What is New York Climate Week?
Organized by the Climate Group, an international non-profit, Climate Week NYC 2022 hosts the largest global climate event for the fourteenth year. This week serves to bring together leaders and communities to discuss climate action and explore new possibilities. The overall message this year is Getting It Done, and throughout the week over 500 events were held pertaining to their ten themes:
1. Built Environment
2. Energy
3. Environmental Justice
4. Transport
5. Finance
6. Sustainable Living
7. Nature
8. Policy
9. Industry
10. Food
If some of these themes sound familiar, then you are correct! This Climate Week is working alongside the United Nations General Assembly and the City of New York to drive climate action globally and to spur the US into action.
IDEAS For Us’ Journey Through the Week
As a non-profit and an accredited environmental NGO of the United Nations, IDEAS For Us focuses on creating solutions surrounding energy, water, food, waste, and ecology. For this reason, attending these events not only provided a chance to learn more but also meet longtime donors and partners.
To start the week off strong, IDEAS For Us members were able to attend the VoLo Foundation Reception. With our fellow Floridian organization VoLo, we have been able to hire and pay student interns in Florida to run a farmer’s market at their school!
Next up was the Ford Foundation Reception. The Ford Foundation has been instrumental in helping our Fleet Farming program establish school gardens that need them the most!
These events are really important to attend because they provide perspective on how to achieve the 2030 climate targets.
On the second day, IDEAS For Us attended Achieving 1 Trillion Trees by Terraformation at the Javits Center. Here scientists, foresters, and business leaders discussed the steps needed to achieve prosperous native forests. This is an area of sustainability that IDEAS For Us drives forth by planting native plants and fruiting trees with and for local communities across Africa. So far, we have planted over 25,000 native trees and you can view our interactive map, which includes the details on the specific projects.
The fourth day held The Nest Summit where decarbonization was the topic of discussion. During this series of events, leaders discussed ideas such as purchasing carbon credits and implementing hydrogen power, naming it the “swiss army knife of carbon emissions.” On this day, IDEAS members also visited inspiring rooftop gardens and witnessed the potential of sustainable architecture.
Recap of Virtual Events
While there were many events held in-person, Climate Week also provided virtual or hybrid options for viewers around the world. Afterall, the reason it began was to bring more inclusivity to the climate action movement.
One of the events was Making Paris Work for the People: Adaptation at scale in climate-vulnerable nations. This event included a panel of enviromental/climate change leaders from the nations of Niger, Jamaica, Liberia, Malawei, Cambodia, and Belgium. The topic of discussion was the mechanism and adaptation of Local Climate Adaptive Living (LoCAL). This is essentially a framework being implemented into communities to not only help solve issues related to climate change but also to include the community so that these measures work with them and not against them. This idea of involving the community is not a concept foreign to IDEAS For Us as we are always offering opportunities to support communities.
“Every project and program we launch shares the collective aim to help people, heal the planet, and grow prosperity at the community level through the education, engagement, and empowerment of those we serve.”
Another hybrid event was Rainforests, Climate, and You: Disrupting Climate Finance hosted by Health in Harmony. This event focused a lot on how language is an integral part in the process of fighting climate change. One important point they made was that indigenous language is fundamental to fighting the climate crisis because it inherently connects us with the land. Essentially, the panelists discussed the importance of engaging different languages and working with various communities to understand different environmental viewpoints.
IDEAS For Us CEO’s Experience
"It was amazing to see Climate Week not only through my own eyes, but also through the eyes of two of our international fellows: Stephen Lavalah from Liberia and Joaquin Chila from Bolivia. Getting to see their reactions to Climate Week, the United Nations, New York City, and more generally, the United States, was very informative in itself. Climate Week coincides with the UN general assembly meetings, during which 192 countries come together to talk about the fate of the planet. Climate Week actually started as a frustrated reaction to the closed-door nature of the general assembly meetings. Environmental organizations said, ‘Well, if you're going to have your private meetings about the climate crisis, we’re going to host these open meetings to showcase climate action and make plans for more future collaborations on behalf of the planet.’ Now, instead of adversarial, Climate Week NYC is actually complementary to the work that the UN has done, and the UN recognizes Climate Week as an important component of climate action and education. IDEAS For Us was excited to attend Climate Week this year, especially with the new strengthening of climate policies, the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS Act, the Biden Infrastructure Law, and other policies which are finally getting the United States into a mode of leading the world in climate action."
If you want to learn more about the climate policies mentioned above, check out our blog Climate Action: The Perfect Storm Is Upon Us!
2022 IREX Fellow’s Experience
This year, our IREX fellow from Bolivia, Joaquin Chila, was able to join IDEAS For Us on the journey through Climate Week. After attending multiple events throughout the week, exploring NYC, and meeting fellow IDEAS leaders, Joaquin had a profound takeaway.
"We are not alone in the titanic fight against climate change. Many organizations and communities are winning important environmental and humanitarian battles throughout the world. However, there are still many questions to be answered. If we want to win as a global community, we must gradually put together the general scheme, through coordination and sustained support. No matter where we are in the world, we face similar problems, in different contexts. So let's share our knowledge, resources and experience, for a better world. Let's bring your ideas into action, and implement IDEAS For Us."
