Shows
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsApr 2025: Winning the Fight for Sustainable TransportationAudrey is joined by Jaqi Cohen, Director of Climate and equity Policy at the Tri-State Transportation Campaign. TSTC advocates for increased mobility in the greater NYC region. Its priorities are expanding public transit, creating safer streets, transitioning away from fossil fuels, and fighting for equitable funding of transportation projects. Their approach is talking to communities to learn about the history of the neighborhood and what its residents’ needs are. Jaqi’s time at TSTC began when the pandemic decimated ridership and is currently in the exciting infancy of congestion pricing, two unprecedented milestones in transit. ● ...2025-04-1527 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsMarch 2025: NY Renews' Call to Legislature to Fund ClimateOur host Eva is joined by Rachel Coyle, Coalition Organizing Fellow at NY Renews. Rachel is a climate advocate and activist based in NYC. She holds a bachelor's degree from Fordham University and, prior to joining NY Renews has worked as a sustainability consultant supporting businesses with carbon accounting and decarbonization efforts and as a community organizer for climate & housing justice issues in Harlem with WE ACT for Environmental Justice.NY Renews website: https://www.nyrenews.org/NY Renews Mailing List: https://actionnetwork.org/forms/join-us-to-fight-for-climate-jobs-and-justiceNY Renews Fund Climate Campaign: https://www.nyr...2025-03-1829 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsFebruary 2025: Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law SchoolOur host Eva is joined by Michael Burger, Executive Director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law, and a Senior Research Scholar and Lecturer-at-Law at Columbia Law School. He is a co-author of Urban Climate Law (Columbia U Press, 2023), and an editor or co-editor of Global Climate Change and U.S. Law (ABA Publishing, 2023); Combating Climate Change with Section 115 of the Clean Air Act: Law and Policy Rationales (Edward Elgar, 2020) and Climate Change, Public Health and the Law (Cambridge U Press, 2018). He is a regent and fellow at the American College of Environmental Lawyers, and a member of the...2025-02-2632 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsDec 2024: Renewable CUNYEva is joined by Nancy Romer of the Professional Staff Congress, the 30,000 member labor union of faculty and staff of the City University of New York. She chairs its Environmental Justice Working Group that is leading the effort to cut fossil fuel use at the 25 campuses of CUNY.
Key to their efforts is pressuring the New York Power Authority, which is required by the Build Public Renewables Act to generate more of its electricity from renewable sources. The complex interplay of faculty, staff, students, administrators, city and state government, and the utility is capably explained by Nancy...2024-12-1728 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsNovember 2024: Plant Based TreatyOur host Eva is joined by Kimmy Cushman of Plant Based Treaty. Kimmy Cushman is a scientific advisor and campaigner at Plant Based Treaty, a global grassroots organization working to bring the food system to the forefront of climate change policy. While studying physics at Yale University, Kimmy became an organizer for the graduate student union, and after completing her PhD in 2023, Kimmy is now leveraging her scientific background and community organizing skills to educate policy makers about the environmental impacts of animal agriculture and engage the public into action. In addition to advocating for plant-based solutions at UN C...2024-11-1930 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsOctober 2024: FABSCRAP: A Call for Fashion Industry Reduction
Audrey Stanton is joined by Jessica Schreiber of FABSCRAP. Jessica explains how her established nonprofit collects and recycles the unending stream of fabric waste generated by the fashion design industry. Textiles experience the typical issues of any kind of waste, but have unique sources and solutions that FABSCRAP has pioneered. The organization utilizes a crew of volunteers every day. Learn what actions you can take to help FABSCRAP thrive.
https://fabscrap.org/
2024-10-2930 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsSeptember 2024: The Climate Change ProphetOur host Eva is joined by Sameer Ranade, the ‘The Climate Change Prophet.’ Sameer is a climate justice activist and spoken word rhyme artist who believes social progress can be made through art, education, organizing, & inclusivity. Sameer has dedicated his career and artistic endeavors to the cause of social justice and climate protection.
