Lehman College is gathering some of the biggest names in environmental science and climate justice for a FREE two-day virtual conference open to everyone.
Bronx Environmental Summit explores environmental racism, justice and equity in environmental efforts and how the current and proposed policies aimed at addressing them may impact the Bronx, NYC and the world. and more.
The summit is March 22-23 and the first of its kind in the Bronx.
NYC also celebrates Earth Day in April, and NYC Climate Week in September, with events across the city, including in the Bronx.
The summit also introduces a new Climate Change and Environmental Equity Program (CCEEP) at Lehman, which is the only senior City University of New York (CUNY) college in the Bronx.
The summit will feature as keynotes environmental justice movement launchers Robert D. Bullard, known as the “father of environmental justice,” and Peggy Shepard, founder of the Harlem-based WE ACT for Environmental Justice.
Bronx Environmental Summit will draw upon some of Lehman’s longterm partners, including its Bronx neighbor, the New York Botanical Garden, in the borough and beyond in the process, said Renuka Sankaran, a summit organizer and associate professor of biological sciences at Lehman.
“We focused on what Lehman does and the role that the College plays in the Bronx community,” said Duran Fiack, an assistant professor and political scientist specializing in environmental policy and one of the summit’s organizers told NYC on Cheap. .
“The summit will be the first step in preparing Lehman students to address environmental problems like climate change but it will also engage the community in that process.”
“We’ll address climate issues in an urban context and the impact they are having and are projected to have to a much greater degree on vulnerable populations, including in our borough,” Lehman College President Daniel Lemons also told NYC on the Cheap.
“I think we have a real chance of creating a program that stands out and marks Lehman as a unique contributor to the very important field of climate change and its impacts.”
More about the speakers
Bullard began his environmental activism in Houston, Texas, in 1978, working on a lawsuit that would be the first in the U.S. to use civil rights law to challenge environmental discrimination
Shepard has been working on environmental issues since in 1988. As one of the “Sewage Seven,” along with now former New York State Gov. David Paterson, and other environmental justice activists, stopped traffic on the West Side Highway to bring attention to the pollution the North River Sewage Treatment Plant was creating in West Harlem.
Climate scientist Radley Horton, of Columbia University’s Earth Institute, has been a leading voice sounding the alarm on the climate change tipping point for years.
Climate journalist Andrew Revkin will moderate a panel addressing President Joseph Biden’s climate change plan and how it squares with New York’s. The panel features –
- New York City Chief Policy Climate Advisor Daniel Zarrilli;
- meteorologist and Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor of Geography and Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Georgia J. Marshall Shepherd;
- Rutgers Climate Institute Codirector Robin Leichenko, and
- WE ACT for Environmental Justice Director of Policy Sonal Jessel.
Another session explores a history of environmental racism in the Bronx, the poor health outcomes it has produced, and how to change them.
In the Bronx: From Environmental Injustice to Environmental Equity. will be moderated by climate journalist Kendra Pierre-Louis, reporter and producer of the “How to Save a Planet” podcast, and feature some of New York City’s and the Bronx’s leading climate change and environmental advocates. Panelists include –
- Mychal Johnson, of South Bronx Unite, a local environmental advocacy group;
- Elgloria Harrison, dean of Lehman College’s School of Health Sciences, Human Services and Nursing and the CUNY Institute of Health Equity;
- Robert Fanuzzi, president of the all-volunteer organization Bronx Council for Environmental Quality; and
- Maggie Scott Greenfield, executive director of the Bronx River Alliance.
On March 23, there is a special panel to introduce student attendees to academic and career paths available to students that will equip them to help solve the most pressing environmental problems in the 21st Century.
Moderated by Lehman College and CUNY Graduate Center Professor and Director of Urban Environmental Geography Juliana Maantay, the Environmental Careers in a Changing Climate panel features environmental and technical consultants
- Robert Kurkjian, principal of Phase 5 Environmental and a technical consultant to Tetra Tech; and
- Nira Rahman, an environmental planner at civil engineering firm VHB and Lehman alumna;
- Grace Robiou, branch chief for Oceans and Coastal Management at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
- Khalil Shahyd, a senior policy advocate at the Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC, and
- Rachel Steinberg, a director of product management at Sidewalk Labs.
What will distinguish CCEEP from other environmental science programs is its emphasis on experiential learning, professional training, and the range of fields it will encompass, said Elia Machado, an associate professor in Lehman’s Department of Earth, Environmental and Geospatial Science .
Bronx Environmental Summit at a Glance
9 a.m.–3 p.m., March 22
9 a.m.–12:25 p.m., March 23
Event Site: lehman.edu/bronxenvironmentalsummit
About Lehman College
Founded in 1968, Lehman College is The City University of New York’s only senior college in the Bronx, serving the borough and the surrounding region as an intellectual, economic, and cultural center.
Located on a 37-acre, verdant campus in Kingsbridge Heights, Lehman College is a federally-recognized Hispanic-serving institution (HSI), and provides undergraduate and graduate studies in the liberal arts and sciences and professional education within a dynamic research environment. It is ranked fourth in the nation for social mobility for its ability to propel a large number of its students, 60 percent of whom live in the Bronx, up the economic ladder.
For more information, go to lehman.edu.
About the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation is a not-for-profit, mission-driven grantmaking institution dedicated to improving the welfare of all through the advancement of scientific knowledge.
Established in 1934 by Alfred Pritchard Sloan Jr., then-president and CEO of the General Motors Corporation, now known as GM, the Foundation makes grants in four broad areas: direct support of research in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and economics; initiatives to increase the quality and diversity of scientific institutions and the science workforce; projects to develop or leverage technology to empower research; and efforts to enhance and deepen public engagement with science and scientists.
This summit was supported through the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s Energy and Environment program, which looks to inform the societal transition toward low-carbon energy systems in the United States by investigating economic, environmental, technological, and distributional issues.