New York City lawmakers questioned environmental officials Wednesday, September 30, over whether the city needs a new agency to oversee coastal protection as billions of dollars in flood defenses move from planning into construction. The hearing came just days after a major coastal storm tested the city’s response to flooding in vulnerable waterfront communities. 

A powerful Nor’easter brought high winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding to New York City over the weekend, hitting low-lying communities in Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island, with flooding and widespread tree damage. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), working with New York City Emergency Management and the Parks Department, pumped water from flooded areas after tides receded and deployed crews to help clear downed trees.

With the storm’s impact still fresh, much of the Committee on Environmental Protection and Waterfronts hearing centered on protecting the city’s roughly 520 miles of shoreline. According to the DEP, Mamdani’s administration made a commitment to invest $43.2 million to  help the Bureau of Coastal Resilience (BCR) in expanding from six employees to about 75 and developing a comprehensive citywide coastal resilience plan.

Committee Chair James F. Gennaro pressed officials on whether New York needs a single authority responsible for coordinating coastal protection. “I envision the bureau… having like the grand vision,” Gennaro said, describing his concept as the “Oz of coastal resilience.” The BCR explained that its focus is not to plan new coastal resilience projects, but fulfilling the ongoing operations that continue to protect New Yorkers.

Gennaro’s Introduction 936 would establish a Department of Coastal Protection responsible for developing policies and programs, administering funds, reporting on coastal needs, educating the public and coordinating with other government entities.

DEP Deputy Commissioner for Public Affairs Beth DeFalco urged flexibility as the relatively new BCR begins operating major infrastructure. “It’s one thing theoretically…about operating floodgates; it’s another thing to operate floodgates,” DeFalco said, adding that DEP is “learning a lot as these things come online.”

BCR Assistant Commissioner of Engineering Kathryn Prybylski said, centralized planning is already part of the bureau’s mission. “One planning entity to carry the ball – yes, that is the goal for the bureau,” she said. Prybylski said the Resilient Infrastructure for Shoreline Edges initiative, or RISE, is expected to be completed by the end of the year and will provide building blocks for a broader coastal resilience plan. 

The committee also considered Introduction 931, which would require DEP to maintain at least two mobile drinking fountains per Council district and deploy them at publicly accessible locations when temperatures are forecast to reach at least 82 degrees, prioritizing neighborhoods that are highly vulnerable to heat. DEP raised concerns about cost and staffing, with DeFalco saying the proposal could require more than 100 workers because two employees would be needed at each station. 

Under Introduction 343, certain street crane permit fees for rooftop solar installations would be waived. Buildings officials testified that solar filings declined from about 9,400 in 2024 to 8,500 in 2025 and about 3,300 so far in 2026, as lawmakers examined whether reducing permitting costs could remove a financial barrier to expanding solar installations.

Red tape is likely shutting out community organizations and volunteer groups from New York City Public Parks. To address mounting frustrations the New York City Council’s Committee on Parks and Recreation conducted an oversight meeting on September 30 to examine the event permitting process, created by the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. Committee Chair Ty Hankerson, representative of District 28, brought out NYC Parks representatives to discuss the requirements for events ranging from small community gatherings to large commercial productions. 

NYC Park Representative David Cerrone, Deputy Commissioner for Activation, Environment, and Planning for NYC Parks explains that a special event permit is required for gatherings that have more than 20 participants. Applicants must pay a nonrefundable $25 application fee and must apply at least 21 days before an event. But when it comes to events with

more than 500 participants, or are commercial in nature, are considered more complex and must be handled by the department’s Citywide Special Events Office, each that have their own guidelines that vary by borough and park classification, that could require additional coordination or permits from other city agencies. 

“We are committed to helping New Yorkers plan fun and creative special events in parks, because we know a park with robust activity is safer and more enjoyable for everyone, but we must still uphold our primary responsibility as the caretaker and steward of city parkland,” said Cerrone. 

The city council questioned the approval timing for events and how that makes it more difficult for community based organizations to make a plan around their local parks without knowing whether or not the permit is going to be approved until a few days before the event. “It’s not until a few days before that we hear, hey, you can’t have your event, it’s been denied, does the Parks Department not see that as problematic?” said Hankerson. Cerrone responded that outright denials are “exceedingly rare,” accounting for less than 1% of permits processed. 

Councilmember Frank Morano, representing the 51st District, asked “How many park days do New Yorkers lose every year to special events?.” Referring to how many days might an average park goer not be able to visit their local park due to the event’s required setup, the event itself, cleanup, and restoration. Cerrone explains that while NYC Parks does track event start and end times they do not track the entire closure period but stresses that they are “ready and willing to work” with the committee and any concerned New Yorkers because they want to have a system that works for everyone. 

Community organizations, however, expressed continued concerns about navigating the permitting system. Heather Lubov, the Executive Director of City Parks Foundation, an

independent nonprofit organization that offers free community events across parks in the five boroughs, acknowledged that NYC Parks has made improvements, including clearer policies, fee waivers, and better online guidance. Even so, she maintains that “the system and the rules itself is what remains too rigid.” Lubov talks of the struggles of the Summer Stage, a concert program they host in Rumsey PlayField in Central Park, in trying to get park permits. Lubov asserted that  delayed permit approvals have caused the program to lose major artists. She urged parks officials and the council to end rules, such as those in their experience in Central Park, that force groups to hoard unused dates in order to maintain tenure. 

“If it’s hard for us, I can’t imagine what it’s like for a volunteer group trying to plan a small event,” said Lubov.

As the $3.5 billion vision plan combining an all-electric, 60-acre port with a mixed-use waterfront community in Red Hook marked its year anniversary, Carroll Gardens Association hosted a community forum regarding the future of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal. 

The attending maritime professionals encouraged residents to put freight transportation at the top of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal’s redevelopment priorities, arguing that moving more goods by water could reduce truck traffic, improve air quality and support waterfront jobs. 

