Climate Week 2026 Keynote Event at The New School
We are excited to share that this vital conversation convenes a powerhouse lineup of community leaders, mayors, scientists, researchers, and journalists. Across three dynamic panel conversations, we’ll examine the collision of technology, energy, and democracy; the rapid expansion of AI data centers; the legacy of nuclear weapons; the toll of these developments on Indigenous communities, communities of color, and rural areas; and the affordability crisis and what it will take for everyday people to build power and shape real solutions.
Together, these conversations connect today’s most pressing challenges to a larger question: How do communities organize and build power within democratic structures when government and industry leave them behind?
AI’s Hidden Toll
LaTricea Adams
President & CEO, Young, Gifted & Green, Memphis
Manish Bapna
President & CEO, Natural Resources Defense Council, Washington, DC
Mayor Kate Gallego
City of Phoenix
Adam Mahoney (Moderator)
National Climate and Environment Reporter, Capital B News, New Orleans
Nuclear Legacy: Mapping Local Impacts
Lilly Adams
Co-Creator, US Nuclear Impacts Map, Brooklyn, New York
Moñeka De Oro
Co-Executive Director, Micronesia Climate Change Alliance, Guam/Guåhan
Leona Morgan (Diné)
Indigenous Community Organizer and Anti-Nuclear Activist, Diné No Nukes, Albuquerque, New Mexico
Sharon Weinberger (Moderator)
Editor-in-Chief, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Washington, DC
Power in Our Hands: Solutions for an Affordable, Just Future
Dr. Ana Isabel Baptista
Associate Professor of Environmental & Climate Justice at the Parsons School of Design and Director, Tishman Environment & Design Center at The New School, New York
Dr. Gretchen Goldman
President & CEO, Union of Concerned Scientists, Washington, DC
Bill McKibben
Author, Educator, Activist, and Founder, Third Act & 350.org, Vermont
Mayor Michelle Wu
City of Boston
Garrison Hayes (Moderator)
Correspondent, Mother Jones, Nashville
This event is presented by the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School, in collaboration with Climate Desk Live partners Mother Jones, Capital B News, and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
This event is free and open to the public. Please register in advance to reserve your seat for this highly anticipated event.