At a time when environmental policy, regulations, research, and budgets face unprecedented and systemic attacks, new climate coalitions are emerging,  from local neighborhoods to the global stage. These coalitions, powered by the vision and voices of communities, are advancing environmental and climate justice by bringing together policymakers, philanthropy, grassroots organizations, and academia to chart a path toward a just, thriving economy and healthy futures for all.

This Climate Week 2025 keynote will bring together multisectoral leaders who are building and sustaining these transformative alliances. 

6:00 - 7:30 PM EST

Wollman Hall

66 West 12th Street, New York, NY, 10011

Join us for a galvanizing conversation on how grassroots-led climate solutions are not just innovative and scalable, but essential for the systemic change we need.

Environmental justice (EJ) and climate justice (CJ) grassroots communities are building holistic climate solutions that also address complex social issues in a way that puts communities and peoples in charge of their own futures. This work is often mistranslated or inaccurately translated in the “impact” frameworks of funders and policymakers, who may incorrectly perceive this work as too small to tackle the climate crisis effectively, even though these efforts are key to creating healthy and thriving climate-resilient communities. 

12:00 - 1:30 PM EST

Tishman Auditorium

63 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

This Event has reached capacity for now. You can join the waitlist here, and as seats open up, we will add names from the waitlist based on the order in which we receive your request. All event attendees and waitlist registrants will receive a video recording of the event.

To navigate our current climate reality, we must imagine a better climate future. Join visionaries Stacey Abrams (Rewiring America) and Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson (Urban Ocean Lab) for an in-depth conversation about imagining better futures, finding hope and motivation for continued action, and where climate solutions are already taking root. Esteemed multi-disciplinary artist Aisha Shillingford (Intelligent Mischief) will guide an interactive visioning exercise to help us collectively articulate the climate futures we want and how we can start building them now.

8:30 AM - 4:00 PM EST

Starr Foundation Hall

The New School University Center Room UL102

63 5th Ave, New York, NY 10003

The International Rights of Nature Tribunal will convene at Climate Week in New York to address the global challenges posed by the fossil fuel industry. This session aims to amplify the Rights of Nature as a crucial tool in defending life on Earth – featuring testimony from frontline community representatives and expert panels. The Tribunal will scrutinize the fossil fuel industry’s impacts on biodiversity and BIPOC communities and advocate for a just and clean transition by keeping fossil fuels in the ground. Join us in this pivotal moment as we pave the way toward COP30 in Brazil.

12:00 - 2:00 PM EST

Wolff Conference Room

Albert and Vera List Academic Center, room D11036

6 E 16th Street, New York, NY 10003

As a prelude to Climate Week, the Tishman Environment Design Center will host our visiting scholar Kali Akuno for a second lunch and learn. Kali will build upon the last session by expanding on the Build and Fight Formula that Cooperation Jackson utilizes in its mission to build just communities in Jackson, MS. 

As an environmental justice leader, Kali is working on a transformative book, The Build and Fight Formula. With this text, Kali aims to provide strategic suggestions for social movements in the US and beyond. These suggestions focus on building participatory democracy from the grassroots level and altering the commodity form of production to regenerate social relations. Ultimately, this transformation aims to end various forms of exploitation and extraction and reposition our communities in the right relationship with our ecologies. Kali's work is not just inspiring but also offers hope for a better future.

NEW TIME AND LOCATION

7:00-8:45 PM EST

Kellen Auditorium, 

66 5th Ave, NY, NY 10011

Bhopal is the Hiroshima of the petrochemical industry.

This December 3rd, 2024, marks the 40th anniversary of the 1984 Bhopal disaster when a poorly maintained pesticide factory leaked a massive cloud of chemical gas into Bhopal, a densely populated Indian city. The negligence of Union Carbide along with the governments of the United States of America and India directly contributed to this ongoing crisis.

Frontline environmental justice communities in the U.S. share a joint fight and understanding with those in Bhopal, India. The Bhopal struggle for corporate accountability mirrors struggles in Louisiana and West Virginia against Dow Chemical and other multinational corporations for decades of environmental injustices from petrochemical production. It has been close to 40 years since the disaster and those who struggle in Bhopal stand alongside survivors of numerous other chemical disasters that are still fighting to protect their community, like those impacted by the Trinity atom bomb tests in New Mexico to East Palestine, Ohio. The environmental justice movement is global. 

 The Food Studies Program, The Tishman Environment and Design Center, and the Food and Social Justice Action Research Lab (FJAR)  at The New School are honored to present this multi-media panel event featuring author, sound practitioner, and DJ Lynnée Denise; artist, curator, mother, and producer Elissa Blount Moorhead; and Assistant Professor of Race and Media in the School of Media Studies at The New School Dr. Brittnay Proctor-Habil. The event is part of the Food Studies Program’s “Food, Foraging, and Social Justice” series and The New School’s Earth Month activities. It is also co-sponsored by the SexTech Lab and the Gender and Sexualities Studies Institute at The New School.