Among attendees at Sacred Hearts Church, held on Sept. 28, was a special guest – Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez. “The future of New York is on the water,” Velázquez told the enthusiastic gathering, “The community fought for the process to be transparent, now it’s on us to address the issues.”

“It’s a bridge VS real estate,” said Phaedra Thomas, a Brooklyn industrial expert and former executive director of the Southwest Brooklyn Industrial Development Corporation. Having spent 10 years of her career in Sunset Park, she argued that the Brooklyn Marine Terminal should mainly be understood as transportation infrastructure. 

Jim Tampakis, founder of Marine Spares International and a loangtime Red Hook maritime business owner, proposed a waterborne freight and transportation combined distribution system. According to his plan, goods would arrive at the terminal, be sorted into containers and travel by electric vessels to waterfront sites in the city. Tampakis also proposed to have solar panels on terminal buildings to help power operations. 

The stated vision of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, which is overseeing the re-development of the port, includes using the terminal as a major hub in its Blue Highways network. The network aims to move freight by water and reduce reliance on trucks. The representatives from the New York City Economic Development Corporation attended the forum as well.

 “The EDC isn’t the enemy, they just got their priorities wrong,” said Geoff Utmark, a naval architect and maritime entrepreneur, who questioned the priorities guiding the terminal’s redevelopment.

Furthermore, Phaedra Thomas said, “There’re some amazing people at EDC that have brought real life maritime facilities and new investments in Sunset Park, the Navy Yard, Hunts Point, and all along our highway since the containerization happened. That is the maritime resurgence we want to see. I don’t want you to think that anything has died back. It has actually grown in the face of little to no support.” 

“We are in the epicentre of the biggest consumer market on the planet, and that is a fact,” she added.

Thomas argued that bringing more goods into Brooklyn by water could shorten truck journeys and help reduce pollution affecting nearby communities. She also called for longer-term stability for the existing port operations and a broader planning effort to reach the terminal’s full potential. She argued that the port’s future should be planned so it serves the city’s transportation needs, supports union workers and reduces the environmental issues in the neighborhood.

“Let’s put our thinking caps on and make New York City number one, because we are.”

As the sun set over the Gowanus Canal on September 24, shouts of “Hochul, eschucha estamos en la lucha,”(Hochul, listen, we are in this fight) rang from the gates of the Gowanus Generating Station. Community organizations and New York Assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes had gathered to demand Governor Kathy Hochul stop the possible expansion of the station, as power companies rush to meet the growing energy demand brought on by Artificial Intelligence companies. 

The Generating Station, which converts primarily fracked natural gas into electricity, is currently set for closure in 2029. The operating company, Alpha Generation LLC (AlphaGen) recently introduced plans to keep the station open while replacing the current generating units with new ones. AlphaGen says the new units will be twice as efficient as the current ones, while easing the stress on a New York power grid that is already stretched very thin. Community organizers believe the expansion is primarily intended to meet the growing energy demands of new AI data centers.

“We do not need dirty energy to power AI data centers, we need Governor Hochel to keep data centers out of New York and we need her to shut down this costly, dangerous and unnecessary frack-gas power plant,” Eric Weltmen, a senior organizer for Food and Water Watch, said while speaking at the protest. 

Weltmen and other organizers have good reason to believe this expansion may feed energy hungry AI data centers. AlphaGen is owned by Arclight Capital, an energy investment firm. In May of this year Arclight was bought for $1.05 Billion by DigitalBridge Group. In a statement specifically about the acquisition of Arclight, DigitalBridge CEO Marc Ganzi stressed the importance of access to energy infrastructure. 

“AI is rewiring the global power equation, accelerating investment across generation, transmission and behind-the-meter infrastructure,” said Ganzi in a press release about the purchase of Arclight.

Continuing up the AI investment food chain, DigitalBridge Group itself was recently bought by Japanese investment bank, SoftBank Group Corp. The deal was initially agreed in December of 2025 for around $4 billion. The press release to announce the purchase of DigitalBridge directly cited the need for improved energy infrastructure to power AI ventures as a reason for the purchase. 

“The planned acquisition of DigitalBridge will strengthen SoftBank Group’s ability to build, scale, and finance the foundational infrastructure needed for next-generation AI services and applications,” the statement read. 

In late 2024, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son took the stage with then President-elect Donald Trump to pledge $100 billion of investment in American AI companies. 

As investors pour billions of dollars into the acquisition of infrastructure such as the Gowanus Generating Station, local organizers fear the safety of their communities is being put at risk to fill the coffers of investment banks. 

“Its really really not good that a big AI data center investor is financing this whole operation,” Santosh Nandabalan, Organizing Director for New York Communities for Change said plainly. 

The plans to expand operation of the plant require permits from the state of New York. This is where the protestors are hoping Governor Hochul steps in, citing the generating station and a reliance on fossil fuels as threats to the environment and public health as reasons to shut down possible expansion. 

Though the new units are supposedly 50% more efficient than the current ones, the fear is prolonged and increased reliance on the burning of fossil fuels for the New York Energy grid. In 2019, the state of New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which required 70% of the state’s electricity to come from renewable sources by 2030. Reversing the 2029 closuring a fossil fuel powered generating station, would be in direct conflict with that act.

“We are here today. We will come back tomorrow. We will come back as many times as we have to, to ensure that the governor gets the message that we need to close the plant,” said New York assemblymember Marcela Mitaynes.  

In 2020, a similar plan to modernize the generating station was walked back after heavy pushback from the community. That plan however, was not backed by multi-billion dollar investment banks. Local organizers are expecting a long fight but are still confident they will come out on top. 

