On a beautiful spring day last week, the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Columbia Climate School hosted “Earth Day 2026: Climate and Environmental Justice in New York City” at Columbia University’s Faculty House. Now in its fifth year, the annual conference was created to highlight the critical climate-driven health and environmental impacts affecting our shared community. Each installment brings together renowned researchers, community leaders and public officials to explore how government, academia, the private sector and communities can collaborate to lead the way toward a healthier, more equitable planet.
Why is this so important? Rising heat, more intense storms and a history of environmental injustice continue to drive disproportionate climate impacts in communities like Harlem. Over the past few decades, New York City has experienced climate-amplified crises, including flooding, poor air quality, and extreme heat. And while no place is immune to climate change, its effects are not evenly felt, due in part to historic redlining and chronic underinvestment in less-resourced neighborhoods. Addressing these disparities requires urgent attention to environmental justice and community empowerment—essential steps toward building a more sustainable and resilient future for all.
Cities play a critical role in this moment. With NYC on the verge of releasing its first-ever environmental justice plan, required under local laws enacted during a prior administration, it’s vital for communities to understand their exposure and how to advocate for better decision-making from their government.
This urgency shaped the conversation that followed. We heard inspiring opening remarks from City Council member Yusef Salaam, who reminded us how precious our planetary home of Earth is and the necessity of protecting it for future generations.
With a new mayor in City Hall seeking to align climate action with affordability, we heard from Louise Yeung, Mayor Mamdani’s chief climate officer and head of the Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice.. “We see what happens when climate change exacerbates the existing economic and racial inequalities that we already have in our city,” she said. “Communities like Harlem that have historically borne the brunt of industrial pollution, disinvestment and neglect are the first to feel the impacts of heat waves and floods that we now see all too frequently.” And with war and policy whiplash in Washington DC causing energy prices to spike, she made it clear that “our challenge is not a choice between climate and affordability. The most effective solutions address both.”
Sheila Foster, professor of climate at the Columbia Climate School, used her keynote remarks to remind us of the challenges we’ve faced in the past, the successes we’ve achieved, and the federal protections that we’re losing right now. “What we’re witnessing at the federal level is not just a change in priorities—it’s the active, deliberate dismantling of an architecture that took decades to build.”
“It’s about organizing—knocking on doors, going to tenant meetings, and letting people know what the impacts are so they can be part of the solution.”
So how do we begin rebuilding this architecture? During the panel conversation that I moderated, Peggy Shepard, executive director and cofounder of WE ACT for Environmental Justice, made the compelling point that organizing for a better future begins in your home, on your block, and in your community. “It’s about organizing—knocking on doors, going to tenant meetings, and letting people know what the impacts are so they can be part of the solution,” she said. “Start where you live… your voice is the most important on your block.”
This event marked the eighth in a series of conferences that began on Earth Day 2022. Two conferences are held each year: the first at Columbia University in April coinciding with Earth Day, and the second in Harlem during Harlem Week in August. In the past, we have been joined by such distinguished elected officials as Congressmember Adriano Espaillat, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, State Senator Cordell Cleare, and hosted a variety of government officials, community and corporate leaders, as well as researchers from across Columbia University and the City College of New York.
This kind of convening is essential for supporting effective policy in New York and sustaining its implementation. By elevating the conversation and creating space to confront tough questions, this series fosters dialogue and raises awareness about the growing threat of climate change while highlighting community-centered solutions. And as its hosts, we at the Climate School, alongside our partners at the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce, must continue asking how we can innovate and find new ways to support and empower our neighbors to advance environmental justice.
As Peggy Shepard reminded us: “If universities can’t lead on this, then who will?”
Daniel A. Zarrilli is chief climate and sustainability officer at Columbia University
Views and opinions expressed here are those of the authors, and do not necessarily reflect the official position of the Columbia Climate School, Earth Institute or Columbia University.
