November 3, 2016 | 6:30-8:30PM
Institute for Public Knowledge
20 Cooper Sq, 5th Floor
New York, NY 10003, USA

NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge and the Cities, Cultures, and Climate Change working group invite you to a discussion about climate, housing, and social justice in New York City, which asks: how can New York City to do two almost impossible things at the same time—decarbonize its economy and end its terrible inequalities? Daniel Aldana Cohen will open the conversation by outlining the data and stories behind “Carboniferous,” his chapter and map in Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas (UC Press 2016). He’ll then moderate an in-depth discussion between four panelists deeply involved in these struggles: Eddie Bautista, Daisy Chung, Cecil Scheib, and Rachel Schragis.

“Carboniferous,” this new map and chapter in Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas, vividly illustrates how wealthy New Yorkers are disproportionately responsible for the city’s carbon emissions; the chapter also explores how city elites have organized (and locally laundered) a fossil fuel-driven global economy. Meanwhile, New York’s really low-carbon, racially diverse working class neighborhoods are under assault from gentrification. 

The People’s Climate March articulated the very beginnings of a broad-based, social and climate justice coalition to remake New York. And everyday, members of that coalition are fighting in the trenches to build on that progress. What about longer term? How can this coalition be broadened and deepened? What kinds of policies and visions should it advance in the decade to come?

Eddie Bautista is Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. Daisy Chung is Campaign Director for Alliance for a Greater New York. Daniel Aldana Cohen is assistant professor of sociology at the University of Pennsylvania.  Cecil Scheib is Chief Program Officer, Urban Green Council. Rachel Schragis, artist and activist, is creator of Confronting the Climate: a Flowchart of the People’s Climate March.