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Planning for Brooklyn’s Climate Future
Join us for a day of panels and presentations bringing together organizers, advocates, and experts advancing a healthy, sustainable future for our borough and city.
RSVPđź“…Monday, April 28
⏰ 9:15am – 5:30pm
đź“Ť Brooklyn Borough Hall, 209 Joralemon Street, Brooklyn, NY 11201
9:15-10 Light Breakfast/Welcome
10:00-11 – Brooklyn’s Green Oasis: Communities’ Role in Open Space Stewardship
- Prospect Park Alliance
- CB9 Parks, Recreation, and Culture.
11:15-12:45 – Lightning Talks (15 mins each)Â
- Mass Timber and Low Carbon Construction – TYLin
- Green Corridors – Municipal Art Society (MAS)
- Expanding Local Composting – Brooklyn and Manhattan Solid Waste Advisory Boards (SWAB)
- Air Quality Monitoring Recommendations – Brooklyn Air Quality Monitoring Advisory
12:45-1:30 – Lunch BreakÂ
1:30-2:45 – Rethinking Energy Demand: Community-Led Solutions for a Resilient Future
As New York City accelerates decarbonization and building electrification under clean energy and greenhouse gas reduction mandates, the strain on the electrical grid is increasing. Brooklyn communities are stepping in with solutions that don’t just reduce demand on energy infrastructure, but also shift power away from extractive systems and into public hands. This panel brings together organizers, advocates, and experts examining innovative interventions: virtual power plants that aggregate distributed energy resources to create grid stability, demand management that can help shut down polluting peaker plants in environmental justice neighborhoods once and for all, and the expanding role of community solar in making renewable energy accessible.
- Civic Virtual Power Plant Model – Brooklyn Communities Collaborative (BCC)
- Demanding a Better Grid to Accelerate Peaker Plant Phase-out – UPROSE
- Community Solar in Brooklyn – RETI Center
3:00-4:15 – Mapping the Future: Data-Driven Climate Resilience
How does data lead to action? How can data address disparities instead of reinforcing them? Data–or lack thereof–shapes how we understand, respond to, and advocate for climate resilience.This panel will showcase equity-driven data in action: NYCHA’s risk assessment tools, FloodNet’s sensor network, and NYC-EJA’s CHAMP-EJ project mapping heat vulnerability and air quality in frontline communities.
- NYCHA’s Climate Risk & Adaptation Plan/Portal – NYCHA
- FloodNet NYC Sensors and community work – FloodNet
- NYC-EJA’s Community Heat and Air Mapping Project for Environmental Justice (CHAMP-EJ) report – NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA)
4:30 – 5:15 – Discussion: Planning for Brooklyn’s Climate FutureÂ
- Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso
- Juan Camilo Osorio, City Planning Commissioner
- Theodore Moore, Executive Director, ALIGN
