For Immediate Release March 16, 2015
For More Info: Mark Dunlea 518 860-3725
Zita Allen 917-309-2210
Hundreds of Climate Labor & Community Activists Gather to Plan Efforts to Press City Officials to Pass Strong Climate, Environmental Legislation
Hundreds of labor, climate and community activists met tonight at DC 37 to discuss what steps the city should take to respond to climate change, and what their organizations can do to ensure the strongest legislation
possible. The event - “Our City, Our Climate: A Forum on NYC Climate and Environmental Legislation” - was organized by the People's Climate Movement NY as a follow-up to the People’s Climate March last September where hundreds of
thousands marched demanding action on the climate crisis. Subsequently, bills related to reducing fossil fuel emissions, resiliency and adaptation and more have been introduced in the City Council.
The Forum heard from Donovan Richards, Chair of the NY City Council Environmental Committee; Judy Sheridan-Gonzalez, President of the NYS Nurses Association, and community activists about pending legislation in the City Council aimed at responding to the growing crisis of climate change. Prior to the forum, PCM-NY and Moral Mondays held a demonstration at 250 Broadway to focus of the moral need for action on climate change.
"Climate Change is both a moral issue and a labor issue. First, it’s a labor issue because the working men and women we represent are often on the frontlines protecting and providing services to those whose lives have been turned upside down by devastating climate events. Secondly, it’s a labor issue because many of the initiatives designed to combat the negative effects of climate change can mean new and better jobs for all," said Jon Foster, Chair of DC 37 Climate Change Committee.
"Equally important is the fact that the issue of environmental justice is critical to our rank and file members and we, as labor, must fight the good fight," he added. The Plenary was moderated by Leslie Cagan, one of the coordinators of the
September march. "Like Superstorm Sandy whose scars are still evident in parts of New York City, the monster cyclone that smashed into the tiny South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu a few days ago is a painful reminder that climate change is a reality that we simply cannot ignore," she stated. The UN Ambassador from Vanuatu attended the Forum. The Forum explored next steps and examined the strengths and weaknesses of proposed climate change bills, what’s missing from them and how we help ensure the passage of legislation that can have the strongest impact.
"While the People's Climate Movement applauds the efforts of New York Mayor Bill de Blasio and the City Council to combat climate change, at the same time we know there is much more to do. Our citywide movement aims to stress the urgency of this issue and the need to ensure the participation of those communities most immediately impacted by the ravages of climate change in the development of plans to reduce carbon emissions while and build the most effective resiliency projects," she added.
Representatives of labor, community groups and the City Council provided an overview of recent and pending climate change legislation. The participants then met to discuss community-based climate change proposals, pending City Council resolutions, how to influence the legislative process and how to organize to promote the climate change agenda.
"We already can't breathe - Poverty and Unemployment are already choking our communities. Our hands are up - Our Lives Matter, Our Communities Matter and we're telling the government and the corporate lobbies, "Don't Shoot!!!" Don't bulldoze our Community Gardens!!! Don't destroy our community cultivated Commons that are doing so much for us, including - agriculturally, ecologically, and socially. Via all three of these ways, our communities' residents are productively engaged in a way that is meaningfully self-determining, and doing so in a way that honors their sense of human dignity in the process," said Ray Figueroa- President, New York City Community Garden Coalition. The breakout sessions had facilitators from District Council 37, the NYS Nurses Assn., WE ACT, SANE Energy Project, South Bronx Climate Justice, 350 NYC, the National Lawyers' Guild, People's Climate Arts, Rising Tide and others.