Protesters rallied on Tuesday outside Amazon’s midtown offices against the company’s plan to expand fossil-fueled AI data centers nationwide. Third Act, a nonprofit group that mobilizes Americans over 60 to protect democracy and fight climate change, organized the event. Third Act and its partner groups are concerned about expanding data centers that could affect everyone’s lives. As AI grows, serious concerns remain about its environmental consequences. 

Amazon plans to expand and build more AI data centers to meet demand. The company already has centers in Virginia, Ohio, and Oregon, with more expanding in Texas, Pennsylvania, Indiana, and more. These data centers require massive amounts of electricity to run; therefore, they will use a lot of natural gas.

Data Centers accounted for 415 terawatt-hours of electricity use in 2024 and can potentially double to 950 terawatt-hours by 2030, according to the International Energy Agency. More electricity requires more natural gas, which increases fossil fuel emissions and other resource use.

“Selling their services to find oil faster, recover more oil, and reduce the cost per barrel…This is sabotaging the economics of a just energy transition… Without these tools, renewables would be winning, and fossil fuels would be struggling to survive; right now, they’re thriving,” said Holly Alpine, a former tech worker from Microsoft. 

Given Amazon’s influence and power over public policy, its decision to expand its AI data centers may inspire other corporations. Beyond that, this expansion can also affect local communities near these data centers by changing how safe their environment is. 

Alan Palm, the executive director at the Better Future Project, an organization that drives climate change action and goes against the fossil fuel industry, believes “they have gas-powered turbines that put toxic pollution into the air and cause respiratory illnesses for people, and they’re also noisy and cause other things that really degrade people’s quality of life – in addition to their impacts on water availability and electricity prices.”

The expansion of these data centers hasn’t been well received by climate change activists and the general public because of their potential harm. However, these centers could pose fewer risks under certain circumstances. “If you want to build data centers, they should be built in places where the community benefits. They should be powered with renewable energy, so that they don’t contribute to air pollution,” said Palm.

As Amazon moves forward with its AI ambitions, environmental advocates continue to question what those plans could mean for communities and the climate.

Climate Week is in full swing in New York City (NYC), and Sustaining All Life (SAL), a partner grassroots organization of Re-evaluation Counseling (RC), is taking a different approach to helping to solve the climate crisis. The two groups led a workshop on Sept. 22 at Berkeley College in midtown to offer tools and resources to activists to avoid burnout and make connections between the challenges of fighting racism and combating climate change.

“I think we all see [racism and the climate emergency] sort of passively, but sometimes you need to shine a light on it,” said Dyresha Harris, a volunteer delegate who helped lead the workshop. “One thing I haven’t really seen outside of [SAL] is a tool and a space to unlearn the things that we’ve learned that get in the way of our activism, and get in the way of us working well together.” 

SAL focuses on providing emotional regulation and conflict tools to interested individuals and groups alike to unite them in their fight against the climate crisis, and support activists, new and seasoned alike. They utilize these connections to create an activism “network” and allow each activist to help in their own way.

“We want people to think for themselves what they think makes the most sense, and go out in the world and do it, and use us as your support base,” said Diane Shisk, a founding member of SAL.

SAL and UER provide these tools to ensure all solutions made by the movement are strong and inclusive of those it affects. Harris warns that any weakness threatens a proposed solution, either “festering” on its own or “can be leveraged or manipulated by people” opposed to the solutions. 

During the meeting, the organizations led multiple “listening exchanges,” a tool used since RC’s founding in the 1950s, to combat emotional burnout and conflicts. Listening exchanges involve giving each participant equal, uninterrupted time to express their feelings about any given topic without criticism, comment, or judgment from the others. 

While conversation about internalized racism is commonplace, the lack of conversation as to how to approach and solve the problem is a point of concern for Harris. 

The workshops and tools, given by SAL and UER, provide the solution lacking from these conversations, “other than just noticing [internalized racism] and feeling bad about it,” according to Harris.  

The workshop focused on building interpersonal skills and teaching methods to boost unification with those one might not necessarily agree with. Apathy is a “dangerous” part of the climate change conversation, according to Harris.  

“Because we are actually connected, we‘re on one planet, so the more we stop caring about any group of people, and what happens to them, the more it spreads,” said Harris. 

Racism and division stick with people long after the event happens, with the message internalizing in the person, according to Hoa-Li Tai, a volunteer delegate for SAL and UER. 

Closing the gaps between people is critical to advance their activism, according to Tai.

“The ability to heal out hurts is what’s gonna allow us to build that mass movement of diverse peoples we need to build [despite] all the divisions there are currently in the country,” said Tai. 

While SAL, RC, and UER do not have a solely political agenda as a support network, Tai believes the next step is uniting the people to pressure global political leadership to take action on solutions already envisioned by scientists and environmentalists. 

“This might be the biggest human project ever.  […] We know how to [solve the climate crisis],” said Tai. “So, what’s really missing is the political will.”

   The support given by SAL, RC, and UER is at a critical time, according to SAL member Shisk. 

   “We encourage people to be both involved in this movement of emotional support, which we think is important, and some movement in the world,” said Shisk. “Because we think if we don’t change the world, we’re not gonna have it forever.”

Reacting to the rapid expansion of data centers, speakers during Climate Week called for public disclosure of all AI project information and their environmental effects. They encouraged people to start holding state officials accountable for withholding information from the public. 

On Sept. 21, Pratt Institute hosted a public workshop “Big Problems vs Bigger Solutions: Data Centers & The Clean Energy Transition,” where presenters discussed the energy and water demands of AI data centers. 

“We’re here today to talk about energy, which as an issue is really scary,” said Summer Sandoval, one of the speakers that opened the workshop.

Luis Gonzalez, a resource mobilizer with 10 years of experience, stressed the importance of people being informed about AI data projects. According to him, the public isn’t given enough information about the distribution of energy and resources for AI, as well as the finances that go into it. “They’re forcing people to dehouse, while private forces are buying lands all over the world to build AI data centers,” said Gonzalez. 

