On September 19th, 2020, a clock was installed in Union Square. It tells time, yes, but not in the traditional sense — this clock is counting down how long the world has left to transition to renewable energy until the rapid-onset of climate change reaches the point of no return for our planet. The Union Square Climate Clock is ticking, and we have less than five years left. This begs the question: How are we going to achieve this?
The answer is what New Yorkers have been advocating for decades — climate justice.
Five years have passed since the enactment of the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA), or the Climate Act, one the most ambitious climate protection laws in the country. New Yorkers are currently in an unprecedented position to win policies that ensure clean, affordable energy, just transition for workers, and support for marginalized communities. But following Donald Trump’s presidential inauguration, climate justice advocates are all wondering how Mr. Trump’s second term will affect environmental protection efforts.
Climate and Environmental Justice in New York City: An Overview
Negative environmental impacts on individuals’ health have been a salient issue among New Yorkers since the 19th century. The 1800s was a period marked by immigration and unregulated industrialization, during which New York City underwent rapid growth and change. The city’s working class suffered from the effects of inadequate infrastructure; many lived in overcrowded tenements and worked in hazardous environments, and thousands of residents died each year from infectious diseases such as dysentery, typhoid fever, and cholera.
In response to these illnesses caused by environmental health hazards, public and private groups began investigating the effects of the environment on individuals’ health. The city began implementing measures to improve conditions for its residents. In 1842, the Croton Aqueduct was completed, the first major clean water supply system in the city, and the construction of the New York City sewer system soon followed in 1849.
However, from the city’s burgeoning environmental protection efforts emerges a common pattern still seen today: infrastructural inequalities and structural racism preventing — and even reversing — efforts of low-income and immigrant communities to combat environmental hazards. To understand the intersectional intricacies of environmental and climate justice, one can take a look at an infamous practice that arose during the 1930s — redlining.
When the Great Depression ravaged the nation with poverty, the federal government made efforts to alleviate the impacts. One of its initiatives was to support the housing industry by establishing the Federal Housing Administration (FHA). The FHA was created to issue publicly sponsored “economically sound” mortgages to encourage home construction. However, like many other organizations during this time, the FHA discriminated against Black individuals by restricting access to mortgages for those living in low-income communities, many of which had high non-white populations.
The federal government additionally created the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC), which similarly perpetuated racial segregation and poverty within urban areas. The temporary agency was established to refinance home mortgages. In this process, they created “residential security maps” ranking neighborhoods as “A (Best),” “B (Still Desirable),” “C (Definitely Declining),” or “D (Hazardous).” Within the ranking criteria used by the HOLA were “detrimental influences” that lowered the neighborhood’s appraisal — among which included discriminatory comments. Banks utilized this scale to determine whether individuals were eligible for mortgages, denying applications from “Definitely Declining” and “Hazardous” areas. This is the process that we know today as redlining.
Redlining neighborhoods perpetuated notions that these marginalized communities were inferior to white communities. As a result, investors devoted their money to the so-called “desirable” neighborhoods, all while some of the nation’s most vulnerable populations were left abandoned. Manufacturing companies built factories in low-income communities, investors neglected proper funding for infrastructure, and the city constructed new sources of pollution within redlined neighborhoods — causing a compounding spiral of poor economic and physical health within communities of color.
Similarly, city planners planted a number of highways throughout the city to accommodate the increasing number of automobiles, which were disproportionately built in low-income neighborhoods. The Gowanus Expressway and the Cross-Bronx Expressway, built in 1941 and 1955, respectively, each displaced thousands of residents and disrupted vibrant communities. These highways bring car traffic, further contributing to the air pollution within these neighborhoods — leading to health complications such as asthma, strokes, and heart disease. Today the South Bronx, starting right along the south of the Cross Bronx Expressway, has some of the highest asthma rates in the nation.
Although America prides itself as the “Land of the Free,” the country had failed to live up to its name. These organizations had actively jeopardized the lives of their most vulnerable populations — so much so that individuals were not even free to enjoy clear air or water.
Although redlining was banned through the 1968 Fair Housing Act, its effects are still prevalent. Today, more than 60% of previously D-graded neighborhoods are non-white, with these neighborhoods having higher noise, water, and air pollution rates than their previously higher-ranked counterparts. In addition, in New York City, lower-income communities on average have 21% less access to parks than high-income communities. For Black and Hispanic communities, the disparity is even greater at 33%. Many of these parks receive poor funding and have little vegetation. This has the more readily apparent effect on individuals’ respiratory health, but there are many other impacts. Parks can reduce stress, which can improve one’s mental health. Green spaces also prevent floods by increasing soil absorbency. Across the city, lower-income communities are at a higher risk of facing flood conditions during heavy rain and lack the resources to quickly recover from natural disasters.
These low-income neighborhoods that are at higher risk of harmful environmental factors, such as flooding and poor air quality, are aptly called “Environmental Justice (EJ) neighborhoods.” Environmental disparities and structural racism are why there are numerous showcases of community solidarity in EJ neighborhoods, such as the Lower East Side (LES) of Manhattan and the South Bronx. These efforts began largely in the 1970s, a time when the government’s continuous neglect came to a head.
During the financial crisis that swept the city in the 1970s, landlords abandoned their properties in droves, letting them purposefully rot. EJ neighborhoods were, unsurprisingly, hit the hardest.
In the South Bronx, the government cut the funding of fire companies. The lack of sufficient staffing coupled with the landlords’ mismanagement of buildings resulted in deadly fires that ravaged the community. Aptly called the “Decade of Fire,” during the 70s and 80s approximately 80% of the South Bronx’s residential buildings burned. More than 300,000 residents were displaced.