Instagram: @theclimatechangeprophet
About World Oceans Day: https://unworldoceansday.org/about/
About the High Seas Treaty: https://highseasalliance.org/treaty-negotiations/
Verse #1:
I'm forlorn for the death...2024-09-2530 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsJune 2024: Covering Climate Change in the Changing Media
Guest host Brynn Fuller-Becker is joined by Andrew C Revkin of the Sustain What webcast and revkin.substack.com newsletter. Andy discusses his 41 year career as a journalist covering environmental stories, including climate change. In that period he has lived the news media’s transformation from a few institutional giants to numerous smaller outlets. Andy articulates his current belief that effecting societal change requires facilitating relationships between scientific expertise and communities at risk.
2024-06-2528 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsMay 2024: Swimming Against the Plastic Pollution TideEva is joined by Lynn Neuman of Artichoke Dance Company to preview a plastic-free summer. Four events in May and June 2024, highlighted by the Mermaid Parade, kick off the summer. In July individuals are asked to join a global pledge to reduce plastic use in their daily lives. Learn what actions you can take to fight the perils of microplastics to our environment and our own bodies.
Links:
Artichoke Dance Company - https://www.artichokedance.org/events
350Brooklyn's Plastic Free Workgroup - https://350brooklyn.org/plastic-free-summer/
A Poison Like No Other [b...2024-05-2130 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsApr 2024: Stopping Pipeline Expansion in New YorkOn today's episode, we're discussing Enbridge's proposal to expand the Algonquin Pipeline, also known as Project Maple. Our guest is Santosh Nandabalan.
Santosh Nandabalan is a Senior Organizer at Food & Water Watch. Alongside working on state and federal legislation to tackle climate change, Santosh has years of experience managing coalitions and building out strategic campaigns to stop fossil fuel projects in New York and advancing clean water protections. His work includes organizing in New York City and the Hudson Valley, including stopping fracked gas infrastructure like the Danskammer and Gowanus powerplants and keeping radioactive waste out of t...2024-04-1631 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsMar 2024: All about the NY HEAT ActOn today’s episode, we’re discussing the New York Heat Act. Our guest is Lisa Marshall, Advocacy & Organizing Director of New Yorkers for Clean Power.
Lisa’s long-standing interest in climate change began decades ago when she wrote her first high school research paper on global warming. It wasn’t until moving to NY’s Southern Tier and buying a home that was leased to a gas company, that she became directly involved in climate and energy advocacy. Since then, Lisa has been at the forefront of advocacy for building energy efficiency and heat pump adoption policy at t...2024-03-1933 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsFeb 2024: Climate Activism for Families with Young Children
Eva is joined by Liat Olenick, co-founder of Climate Families NYC. Liat explains that young children can understand that climate pollution is bad and they love to solve problems. She describes how the youngest members of our society can participate in actions targeting the adults who can change the course of the climate crisis. It’s hard for people to ignore toddlers protesting outside their homes!
Links:
Climate Families NYC - https://www.climatefamiliesnyc.org/
Instagram - @ClimateFamsNYC
March to End Fossil Fuels -
https://www.endfossilfuels.us/
2024-02-2028 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsDec 2023: Engaging with Climate Action through ArtOn today’s episode, we’re discussing how art can help deepen our understanding of the impact of climate change and empower us to take collective action. Our guest is Chantal Bilodeau.
Bilodeau is a Montreal-born, New York-based playwright whose work focuses on the intersection of storytelling and climate change. She is the founder of the Arts & Climate Initiative and in her capacity as artistic director, has spearheaded local and global initiatives for over a decade, getting the theater and educational communities, as well as audiences in the U.S. and abroad, to engage in c...2023-12-1927 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsNov 2023: Faith Groups and the Climate MovementOur guest is Fletcher Harper, an Episcopal priest and the executive director of GreenFaith. GreenFaith is a global multi-faith environmental and climate justice organization. Fletcher is the author of GreenFaith: Mobilizing God’s People to Save the Earth. one letcher Harper, 2023-11-2128 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsOct 2023: Voices from the Climate Movement: The March to End Fossil FuelsOn September 17th 2023, 75,000 activists converged on New York City for the March to End Fossil Fuels. Eva takes to the streets to capture the concerns and hopes of people from as far as Peruand as close as New Jersey. Their voices range across the spectrum of issues affected by the climate crisis, from environmental justice to carbon capture of forests to subsidies for the petro industry.
https://www.endfossilfuels.us/
event website
2023-10-2427 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsSept 2023: Teach for Climate Justice
Eva is joined by Tom Roderick author of the new book Teach for Climate Justice: A Vision for Transforming Education. Tom discusses his vision for radical transformative climate justice education, currently lacking in our schools. He believes K-12 students need to envision a positive future, determine how they can help, and then get to work doing it, what Tom calls “active hope.”