As an example of financial challenge, Gonzalez discussed 18 data center projects started in Massachusetts, where the state paused new applications for a data center tax exemption while concerns rise about electricity costs and environmental effects, “Who’s paying for this? How is this going to affect our economy?”

Gonzalez also talked about another major issue – pollution. He discussed Boxtown, a historically Black town near xAI’s South Memphis data center, where residents have been concerned about pollution from methane turbines used to power the facility.“AI will not solve climate crisis. If anything, it will contribute to climate crisis,” he said.

Other speakers explored possible solutions for the growing issues. Sarah Z. Salem, director of environmental justice and community investment at Flatiron Energy, discussed battery storage and its usage. As a solution, she suggested that large batteries can store electricity when demand is lower and deliver it when demand rises.  

The last presenter, Zoe Voss Lee, founding principal of the urban planning practice Grounded, took another approach: a more distributed power grid of solar panels and batteries, that would reduce power demand through devices in homes and buildings.

As the presentations concluded, some questions remain unanswered – who distributes the power and who bears the consequences of unequal distribution?

During this year’s climate week in New York City, Environmental Advocates NY collaborated with the NY Black, Hispanic, Puerto Rican and Asian Legislative Caucus (NYSABPRHAL) to highlight the effects of climate change on marginalized communities in New York.

 The panel was convened by Environmental Advocates NY, which lobbies for environmental justice in underrepresented communities.

  Danny DaBare, the operational organizer of the event said, “Often local communities that are not immersed in the up to date climate news are left out of the conversation. This panel is really a moment to bring in voices that are often left out of the Climate week, that are black and brown, and don’t think of climate as a first priority.” 

   DaBare explained how the community can advocate for themselves and also connect with their elected officials. “Oftentimes, there’s a big disconnect between Albany and New York City, and by building that bridge through events like these, we were able to really draw the dots between the two geographies.”

   The panel included members of the New York Assembly – five women representing the Bronx, Queens, and a section in Manhattan; and the Hudson Valley. All of the panelists were part of the NYSABPRHAL caucus, and emphasized their concerns around environmental injustices they have seen in their communities. 

  NYSABPRHAL is a nonprofit organization that represents the legislators within these marginalized communities. With a body of 80 members, they are a part of the NY legislative branch and connect with each other to strengthen their advocacy.

  Moderating the panel was the Vice President of Environmental Advocates, Vanessa Turner and NY Representative Michaelle Sogales. Representative Sogales spoke about the intersectionality within these issues. “Right now we’re in the middle of a climate crisis, but an affordability crisis and they are intertwined and we need to look at it that way,” she said.

   The first issue they took up was the increase in flooding in the city. 

    Assemblywoman Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas represents neighborhoods in Queens includin: Astoria, Corona, East Elmhurst, Jackson Heights, and Woodside. Gonzalez-Rojas stated specifically in Queens how her residents have been affected since Hurricane Ida in 2021. “In 2021 we experienced rapid flooding. It was about 3 to 5 inches of flash flooding our communities experienced. There were about 11 people that died in Queens from Hurricane Ida,” she told the panel.

 The panelists also touched on a rise in respiratory issues such as asthma. With many residents living near highways and busy roadways, the air quality is depleted. In efforts to combat this, Assemblywoman Torres introduced a bill she hopes passes to prevent these issues. “I introduced a bill last year related to highway expansion called Highway Community Harm Act, where you cannot expand a highway that is one touching a zip code that has a very high rate of asthma or is near a public housing facility,” she said.

   Infrastructure was another topic of discussion, with many assemblywomen mentioning that a lot of the solutions can be fixed with new infrastructure. “It is the infrastructure investments that we need to have and the climate policies that we need to advance to really have a solution to the issues that communities like mine face,” stated González-Rojas.

   Representing the Bronx, Assemblywomen Amanda Septimo and Emérita Torres talked about the intersectionality they have seen within their districts. Though they represent different parts of the Bronx, one neighbor they dually represent is Hunts Point. “In the Bronx, climate change is not an existential question. You don’t have to really reach far to make the connection because it is always present,” stated Assemblywoman Septimo.

“Now what you see happening with climate change is exacerbating these issues […] we see an increasing frequency of days over 100 degrees.

   A common factor mentioned was the SLCP rollback which caused a lot of things to be reversed. However, the assembly people don’t want this to cause communities to lose hope.

       Asm. Sogales spoke on the importance of community movements and how their voices play a role in this. “This work is not just done with the government. It’s done with community advocacy and alliances that are created that identify issues and work towards a common goal.”

About a hundred people gathered outside OpenAI’s corporate headquarters in Manhattan on Monday to call attention to the threats AI poses and to demand that government pass data center moratoriums and regulations. 

“OpenAI will have us believe its presence in our lives is an inevitability,” Justin Maxwell of Cincinnati-based Communities United for Action, told the crowd. “AI is not the solution, we are.”

The protest, part of Climate Week, was spurred on by reports of threats to the environment by AI, its integration into the US military industrial complex, and concerns surrounding the economic impact of investment in what may turn out to be an AI bubble.

In a rare instance of solidarity across the political spectrum, about 60 percent of Republicans, Democrats and Independents are united in their opposition to data centers, according to recent polling from PBS News, NPR, and Marist. “We didn’t ask for this,” said Maxwell. “We want clean air to breathe.”

According to Cleanview, which tracks US power infrastructure, there are 3,525 data centers in the US, with a global tally of 12,259. The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, a non-profit focused on sustainable land use, has called AI data centers “resource ravenous”; In 2023, data centers in the US consumed 176 terawatt hours of electricity, roughly the same as the entire nation of Ireland. 

OpenAI, which owns ChatGPT, has partnered with the Los Alamos National Laboratory to install its GPT models on the US government’s Venado supercomputer, which is used for nuclear stockpile management. Founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman, OpenAI is a nearly trillion dollar company with projects spanning from generative AI to weapons manufacturing and national defense. 

