 Years After Sandy
This year marks the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy, a Category 4 “Super Storm” that caused 19 billion dollars in damage, taking 43 lives in New York City alone. By the morning of October 30th 2012, much of the city was without power and vital infrastructure and thousands of buildings were flooded due to both record storm surge and relentless rain.
(more…)April 12, 2022
Monthly Forum – Is New York City Prepared for Electric Vehicles?
Last year, the Dept. of Transportation and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability published a bold vision for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in NYC, projecting that 400,000 gasoline vehicles might be switching to EVs by 2030, which would go a long way in helping the City meet its climate decarbonization goals. Yet there were only about 1,573 chargers in all of NYC at the time of publication.
(more…)April 7, 2022
Green Careers – Resume Workshop
Join GreenHomeNYC Careers group in an online resume workshop. During timed sessions with green and career professionals, you’ll receive constructive, personalized feedback on how to present your skills and experience so you get the attention of employers and land the job you want!
(more…)Changing NYC for the Greater Good
By Denny Ting
Fighting Air Pollution and Climate Change with Electric Vehicles
As NYC begins to revert from a remote environment back to in-person work and activities, the interactions between transportation and air quality demand our attention. According to the NYS DMV, car registrations in NYC spiked 37% from August to October 2020. This raises the question of how we can prevent an increase in the number of vehicles on the road from worsening NYC’s already dreadful air quality, as measured by the “Air Quality Index”, which reports changing levels of air pollution. Long-term health risks attributed to poor air quality from high concentrations of PM2.5 pollution (fine particulate matter that are 2.5 microns or less in width) result in the increasing development of asthma, developmental delays, lung cancer, and premature deaths in children.
(more…)February 25, 2022
Is New York City Prepared for Electric Vehicles?
by Raul Larios
Six months ago, the Dept. of Transportation and the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Sustainability published a bold vision for Electric Vehicles (EVs) in NYC. The report estimated that about 20% of the 2 million gasoline vehicles registered in the city (or about 400,000) would be switching to EVs by 2030.
(more…)February 15, 2022
Monthly Forum – Is Hydroelectricity Clean Energy?
Governor Hochul is on course to sign a 25-year contract to import Canadian mega-dam hydroelectricity via the Champlain Hudson Power Express, aka CHPE. The power will be transported via a 336-mile high-voltage transmission line from Quebec to NYC, about a third of which will be buried in the Hudson River. Is this the best plan for New York? Is mega-dam hydropower in fact clean energy?
Time: 6:30-8:00 pm
Date: February 16th
Where: Online
(more…)January 5, 2022
Annual Green Catwalk
Our first forum event for 2022 will be our annual Green Catwalk.
The Green Catwalk showcases new trends, technologies, and innovations in the environmental sustainability sphere. There is a diverse lineup of professionals that will talk about the importance of green infrastructure that increases storm-water capture, how street space can be shared more equitably, among other topics. Join us January 19th!
SPEAKERS
Jackson Chabot, the Director of Public Space Advocacy at Open Plans Shino Tanikawa, Executive Director of the New York City Soil & Water Conservation District More Speakers will be announced. Check back soon!
Jackson Chabot is the Director of Public Space Advocacy at Open Plans. Since joining Open Plans, Jackson has led the advocacy efforts for Open Plan’s proposal to create an Office of Public Space Management (OPSM) and launch Building Blocks, a block-level placemaking process. Jackson is a graduate of Pratt Institute’s Masters in Urban Placemaking and Management program and currently serves as the Treasurer for the NY Metro Chapter of the American Planning Association.
Shino Tanikawa is the Executive Director of the New York City Soil & Water Conservation District. She has a Master of Science degree in Marine Environmental Sciences from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (formerly Marine Sciences Research Center) at Stony Brook University. As the Executive Director, she oversees the District’s stormwater & green infrastructure, environmental education, and urban soils programs. She currently serves on the Steering Committee of the Stormwater Infrastructure Matters (SWIM) Coalition, advises the leadership team of the NY/NJ Harbor & Estuary Program Citizens Advisory Committee, and is a founding member of the NYC Urban Soils Institute. Shino is also a founding member of the Bronx River Alliance, was the President of the Metro Forest Council and a board member of the Nature Network.
Time: 6:30-8:00 pm
Date: January 19th
Where: Online
Viewpoint: Residential Waste Management—A Tale of Two Places
by Tamanna Mohapatra
In May 2021, after having lived for 10+ years in NYC, my husband and I decided to move to Switzerland. It took us a while to find a place and settle in. Throughout this period, I kept my sustainability hat on. I was from New York City, which at least in some people’s eyes (including mine) is making an earnest move towards better recycling practices. I was moving to a place that’s considered to have one of the highest rates of household recycling, per a 2019 Euroreporter article. Comparing my past and present domains would be a fun piece at the very least, and might be educational too. How good (or bad) is NYC’s system, and what does the city stand to learn from Switzerland?
(more…)