Links:
https://hep.gse.harvard.edu/9781682538074/teach-for-climate-justice/
to purchase the book
https://www.morningsidecenter.org/
Morningside Center for Teaching Social...2023-09-1925 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsJune 2023: Skip the Stuff: No More Plastic Take-Out WasteIn our 19th episode of Climate Check: Stories and Solutions, Raine Manley tells the story of her journey from frustration to activism as she tackles plastic waste here in New York City. The outcome? NYC passed “Skip the Stuff," a law in NYC that requires restaurants and food delivery apps to leave out the single-use plastic from deliveries, unless the customer specifically asks for it. Find out how this was done!
Links
Overview of “Skip the Stuff” from Hunter’s Food Policy Center: https://www.nycfoodpolicy.org/food-policy-snapshot-nyc-skip-the-stuff-bill/
Further Reading; Can I Recycle This? By Jennie Ro...2023-06-2027 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsMay 2023: People vs Fossil FuelsEva is joined by Molly Morabito of the Climate Law Institute at the Center for Biological Diversity. Molly discusses the demands by People vs Fossil Fuels for the Biden Administration to address the climate emergency. With a UN summit on Climate Change taking place in NYC in September, hear what actions you can take further PvFF’s agenda.
Links:
People vs Fossil Fuels - https://peoplevsfossilfuels.org/
350Brooklyn's PvFF Workgroup - https://350brooklyn.org/workgroups/pvff/
June Week of Action (June 8-11) - Interest form: https://tinyurl.com/interestformEndtheEra; Action Map: https://tinyurl.co...2023-05-1635 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsFrom Gas to Green: the NY HEAT ActMost New Yorkers don’t know that they’re footing the bill for expanding the dirty gas infrastructure that runs all across our state. The NY HEAT (the New York Home Energy and Affordable Transition) Act would end this practice along with several others that are allowing New York's utility companies to stay out of step with our climate goals.
Through legislation like NY HEAT, Meagan Burton, Senior Attorney at Earthjustice, crafts and defends legislation that provides an equitable offramp from gas and paves the way for clean, affordable heating for all.
Links
Meag...2023-04-1830 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsLegislation Lightning Round: Dirty Water, E-bikes, and How Bills Get PassedToday's episode contains more of the conversation between Eva and NYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher, representative of Greenpoint and parts of Williamsburg. They discuss the Newtown Creek Superfund site, the Water Bill Fairness Act, and the Clean Rebate Program for electric bikes and scooters. Emily also gives us a quick civics 101 on how bills get passed in Albany.2023-04-0412 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsGreener, Cleaner Construction: The All-Electric Building ActNYS Assembly Member Emily Gallagher is the sponsor of the All-Electric Building Act, legislation that would require all new buildings to forego fossil fuel heating and cooking systems in favor of electric. NYC passed similar legislation in 2021, but this bill would apply to the entire state. Eva and Emily discuss how this can become reality, and why it's a safer, greener, and less expensive way to build.
AM Gallagher’s Assembly page
https://www.nyassembly.gov/mem/Emily-Gallagher/
The All-Electric Buildings Act
https://nyassembly.gov/le...2023-03-2128 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsEmpowering our Power: Navigating Solar Energy in NYCSolar One is leading the charge when it comes to proving equitable, affordable, renewable energy to all. In this month’s episode, Angelica Ramdhari, Director of Resilient Solar at Solar One, guides us through the state of play of Solar in New York City: from the contentious nature of greening brownstones, to the ABCD(BG-DR)s of resilient battery funding, to the basic of putting solar on our roofs and the grid.