In February of this year, OpenAI reached an agreement with the Department of Defense after its competitor Anthropic refused to, citing concerns of mass surveillance. Openai quickly deployed its models across the government’s classified network.

The website for Monday’s protest called attention to the fact that OpenAI President Greg Brockman donated 25 million dollars to MAGA, Inc. In February, Brockman told Wired magazine the donations were intended to gain favorable government support for his company.

In July, CNBC reported that OpenAI proposed handing a 5% stake in the company to the federal government. This would amount to around $42.6 billion of the company’s valuation of $852 billion.

The possibility of federal ownership of part of OpenAI is ringing alarm bells for some. 

“There’s a massive bubble being built,” said Jonathan Westin, executive director of Climate Defenders. Westin sees striking similarities between this moment of AI investment and the prelude to the 2008 financial crisis. “Even the ai companies are admitting they’re not as healthy and profitable as they said they were.” Westin, who was a prominent voice during the Occupy Wall Street protests, explained that like the banks in 2008, AI giants, after taking heavy losses, will require bailouts from the federal government, with taxpayers footing the bill. “We just want the billionaires to pay for it themselves.”

In a viral resignation post on X, former Anthropic employee Jacob Kaczynski warned of “civilizational risks” of unchecked AI development, saying that neither Anthropic nor OpenAI were being transparent with the public, writing that a possible superintelligence “could kill us all by the end of the decade.”

Westin pointed out that the real threat lies in the powering of increasing data centers with non-renewable resources. “It’s not like they’re going to hack into something and send missiles,” he said. “The thing that will really destroy all of us is climate change.”

It’s not only threats to the environment or economy that have some suspicious of AI, however. Many are concerned with AI’s effect on mental health.

“Everyone I know who’s using AI, they get f#@king dumber,” said Jodie Evans, co-founder of Codepink, a peace advocacy organization. “I’ve never seen so many people get dumb so fast in my life.”

A study published by the National Library of Medicine  found that extended use and exposure to AI chatbots “might trigger, amplify, or reshape psychotic experiences in vulnerable individuals.” In a landmark court case, the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine sued OpenAI over the teen’s suicide, saying Adam’s use of ChatGPT encouraged the teen to take his life. OpenAI then moved to counter-sue the family over claims that Adam “violated” user agreements.

Evans, 72, is incredulous about the efficacy of protests like the one on Monday. She pointed to the 1.5 trillion military spending bill making its way through congress, which would use taxpayer money for AI defense contracts. Evans said resistance to the bill is missing from the conversation. “It’s about the do, not the chant,” she said.  

The NY Department of Sanitation [DSNY] told the City Council on Sept. 15 that it will reexamine methods to recycle residential textiles, even though previous pilot programs failed. 

“There was a growing realization that we are asking more of our planet and its people than we can endure, and that this economic model, “Take, Make, Waste,” was unsustainable,” said DSNY Commissioner Gregory Anderson. 

Textiles, such as clothing or woven fiber items, make up roughly “5% of NYC’s waste stream”, despite a “robust industry” surrounding textile reuse or second hand stores, according to Anderson. 

Every year, New York State residents and businesses throw away almost 1.4 billion pounds of textiles that could be reused or recycled, according to the NY Department of Environmental Conservation. Textiles include clothing, footwear, belts, hats, handbags, drapes, towels, sheets and other linens.

DSNY is currently seeking to help outside companies boost their efficiency in processing the items, rather than creating a mandate and method themselves.

“For textiles, there are a number of not-for-profit and for-profit entities developing their own operational capacity for sorting and processing, and DSNY is ready to assist as this industry develops,” said Anderson. “[DSNY’s] current textile recycling partnership provides easy and convenient drop-offs for many New Yorkers, but we are interested in working with private sector partners to develop mass market solutions more aligned with our composting and traditional recycling programs.”

Introduction 256, a bill being heard by the City Council, would require Anderson and DSNY to “study the feasibility and potential environmental effects of a recycling mandate for household textiles,” according to the bill.

While DSNY supports the intent of the bill, Anderson reiterated that there are currently, “several programs to divert [textiles] from landfills” in place. 

One such program places a bin to collect residential textiles in various buildings, such as one that has 10+ apartment units, office buildings, commercial industries – like gyms, apparel businesses, and hotels, among others– as well as schools and non-profits. 

Helpsy, a DSNY partner, will empty and transfer the recycling to its proper facility once the bin is full in any one of the 2500 buildings enrolled in the program, according to their webpage.  

“We think it’s a really great program,” said Anderson. “It’s a great additional amenity that buildings can offer their residents.”

The bin program has been “stagnant” for the past few years, according to Anderson. This lack of demand has also been the scourge of past pilot projects by DSNY to recycle household textiles, according to Anderson. 

“We have in two different occasions piloted curbside collection of textiles, and sort of proven out what these challenges look like,” said Anderson. “We had an appointment based program around 2022-2023 where Staten Islanders could make appointments for the collection of textiles. We saw really really low demand for that program.”

Demand isn’t the only problem facing a collection program, according to Anderson.

“The first was a pilot we did, maybe a decade ago in Brooklyn, where we did the curbside collection [of textiles.] We actually sent out these pink bags out to residents and said, ‘put all your textiles in these pink bags. We’re coming on this day, and we’ll pick them up,’” recounted Anderson. “We found a couple of things there; One, if it rains, it really destroys the quality of the textile, and the ability to reuse those textiles, so then you’re automatically downcycling them into lesser products.”

Anderson also said that operational costs create a barrier for the department to maintain a curbside collection program for textiles.

Previously, bins had forms for donators to take as a tax write-off for donating their textiles, which have since been removed. 