Join Mother Jones, Grist, and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School for a discussion about equity, infrastructure, jobs, and the urban energy transition. Featuring the “father of environmental justice,” Dr. Robert Bullard (Texas Southern University, Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice), Jade Begay (Indigenous Rights Advocate and Climate Researcher) and Leah Thomas (Intersectional Environmentalist), we’ll dig into the issues, opportunities, and solutions driving an equitable transformation for America.

Join Mother Jones, Grist, and the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School for a discussion about equity, infrastructure, jobs, and the urban energy transition. Featuring the “father of environmental justice,” Dr. Robert Bullard (Texas Southern University, Bullard Center for Environmental & Climate Justice), Jade Begay (Indigenous Rights Advocate and Climate Researcher) and Leah Thomas (Intersectional Environmentalist), we’ll dig into the issues, opportunities, and solutions driving an equitable transformation for America.

The Climate Justice Club is thrilled to announce the Earth Day Art Show 2024, scheduled for April 20th!

This Earth Day Art show is hosted by the Climate Justice Club and will take place on Saturday, April 20, 11 am - 8 pm, Second floor of 39 W 13th Street. There will be drinks, food, and live music to bring together the New School's climate justice community. The purpose of the show is to represent voices and stories that are impacted by climate change and environmental injustice and show artwork from people in our communities that are advocating for equity, inclusivity, justice, and more.

Join us for Black Lands and the Poetics of Citizenship, a multimedia panel discussion about the contradictions and revelations of Black land ownership in rural America. The event will feature excerpts from the works of  Amy Godine (The Black Woods: Pursuing Racial Justice on the Adirondack Frontier), Paul A. Miller (Searching for Timbuctoo), and Dr. Gail Myers (Rhythms of the Land). New School Professors Drs. Kristin Reynolds and Mia Charlene White will moderate the conversation, joined by Mike Harrington, Director of Sustainability Engagement of the Tishman Environment and Design Center and Wendy Scheir, Director of The New School Archives & Special Collections.

Join us for a transformative Earth Month event highlighting the results and recommendations from an 18-month study to understand future climate change in New York City, commissioned by the NYC Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice and Department of Citywide Administrative Services called the "Climate Vulnerability, Impact, and Adaptation Analysis (VIA)."  The study explores how current and emerging hazards such as flooding, sea level rise, and extreme heat pose substantial challenges to the city's infrastructure and communities. Learn more about this interdisciplinary effort bringing together expertise in academia, government, and the private sector, co-led by Professors Timon McPhearson and Joel Towers at The New School in partnership with NYC Interagency Collaborators. The results of the study will be used to inform development of the NYC Panel on Climate Change’s 4th Assessment. They focus on four key areas:

Join us to create a space to take a breath and just Be. Schantell Taylor and Marcia lee from Healing by Choice! will hold an interactive space to touch our grief and navigate these challenging and changing times with water and the wastelands as our mirrors. We will learn embodied practices and have space for self-reflection and small groups. Please be in a place where you listen to yourself and the earth. If possible, though not required, it would be lovely to be somewhere where you can touch this earth.

Please note, this event is only for The New School students, staff, and faculty. You will need to use your The New School email address to register. 

Tishman Center is hosting a special event, Centering Justice: A Conversation with Environmental Justice Leaders. You will want to attend this public and free event!

UPDATED PROGRAM 

We are delighted to share that Dr. Jalonne L. White-Newsome, the first-ever Federal Chief Environmental Justice Officer for the White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ), will join us for an empowering conversation with our distinguished keynote speaker, Dr. Beverley Wright.

The Tishman Center's co-director, Dr. Ana Baptista, will be our insightful moderator. We have also added a high-energy performance by Batalá New York, the premier All-Women, Black-led Afro-Brazilian percussion ensemble, to the program.

Cities such as New York are at serious risk from climate change, and have the power and responsibility to take the lead on solutions. This Symposium will explore potential scalable regenerative technologies for the world's largest urban constructed environments. The material science of carbon storing building components is receiving much needed attention, but scalable solutions need wider adoption and development. The building industry is focused on reaching carbon neutrality in operations and construction, taking a holistic view of the enormity of this responsibility. Passive House energy efficiency coupled with scalable carbon storing materials for widespread use and large urban contexts, can provide the solution humanity needs and deserves now.  Join us as we explore the emerging tools, policy, start-up financing, and material science around embodied carbon in high performance architecture.