In addition to outlining the many incentives and benefits of solar adoption, Angelica touches on the barriers and realities of workforce training, community solar, and th...2023-02-2126 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsEnergy Efficient Buildings: How Local Law 97 Can Change NYC ForeverPete Sikora knows that climate justice and housing justice are two sides of the same coin. That's why he sees Local Law 97 as a unique opportunity to cut the largest source emissions in New York State, while creating fair-wage jobs, and holding real estate owners accountable for their buildings' pollution. On this month's episode, Pete and Eva dive into the nitty-gritty of the world's most important city-level climate and jobs law - Local Law 97. They discuss the intriguing details of the law's passage and enforcement while recognizing that the type of momentum we need to draw for effective climate ac...2023-01-1730 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsClimate, Jobs, and JusticeFor our December episode, Xaver Kandler, Campaigns Coordinator for NY Renews, walks us through the Climate, Jobs, and Justice Package — a series of proposed bills for 2023 that builds on New York State's historic Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA).
These bills were developed by New York Renews, a broad coalition of hundreds of community groups and activists working with environmental and legal experts. The package would fund and implement the CLCPA, mitigate emissions, create thousands of permanent Green Energy jobs, and ensure justice to communities most hurt by our environmental degradation.
Learn about the Cl...2022-12-1333 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsRenewable Rikers and the Quest for JusticeIn February of 2021, the NYC City Council passed laws that will reshape Rikers, the island off the coast of Queens that is a penal colony built on landfill. These bills are part of a campaign called Renewable Rikers, and was years in the making by a coalition that crossed interests and focus areas.
In this episode, Eva talks with Darren Mack, a co-founder of Freedom Agenda and a survivor of Rikers. They discuss the historic Renewable Rikers bills, Mack's foray in activism, and how environmentalism and decarceration are intertwined.
Find out more about Renewable Rikers and...2022-11-1530 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsThe Inflation Reduction Act: “It Really is Historic”In this episode, Eva talks with Liz Moran about the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) and its many environmental and climate provisions. Liz is the Policy Advocate for New York at Earth Justice, the public interest environmental law firm. She gives us a broad picture of the law, walking us through much of the good the law will do in electrification, solar energy, fair-wage jobs. While the IRA is a huge win for the planet, we also hear what's lacking, like training for those green-collar jobs, and what's outright bad, provisions that will prolong the use of fossil fuels.
Fi...2022-10-1833 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsWork to Be Done, Joy to Be MadeThis week get to know our host Eva Dean, interviewed by our Comms & Marketing Specialist Brynn Fuller-Becker.
Eva is a Brooklyn dance maker who specializes in site-specific and neo-contemporary work. In this episode, Dean talks about how 350 Brooklyn gave her a community to join forces with to change policy on a state and local level to counter climate change. Find out more at evadeandance.org2022-09-2730 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsThe Second Best Time to Plant a TreeFor this episode we bring in Rev. Ana Levy Lyons, a senior minister of First Unitarian Congregational Society in Brooklyn. She was first mentioned in our episode with Jan Thompson when she talked about the “Diorama of Extinct Homosapiens.” We get to talk about that exhibit, the sermon that inspired it, and when the best time to plant a tree is.
Read the sermon here
Watch a snapshot of the exhibition here2022-08-1726 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsSustainable Farming and Soil Health: Trust Your MouthOn this episode of Climate Check, we get to chat with Chris Nickell, a community organizer and a member of the Northeast Organic Farming Association’s (NOFA) Soil Subcommittee. We learn about soil health, farming practices, and the cultural and societal impact of food in today's ecosystem. Take a listen to learn why you should trust your mouth!
2022-07-1941 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsCalming New York Harbor: Billion Oyster Project"We don't think of the environment in NYC as being this natural wonder", states Pete Malinowski, the Executive Director of the Billion Oyster Project. In this episode we hear about the ways in which the city contains that wonder, and how Billion Oyster Project helps sustain that vision of a healthy, biodiverse New York Harbor with the power of education. Also in this episode: Pete shares his climate story, we chat about the role of education and equity in conservation, and learn just how oysters can help us with climate change.