“Our prior contract was with Housing Works, which is a non-profit. Our new contract is with Helpsy, which is a B-Corp, so they are not technically a non-profit, so you can’t do the tax write-offs,” said Kate Kitchener, the executive director of resource recovery at DSNY. “[Helpsy does] work with Goodwill and a lot of other partners. A lot of the clothing does end up going to non-profits, but because they have B-Corp status, they can’t actually do the tax donation receipt.” 

DSNY awarded the recent bid to Helpsy because the previous contract, held by Housing Works, would struggle to maintain the project, sometimes subcontracting the collection duties to Helpsy, according to Anderson. 

As Intro-256 moves through the legislative progress, DSNY will continue to study and find additional gaps in current recycling mandates between residents and corporations alike.

“When we are able to do a first commercial waste characterization study at some point in the future after commercial waste bins are fully rolled out,” explained Anderson. “We’ll have a much better understanding of how many textiles there are in the waste stream, where they’re coming from, what the condition is at the time of disposal, and really be able to dive into programs around that.” 

   Flushing Meadows Corona Park is the fourth biggest park in New York City, filled with soccer fields, an aquatic center, and green spaces that welcome over nine million people every year. But residents see a decline in the park’s condition. So the Alliance for Flushing Meadows Corona Park (FMCP) rallied local residents, parks workers, and elected officials on October 27  to demand greater public investment in the park.

. Flushing Meadows Corona Park is a Queens landmark. The park boasts over 898 acres of land, but the Alliance says the park is being neglected. “As stewards of the park, we want to see greater public investment into the infrastructure and maintenance challenges facing this borough’s flagship open space. It has been over 20 years since the last strategic plan was initiated, and Flushing Meadows Corona Park is long overdue for a new coordinated planning effort,” said Rob Carson, media contact at Alliance for FMCP. 

   But some questioned the Alliance’s loyalty to the park. “I find it ironic,” said lifelong Queens resident Margaret Flanagan. “To give away 25 acres of this park for the Metropolitan Casino, which is being built in a floodplain that maxes out our stormwater infrastructure and sewer infrastructure, and does nothing to add resilience to the waterfront.”

   Carson says the Alliance supports the Metropolitan Park development because it will “bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars in investment to Queens.”

   The Alliance wants more public and private funding for the park. “Our concern is that the influx of visitors to the new development will not be met with adequate maintenance support for the parkland outside of its footprint,” said Carson.

   The Alliance for FMCP wants the next mayor to build a ”stronger, fairer, and more sustainable future for this park and Queens as a whole,” said Anthony Sama, the Executive Director of the Alliance. 

   Advocates for New York City Parks explained that Flushing Meadows is one of the most overlooked parks within the city.   “Chronic flooding, deferred maintenance, and outdated infrastructure are the result of decades of underinvestment,” said Kathy Park Price, leader of New Yorkers for Parks Advocacy and Policy work. “As the Center for an Urban Future found, even a quarter inch of rain can shut down large areas of the park for days, and most of the funding over the past decade hasn’t gone to the unglamorous systems that actually keep the park functioning.”

   Shekar Krishnan, the council member for Jackson Heights, shared insights on the unequal treatment of  Flushing Meadows compared with other major NYC parks, based on a recent report from The Center for an Urban Future. “I think it’s 277 times more private investment per acre of Central Park than here in Flushing Meadows Corner Park,” Krishnan said. 

   Krishnan emphasized the lack of green space in Jackson Heights and in Queens as a whole: “In my neighborhood in Jackson Heights, we have the least amount of green space in all of New York City,” he said. “That’s why it’s important when they come here and use the different facilities and play here on the fields, that they feel that our city is treating it as the backyard that it is for millions of New Yorkers.”

   Queens Borough President Donovan Richards called for the city to do more to make “sure that we’re supporting this oasis, Flushing Meadows Corona Park.” With federal support for the city declining, Richares called for greater city investment to send “a clear message to those that seek to divide us. That this is a country and a borough, and a city that will be open to everyone.” He added, “There is no cavalry coming to save us.” 

On October 5, Brooklyn College students, faculty, staff, and community members took part in the first Tree Mapping Party, counting and recording trees on campus, as part of an effort  to make the city grow greener, become cooler, and sustain itself for New Yorkers of all backgrounds. The project supports Forest for All NYC, a program that aims for double the canopy cover on New York City’s five boroughs. The participants help track the health of New York City’s trees through observation.  

After they met at Tow Center for the Performing Arts, the participants grouped themselves and identified trees to collect data and calculated their ecological benefits, also they discussed their history on campus because Brooklyn College was founded. 

Professor of environmental ethics and philosophy Mike Menser, who co-chairs the college’s Sustainability Council, said the inventory gave students a way to connect environmental study with community action. “It’s a profound way of building a relationship with our environment through trees,” said Menser, at the launch of the inventory. “They’re keystone species that sustain everything around us, and by mapping them, we learn to see them as both living beings and necessary infrastructure.” 

Student leader Carina Alessandro is an Urban Sustainability major, who also has a concentration in Environmental Economics. She said her interest in sustainability grew from childhood recycling, and she later developed an interest in climate change. Alessandro’s capstone project provided the basis for the college tree inventory; she was influenced by Forest for All NYC and the City Parks Foundation tree census of New York City. 

Alessandro said her capstone team looked at how other campus communities have completed tree inventories and what tree data would be most useful for urban forestry. They were producing the groundwork for Brooklyn College’s mapping project with this information. She has kept developing it within an independent study of environmental democracy.  

Alessandro underscored her point by referencing the Environmental Democracy Index, which defines environmental democracy as “the idea that meaningful public participation is critical to ensure that land and natural resource decisions adequately and equitably address citizens’ interests.” 

