Repairing an Environmental ‘Legacy of Racism’: What the City’s Next Leaders Must Do
We resume last week’s conversation with Baptista, an assistant professor of professional practice and associate director of the Tishman Environment and Design Center at The New School and a nationally recognized authority on local government policies and environmental justice.
Urban Matters: “Renewable Rikers”: That’s the name for measures the City Council approved last week that aim to make Rikers Island a center of renewable energy production and storage and “green” solid waste management once City correction facilities there close. It’s a big objective for environmental justice advocates – but is it still doable in a city reeling from pandemic budget effects?
Ana Baptista: In the wake of Covid-19’s economic and health impacts, it’s critical to prioritize investments that can deliver multiple benefits to communities facing the greatest threats from multiple crises. Visionary plans like Renewable Rikers promise to advance a form of restorative justice for communities that have suffered at the hands of mass incarceration and criminalization, particularly Black and Brown communities who have borne the brunt of our city’s pollution burdens as well.
While the city seeks to recover from this pandemic, we have the opportunity to do so in a manner that repairs the legacy of racism that manifests across multiple spheres of life. Regenerating Rikers into a space that can produce healthy, life-sustaining jobs targeted specifically to those who were formerly the victims of the prison industrial complex, while also meeting the ambitious zero waste and clean energy goals of the City – this seems like a significant opportunity to advance environmental justice and Covid recovery.
UM: Let’s talk about another planned green jobs project: Sunset Park Solar, a community-owned solar co-op, with panels atop the Brooklyn Army Terminal meant to generate electricity, and jobs, for local residents. What’s the status of this project? Does the City have a role in fostering it?
Baptista: It is moving forward. The project will be a 685-kilowatt system, with the City’s Economic Development Corporation leasing the rooftop of the Brooklyn Terminal. The project will be cooperatively owned and after the financing period it will transfer ownership to Co-op Power and UPROSE [a Sunset Park-based community organization]. Community members can also subscribe to Sunset Park Solar and engage in decision making. Recruitment has been ongoing to sign up residents to join the co-op.
The next mayor definitely has an important role to play in promoting the use of incentives for this type of community-driven project, over real estate development interests. With limited land available and limited resources, climate justice projects like Sunset Park Solar must be prioritized and the leadership of critical local EJ [environmental justice] groups like UPROSE has to be an essential part of how the next mayor looks to promote these projects in the future.
UM: While we’re on the subject of electricity: Global climate change means we’ll probably have longer, hotter summers in the years ahead. More air conditioning would increase power generation, and pollution, in environmentally burdened communities, while also raising power bills for residents. How should the next mayor address these problems?
Baptista: The next mayor has to align ambitious climate goals with environmental justice goals that will ensure that communities most impacted by climate change, pollution, and Covid will be prioritized. That means investment of resources and centering of EJ leadership in implementing key priorities.
New York City is lucky to have very robust and powerful environmental justice organizations. The next mayor should be working closely on the ground with them to assess priorities and be responsive to the demands and issues that are most pressing. For example, the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance recently released their NYC Climate Justice Agenda 2020, where they lay out important areas for the next mayor to focus on. WeAct for Environmental Justice has also released a 2021 Policy Agenda. New York City also has an Environmental Justice Advisory Board and two substantive EJ resolutions, Local Laws 60 and 64, that can continue to advance EJ work in collaboration with EJ communities, and implement recommendations and initiatives put forth by the Board.
UM: Last question. We can expect some big changes in Federal environmental policy under the Biden Administration. How should the next mayor and City Council take advantage of these new directions?
Baptista: The Biden-Harris team campaigned on an explicit platform on environmental justice that committed to elevation of environmental justice across multiple agencies, through the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Department of Justice. The Biden administration has also put forth a commitment to target 40 percent of all investments in clean energy and other related programs to disadvantaged communities, specifically citing the New York State Climate and Community Protection Act. This focus will mean that there is a potential for increased funding, guidance, and regulatory protection that may come in support of New York City’s environmental and climate justice initiatives.