Green Brooklyn
CLIMATE CHANGE IS THE EXISTENTIAL THREAT OF OUR TIME.
The climate crisis is already having widespread adverse impacts around the world, across the country, and even right here Brooklyn. Worldwide temperatures have been hotter over the past seven years than at any time in recorded history. In Brooklyn, Hurricane Sandy’s impacts still linger in our coastal neighborhoods almost a decade later, while Hurricane Ida’s unprecedented flooding recently reminded us that more frequent and intense storms are already a reality. And we are painfully aware that the consequences of decades of industrial and automobile pollution impact residents of low-income communities hardest.
With Brooklyn’s miles of flood-vulnerable waterfront, history of local activism, and commitment to local innovation, the borough is positioned to become an international leader in climate resiliency, and in doing so can deliver environmental justice for our communities.
We envision a Brooklyn where residents, workers, and visitors can enjoy clean, open, green spaces; are protected from flooding and other impacts of climate change; live in energy-efficient homes; and are able to navigate the borough and the city safely and efficiently without relying on cars.
POLICY
Support policies that reduce the city’s carbon footprint and use of single-use plastics.
Examples include supporting the proposed
“Stop the Stuff” bill, which creates an opt-in requirement for receiving to-go plastics from restaurants; supporting universal curbside food waste collection; and upholding and strengthening Local Law 97 of 2019, which requires new energy efficiency standards and greenhouse gas emissions limits for buildings over 25,000 square feet.
BUDGET
Educate youth about sustainability. Support gardening programs and sustainability education in local schools.
Support the Parks Department in planting more trees. Brooklyn’s tree canopy is growing slowly but is still recovering from storm impacts.
Programs
Create a borough-wide air quality monitoring network. Brooklyn contains numerous and diverse sources of air pollutants, such as industrial facilities, power plants, and especially traffic emissions. Yet the State’s air quality monitoring network has long had significant gaps and has often missed hotspots of localized emissions. Implementing a broader network of pollution monitors, in cooperation with local community organizations, will identify previously overlooked sources of air contaminants and secure the evidence needed to begin addressing the problems. Grassroots activists, local environmental groups, and community board representatives can play a major role in identifying hot spots for monitoring and can also assist with data collection.
Continue Borough Hall sustainability convenings and initiatives. Borough Hall should continue convening the Renewable and Sustainable Energy Task Force (ReSET), which brings together leaders in the field for education and information sharing about renewable energy; as well as its existing partnership with NYSERDA on the Heat/Cool Smart Brooklyn Initiative, which promotes the adoption of clean heating and cooling technologies in buildings across the borough.
Lead a community-based redesign of the most dangerous corridors in Brooklyn. Utilize the Complete Streets model, which prioritizes needs of pedestrians, cyclists, buses, and users of all ages and ablities, making it easier for younger and older residents alike to cross intersections; walk to shops, jobs, and schools; bicycle to work; and move actively with assistive devices.
Convene government, professionals, and community leaders around the Borough’s transportation future.
Focusing on large-scale projects, such as the future of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, use Borough Hall’s convening powers to make sure diverse voices are at the table.
Create and award a “Greenest block in Brooklyn” prize. Engage high-profile Brooklynites to promote the contest to incentivize clean and green streets.
Advocacy
Build the green economy. Support the green building ecosystem of workforce programs, large and small contractors, architects/designers, labor, ConEdison, and local manufacturers of green building materials and technologies. Expand programs that identify emerging technologies and requisite skills for local training and manufacturers, and that provide M/WBE contractors with business and workforce training, certification assistance, and lending so that they can expand in this field.
Ensure regular trash pickup. Work with the NYC Department of Sanitation to make sure it is picking up garbage as scheduled and cleaning streets across the borough.
Reduce noise pollution. Support efforts to reduce noise from helicopters, truck routes, and highways.
Expand Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) and Select Bus Service (SBS). Manhattan’s 14th Street is an example of
what real BRT can look like. Brooklyn deserves similarly efficient public transit options.
Advocate for Brooklyn’s fair share of capital investments in resiliency and transportation. New York City can expect an influx of funding from Federal, State, and local sources, and eventually from congestion pricing. Ensure that Borough Hall is tracking these investments and opportunities.
Encourage disaster preparedness by supporting local community organizations that provide tenant, senior, nutrition, youth, and other services during emergencies, such as delivering food and medicine, helping people leave flooded basements and blacked-out apartments to find safe shelter, assisting the elderly and disabled, and establishing communications networks that are more likely to function in a disaster.