Around 15 percent of Brooklyn College’s land cover is tree canopy cover, one of the highest percentages of any CUNY campus, although still less than the 30 percent goal of the Forest for All NYC project. Alessandro said the new inventory data will show not just which trees need attention, but also where planting new trees will be most effective. Monitoring canopy density and health creates an established baseline of conditions that allows long-term management of the college’s green spaces to reduce heat, flooding, and pollution common in an urban area. 

Trees can be the biggest asset. They cool buildings and reduce energy costs in the summer. Healthy trees and landscaping can increase property values and improve the impression visitors get of campuses upon arrival. At the same time, trees capture carbon dioxide, absorb pollution, and reduce stormwater runoff. 

This saves money, which would otherwise go into expensive infrastructure costs and clean-up. “Environmental benefits can usually be translated into economic ones,” Alessandro said, for the data could allow the college to quantify that savings. 

Participants took the inventory. Then they enjoyed food and beverages with ingredients grown on campus in the BC Eats Garden. Offered fresh oregano from the BC Eats Garden for sprinkling on pizza and homemade zucchini bread from zucchini that was also grown on campus. They pressed fresh apple cider on site, and attendees reflected on the day’s work and the future of sustainability at Brooklyn College. 

Menser closed by explaining that the next step would be to organize it and build a foundation for future work. He also invited people to attend a panel discussion on October 22 at Brooklyn College, titled “What Climate Action Do We Want from the Next Mayor of NYC?” The event features Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Southeast Brooklyn CDC executive director Rona Taylor, NYPIRG, and BC’s Urban Sustainability Program. 

As China increases its commitment to clean energy, climate activists at the September 24th New York Times Climate Forward event warned,\ the United States must increase access to inexpensive renewable energy – or risk its economy falling behind. At the same time, climate leaders described a need to respond to the current U.S. political climate through bipartisan messaging. 

Before a live audience at the Times Center in Manhattan, NYT climate reporter Cara Buckley asked a panel where the climate movement can go in the face of President Donald Trump’s continued attacks on climate science. 

Trump, who called climate change the “greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world” in front of the United Nations General Assembly on September 23, withdrew the United States from the Paris climate agreement during both his first and second term in office, and passed a budget bill described by longstanding environmental organization The Sierra Club as the “most anti-environment bill in history.” 

In contrast, at the U.N., China announced it will be following a greener path. A day after Trump’s speech decrying climate science, Chinese President Xi Jinping pledged to cut pollution levels by 10% during the next decade, and to increase wind and solar energy production. While China is the world’s largest carbon emitter, it hosts almost half of the world’s operating wind and solar capacity, according to Climate Council, an Australian independent climate organization. 

During the panel “Climate Activism in the Age of Trump,” noted author and climate activist Bill McKibben warned that if Trump continued to block clean energy projects, the country would soon be seen as the “Colonial Williamsburg of internal combustion.” He added that because the U.S. economy would be unable to compete with other world superpowers having access to cheap renewable energy, this was unlikely to ultimately happen. “The U.S., in the last eight months, is surrendering economic, technological, and probably political primacy to China,” he said.  

Panelists also discussed what the climate movement could take away from the outcome of the 2024 Presidential election. Among them were Manish Bapna, President and C.E.O. of the Natural Resources Defense Council, a nonprofit environmental advocacy group, and Abigail Dillen, President of environmental law nonprofit Earthjustice. 

According to Pew Research polling conducted shortly before the 2024 presidential election, only 37% of registered voters said that climate change was “very important” to their vote. In contrast, issues such as the economy (81%) and healthcare (65%) were very important in considering how one’s ballot would be cast. 

The disconnect between these figures illustrates how climate advocates need to show voters how climate change fuels the rising cost of living, “connecting the dots between climate, between clean energy, and kind of the kitchen table issues that people do care about,” said Bapna. 

According to a study by the Barcelona Supercomputer Center, a research institute in Barcelona, Spain, extreme weather caused by climate change has forced food prices to increase worldwide. The study found that after the western United States faced extreme heat and water shortages during the summer of 2022, the price of vegetables rose 80% in California and Arizona in November 2022. 

As Americans are increasingly feeling the effects of climate change, many in the Trump administration deny that climate change mitigation is in the public’s best interest. During a separate Climate Forward panel, Trump-appointed Secretary of Energy Chris Wright denied that programs to limit the effects of climate change would benefit Americans, saying supporters of the Paris Agreement were “a club of people that have lost sight of the interests of their own people.” 

The Department of Energy recently announced that the department would return billions to the Treasury that had been allocated for clean energy projects under the Biden administration. “The more people have gotten into so-called climate action, the more expensive their energy has become,” Wright said in a press conference on September 24. “That lowers people’s quality of lives and reduces their life opportunities.” 

Attitudes such as Wright’s reflect the partisan divide on the climate change issue. According to 2025 Pew Research polling, only 24% of Republican respondents saw global climate as a major threat to the U.S., compared to 78% of Democrats. 

During the panel, guests discussed strategies on how climate activists could bridge this gap. Dillen described how renewable infrastructure often had bipartisan support, because, in a cost-of-living crisis, “the state regulators who have to face people whose bills are going up are going to keep choosing clean.” She later added that activists needed to not let the narrative around climate change divide people, and instead focus on the real climate-related issues Americans are facing, such as the impact of worsening extreme weather, which she said 30 million Americans report being directly affected by. 

Bapna described how his organization had worked with electricians unions in Ohio to create vocal support for solar infrastructure, adding that the “toxic discourse” in Washington D.C. should not outweigh what was happening on the ground in both red and blue states. 

A 2024 survey by the Global Strategy Group (GSG), North Star, and the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) found that 87% of Americans support the Inflation Reduction Act’s federal clean energy tax credits, and 75% agree that solar is good for the economy. 

Delivering closing remarks, the panelists reiterated the need for America to join the rest of the world in investing in clean energy or risk being left behind. “We have a chance to move into a new world,” said McKibben, adding that the United States is the only place resisting this transition. “We’re either going to be left behind, or we’re going to do our job and make the case to the American people that they want to be part of the future too.”