Learn more about our guest and t...2022-06-2129 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsTowards a Plastic Free Future: Language, Legislation, and LifestyleFor this episode, we're joined by Jan Thompson, one of 350Brooklyn's very own. Jan is a lead of 350Brooklyn’s Plastic Free team, a working group within the organization dedicated to changing our future to one without plastics. As she explains in this episode, her family's experience with cancer and refineries have combined with her dedication to the interconnection of all beings to create the advocate she is today. She also fills us in on alternative ways to take action, such as the exhibit she co-created titled the “Diorama of Extinct Homosapiens.” Take a listen to hear how language and le...2022-04-1926 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsEco Art: Plastics in MotionFor our 5th episode, we talk with Lynn Neuman, the Artistic Director of Artichoke Dance, a member of 350 Brooklyn's Steering Committee, and a lead within the Gowanus Neighborhood Coalition for Justice. Her choreography and educational work address environmental justice art-based collaborations and integrative community programs. Lynn is a national leading eco-artist and the first choreographer to receive a Marion International Fellowship for the Visual and Performing Arts. Listen in as Lynn and our host, Eva Dean, discuss the power of art to engage and work with communities towards Climate Justice.
Find out more:
...2022-03-1528 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsWinter Warmer: A fireside chat with the creators of Climate CheckWe're back from a winter break, and gearing up to bring you new episodes! In the meantime, here's a quick intro to the team and some insights from our work so far to hold you over until our next drop.
Featured in this episode:
"I won't wait for the apocalypse to bring you clementines" by Julie Rochlin. Originally published in Chautauqua, Issue 13.
Meet our team!
Michael Dondero, Editor
Brynn Fuller Becker, Communications & Marketing
Barbara Schroeder, Communications & Marketing
Alyssa Kropp, P...2022-02-1511 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsThe Power of a Just Transportation SystemIn episode 4 of Climate Check, host Eva Dean chats with Vanessa Barrios about what it will take to make transportation carbon neutral. She emphasizes the need to vote and hold our representatives accountable to make subway and public transportation systems safe, affordable, and reliable as well as to pass congestion pricing.
Barrios, an urban planner with the Regional Planning Association, talks about car culture, the role of racism in transportation, and the impact of local climate policies on people who migrated to New York out of necessity. She speaks eloquently about the need for...2021-12-2127 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsWhat is the Media Missing?In episode 3 of Climate Check, host Eva Dean chats with Dr. Genevieve Gunther, founder and director of End Climate Silence, a volunteer organization dedicated to help the media cover the climate crisis with the urgency it deserves. Dr. Gunther is a literary and Shakespeare scholar who deep dives into language used in the media about the climate crisis. She also discusses how reading poetry can be useful in making connections between abstract ideas into concrete manifestations that is useful for the kind of systems thinking that is needed to counter the climate crisis. Spoiler alert, this episode ends with a p...2021-11-1625 minClimate Check: Stories and SolutionsCommunity, Compost, and ClimateIn episode 2 of Climate Check, host Eva Dean chats with Ceci Pineda on how we can work with nature to combat climate change. Ceci Pineda is the Executive Director of BK ROT, an organization that offers a youth and bike powered food waste collection and composting service. In this episode you will hear how composting helps counter increased storm surges, carbon dioxide, as well as cooling our streets by nourishing plants and trees. Ceci shares how working with the land connects us with deep ancestral wisdom that nourishes social resilience and cohesion while facing the Climate Crisis.
Le...2021-10-1928 minClimate Check: Stories and Solutions“Patience, Perseverance, & People, that’s what you need”In our premiere episode of Climate Check, we chat with Sara Gronim, an early member of 350 Brooklyn and pivotal organizer of the Williams Pipeline battle. Eva and Sara discuss the growing movement against creating non-renewable energy infrastructure in New York City, the success of a community-based organizing effort assembled to resist this infrastructure, and how one panel discussion led to years of crafting for a viable future for all Brooklynites.
Learn more about the resources mentioned in our episode:
350brooklyn.org
Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA)
Climate and Community Investment Act
...2021-09-2129 min
Climate Check: Stories and SolutionsWelcome to Climate Check: Stories and Solutions!Welcome to Climate Check: Stories and Solutions!
Climate Check is a podcast from 350Brooklyn, a grassroots, community organization of ordinary people who come together to fight the fossil fuel industry, promote sustainable energy and green jobs, and work for climate justice. Join host, Eva Dean, a Brooklyn-based choreographer and climate activist, as she has conversations with activists and experts to break down the climate crisis and explore local strategies and solutions.
We hope the stories you hear will inspire you, wherever you live, to take action in your community.
...2021-07-2801 min