Cities such as New York are at serious risk from climate change, and have the power and responsibility to take the lead on solutions. This Symposium will explore potential scalable regenerative technologies for the world's largest urban constructed environments. The material science of carbon storing building components is receiving much needed attention, but scalable solutions need wider adoption and development. The building industry is focused on reaching carbon neutrality in operations and construction, taking a holistic view of the enormity of this responsibility. Passive House energy efficiency coupled with scalable carbon storing materials for widespread use and large urban contexts, can provide the solution humanity needs and deserves now. Join us as we explore the emerging tools, policy, start-up financing, and material science around embodied carbon in high performance architecture.

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.

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. 

While local zoning codes and land use policies historically have been tools for segregating people and concentrating pollution in low-income communities and communities of color, community-based advocacy can transform these same tools into means for addressing cumulative burdens borne by environmental justice communities.

Join the Tishman Environment and Design Center and the Milano School's Environmental Policy and Sustainability Management (EPSM) program for an Earth Month mixer at the new Tishman Center space at 79 5th Avenue. We will have snacks and refreshments on hand.

RSVP to our Earth Day Art Show happening on Saturday, April 22nd from 3-8pm, located at Wollman Hall on the 5th floor of the 11street Eugene Lang Building. This event is hosted by Climate Justice and BIPOC Earth Club at The New School to provide an alternative form of knowledge sharing in regard to environmental justice. TNS Student artists will showcase works in a variety of mediums such as sculpture, visual arts, multi-media, fashion, and more to highlight relationships with Mother Earth and demonstrate creative ways to implement environmental optimism and awareness in their lives. We believe that in holding this social event we can provide the public with the opportunity for building meaningful relationships with one another on issues that affect us all, so we hope you will join us for this immersive experience. There will be food, drinks, prizes, music, interactive art-making, and more! 

Over two decades ago Dr. Gail P. Myers, the co-founder of Farms to Grow, Inc and director of Rhythms of the Land, interviewed her first 92-year-old elder on life and legacy of a sharecropper. During the summer of 2012, Dr. Myers toured 10 southern states, interviewing over 30 farmers, sharecroppers, and gardeners and a 5th generation coil basket weaver. Several of these interviews are with elders, 98, 92, and 109.  

Rhythms of the Land fills the gap of the missing narrative after emancipation and honors black farmers as stewards of the land, love of family and community despite the overwhelming odds of life as a sharecropper.

For American architect and filmmaker Eric Franklin Romeo, better understanding the nuances of the environments that surround us has always served as a primer to designing within it. Over the last five years he has been observing the forgotten and underestimated areas of New York City through the moving lens of film.

His new documentary, And the Worlds That Surround, combines these striking visuals with experimental sound design, compelling interviews and captivating musical compositions to create a journey into a world within the world’s greatest city, while highlighting the impact that this urban development has had on the natural environment.

Are you curious about what we do at the Tishman Center or how you can get involved in the work we do? Are you curious about how the university itself handles things like waste, energy and water usage? Do you have questions about Environmental or Climate Justice or want to know about our student and faculty grant programs? Have questions about the Environmental Justice Movement Fellowship? Do you have suggestions for improving sustainability at the university?

Join this informal online info session to learn about sustainability at the university and how you can get involved as a student, staff or faculty member. We welcome all of your questions! 

Join researchers from the Tishman Environment and Design Center and the Urban Systems Lab for a conversation exploring new research on environmental policy, sustainability, and urban resilience! As increasing resources and attention get directed toward climate and clean energy initiatives, it is imperative to understand how these efforts both contribute toward and detract from social and racial equity.

ndigenous peoples are the most impacted by decisions made about our waterways. Indigenous original instructions embedded in our languages and ancient stories, ceremonies and rituals maintain, sustain and protect biodiversity. We will have two panels of Indigenous speakers from various regions of the world. Speakers will address the central roles of Indigenous knowledges and Indigenous governance as real solutions.

Buddha Weeps in Jadugoda chronicles the deadly impacts of uranium mining on adivasis (South Asian Indigenous peoples) living in the community of Jadugoda in the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand. Decades of unsafe mining, milling, and tailings management by the Uranium Corporation of India have contaminated the water, land, and air, destroying local ecosystems and causing cancer, congenital birth defects, and numerous other health problems among local residents. The film highlights the gross abuse of power by state authorities that has displaced the original inhabitants of the region and abrogated internationally accepted norms and safety precautions for the handling of uranium and its by-products.

Lake Superior Our Helper: Stories from Batchewanaung Anishinabek Fisheries (2022, Batchewana First Nation) follows Chief Dean Sayers through a series of conversations with community members to reveal the cultural, political, and ecological relationships surrounding their fisheries. Inviting us on a journey of Lake Superior, the film shares the messages of Elders, youth, fishers, community leaders, and their visions for the future of Batchewana’s fisheries. It also documents how fishing has changed over time, conflicts with the Canadian state around management and regulation, principles of Indigenous law, and the culture and ceremony that are deeply embedded within fishing practices.