350Brooklyn, a volunteer-driven nonprofit organization, hosted their very own “Sun Day” on Sunday, September 21 at Christ Church in Cobble Hill, as a day of action to promote clean and renewable energy.

This event aimed to offer access to affordable solar resources, and provided insights by a panel of experts from both private and community solar programs in Brooklyn, spreading awareness about the current climate crisis at a time when the Trump administration is attempting to walk back renewable energy.

The administration has been taking a step back from the change in direction towards renewable energy. In January 2025, Trump issued several executive orders to promote fossil fuels and called for a review and revision of all agency actions that might “burden” the development of domestic energy resources, by which he meant oil, coal, and nuclear energy resources. Trump has withdrawn the U.S from the Paris Climate agreement, which calls for climate change adaptation and development internationally. Trump has also cut funding on climate research. Also, the Big Beautiful Bill includes restrictions on renewable energy tax credits creating deadlines for solar and wind projects.

 States like California, environmental activists, and groups have filed multiple lawsuits against the Trump administration to combat this usage of fossil fuels and set backs to renewable energy.

“We are living through a very dark time politically, and one of the rays of hope is in solar and wind energy,” said Ellen Driscoll, a 350BKvolunteer, Brooklyn-based artist and retired college professor with a 37-year background in teaching environmental and art classes.

Professor Michael Menser, former director of Brooklyn College’s Urban Sustainability Program, and a moderator during the event, explained that Brooklyn College can install more solar energy systems and assist the community thanks to the New York State’s Building Public Renewables Act and green bond funding available for renewable energy projects at universities and colleges, like City University of New York.

“CUNY can also be a site not just for renewable energy project installation that serves our own energy needs, but can also be of service to the community, just like other public facilities that have solar,” said Menser.

Addressing implementation

Panelist Roy Garzon, residential program manager at Solar One, a nonprofit promoting sustainability, expressed worry that predatory practices by some renewable energy installers are leaving consumers vulnerable to costly installations and unaware of what to look out for. “We have the means to help you in terms of providing technical assistance free of charge, and that’s to advocate for you to make sure you’re getting the lowest price and avoiding these predatory practices.”

Affordability was another issue. Organizers spoke to ways to ensure that low-income families can take part in the shift to renewable energy.

 “In Brooklyn, a lot of us are renters and can’t make those kinds of decisions,” said Susan Augenbraun, 350BK volunteer. “But even folks who can may think they can’t afford it, and it turns out there are a lot of ways to make it affordable and great companies that are already working on that in the community.”

“The fact that solar has dropped in price dramatically in the last couple of years means that it is very hopeful for us all,” said Sara Gronim, Co-leader of 350BK. 

350BK was founded in 2015 by a group of women motivated by their passion to create positive change for the earth’s future after organizing the 2014 NYC Climate March.

The organization tackles the climate crisis through local action, providing opportunities to reduce climate pollution, create employment opportunities for individuals who wish to participate, including families and children and educate people in renewable energy use as an alternative to fossil fuels.

“These renewable forms of energy are our future here and our future is here now,” said Driscoll.

The future of New York State’s energy policy was up for debate at a September 18 NYS Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) hearing at Bronx Community College about the draft of the state’s energy plan. 

The Energy Planning Board is directing the development of the plan as a step toward implementing New York’s Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. (CLCPA) The plan is set to go into effect at the beginning of 2026.

The CLCPA is a law that sets ambitious climate goals, including achieving 100 percent zero electricity emissions by 2040 and reducing overall emissions at least 85 percent below levels in 1990.

The hearing attracted people with strong opinions about the plan. Some of those criticizing the plan said harmful emissions from natural gas contributes to high asthma rates, while many who spoke in favor of the plan cited the lack of feasibility of such a switch to renewable resources.

Patience O’Tune, a Bronx resident of over 20 years, opposed continued funding of nonrenewable infrastructure. “The Bronx has the highest rate for asthma, so these increased gas markers will affect people’s health as well as their bills,” O’Tune said. “This is the time to put the Bronx residents first in consideration of any new energy policy.”

The use of nuclear power was also a topic of discussion, with many concerned with the state’s attempt to backtrack its original decision to move away from nuclear power with the closure of the Indian Point nuclear reactor in April of 2021.

 Susan Van Dolson, an activist for Westchester For Change, criticized the plan. “(Kathy Hochul) says New York will not meet the climate goals mandated by law (CLCPA), she’s embracing nuclear power and supporting fracking rejected by the state… Renewable energy is cheaper and creates more jobs.”

 Carl Johnson, a business agent for Plumbers Local Union 1, spoke approvingly of the energy plan. “We need natural gas to keep the prices of everything down…We need nuclear. We also need geothermal energy, it would be nice, but the reality is you would have to make the electrical service line that’s probably 10 times the size of what it is, and it would take the electricians almost 100 years to do that.” Johnson added, “I understand that everybody wants it to be possible for them to plug in their electric car, and they want to get rid of their oil and gas… but the reality is it’s not going to be electric for quite a while., I’m sorry, it’s time to settle.”

Daniel Macintosh, also a plumber’s union member, spoke in support of the energy plan for the time being. “Let’s back up with gas, it does not seem possible at this time to put up the switch. So, I’m very much in favor of all of the above approaches.”

Daniel Chingyu Chu, Senior Energy Planner for the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance and a doctoral candidate at the City University of New York, spoke with dismay about the energy plan, citing concerns that the energy plan goes against the CLCPA. “Nuclear power is the most expensive form of energy on the grid, costing the state double to triple the amount to fund compared to renewables.”

The Energy Planning Board will continue to hold hearings with the public before its final revised version is released at the beginning of 2026. The next hearing will be Monday September 29th at Stony Brook University.