The LES was in a similar state of decay — residents saw entire blocks of debris, with no sign of aid from the government. The federal and municipal administrations had abandoned these communities, and so its residents had to support one another to fill in the gaps. The collective grassroots efforts of these communities gave rise to the Homestead Movement, a core aspect of the climate justice movement today.
Homesteaders in the city organized to revitalize their neighborhoods by reclaiming abandoned plots of land, renovating buildings, creating parks, and applying for loans and grants. Numerous community centers and community organizations, such as BronxWorks, arose. These organizations made tangible improvements on the lives of their community’s residents, and many still play crucial roles within their communities today. In fact, many of the community gardens emblematic of the LES originated during this time.
Across the city and around the world, the environmental and climate justice movement began organically spreading because of community outcries. The climate and environmental justice movement has much of its roots in the Civil Rights Movement from the 60s, emphasizing anti-racism, Indigenous sovereignty, self-determinism, and community solidarity — every individual having the right to their mental and physical well-being. Climate change disproportionately affects marginalized communities, both in the city and around the world. Therefore, fighting for one aspect of human rights means fighting for all human rights.
In response to the efforts of activists, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created in 1970, followed by the passing of break-through national laws such as the Clean Air Act of 1970, the Clean Water Act of 1972, and the Endangered Species Act of 1973. The adoption of the City Environmental Quality Review (CEQR) process in 1977 was one of the first major acts to systematize environmental review in New York City.
The fight for climate justice has expanded over the years, and is now a movement that aims to prevent further contributions to human-accelerated climate change, transition to fossil fuels, and fight against systems that are promoting climate change that are inherently discriminatory against racial minorities, disabled individuals, LGBTQ+ individuals, low-income individuals, and women.
I interviewed Rachel Ruback (she/her), the North America Project Manager of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty. For her, fighting for climate justice means preventing many of the negative health effects that would occur as a result of the rapid onset of climate change. “It’s critical… in every community to take care of… [vulnerable] people. And especially in major cities, there are impacts that are going to be uniquely felt in these types of communities, in part because people are here so densely packed and so how we make sure that there’s enough food for everyone, how we make sure that health care systems aren’t being overburdened,” she said.
Communal efforts to fight back against environmental disparities still continue today. “Peaker” power plants — power plants built starting the 1960s to fit the rising need for energy across the city — are still active in various EJ neighborhoods such as Astoria, the South Bronx, Sunset Park, and South Williamsburg. Similarly, as recently as 2001, the State-owned utility New York Power Authority (NYPA) constructed a dozen power plants in the city that remain in operation today. In 2023, New York State passed the Build Public Renewables Act (BPRA). The bill requires the NYPA to transition fully to clean energy by 2030, including a provision requiring NYPA-owned peak power plants to be shut down.
New York’s landmark climate justice law, the CLCPA, passed in 2019. It is one of the nation’s most aggressive climate and environmental justice laws, passed after years of campaigning led by the climate justice coalition, NY Renews. The bill commits on making New York’s electricity zero-emission by 2040, sets emission reduction standards to completely eliminate fossil fuel-use in New York by 2050, and mandates 40% of the state’s energy and climate funding will be allocated to marginalized communities.
Since the passing of the CLCPA, until late 2024 climate activists under NY Renews had been pushing for the passage of the Climate Jobs and Justice Package (CJJP). The CJJP is a collection of bills, including the BPRA, that act as roadmaps for the realization of the terms set in the CLCPA.
On December 26th, 2024, Governor Hochul signed into law the Climate Change Superfund Act, a core part of the CJJP. This bill seeks financial responsibility from large fossil fuel companies by demanding they directly fund the city’s just transition to renewable energy — making New York the second state in the country after California to write such repercussions into law. Now, activists are turning towards efforts to ensure this funding goes to where it’s needed most, tackling the city’s long history of environmental racism and injustice. But with the new year, comes a new challenge: Donald Trump’s victory in the election, and his second term in office.
Trump’s Presidency
It’s no secret that Donald Trump denies climate change’s existence, calling it a “hoax.” During his first term in office, he took actions that favored business and harmed marginalized groups by deregulating many climate policies in place and additionally rolling back over 100 policies. The most notable of these actions is withdrawing the United States from the Paris Agreement, the agreement made by 195 countries to significantly cut greenhouse gas emissions.
Project 2025, a policy agenda proposed by the Heritage Foundation closely associated with Mr. Trump, may well be one of the most devastating plans for marginalized groups yet. Some major plans include gutting abortion and transgender rights, mass deportations, authorizing and encouraging undue force on protestors and media, severely limiting voting access, censoring critical discussions within classrooms, and exploiting the executive branch’s powers to monitor individuals without their permission.
Project 2025’s plans for climate and environmental policies are similarly devastating. There are outlines to massively overhaul many environmental protection efforts made in the past. These include dismantling the administrative state, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), reducing restrictions on private activities, promoting the burning of fossil fuel, and reducing and moderating climate policies. All of these policies can massively hinder the climate justice movement as a whole.
In his first month in office, Mr. Trump has signed over 50 executive orders, following along the plans of Project 2025. These include once again withdrawing from the Paris Agreement after Joe Biden had re-entered the United States on the former president’s first day in office; increasing tariffs — which will increase prices in America, thereby harming low-income individuals; banning transgender women from participating in sports; attempting to end gender-affirming care for transgender individuals under 19; leaving the World Health Organization (WHO), which the United States is the largest contributor to; ending birthright citizenship; and shutting down the CBP One app, which was the quickest method for asylum seekers to enter the U.S. legally, to name a few.
Mr. Trump’s cabinet nominations are also a cause for concern. Trump’s nominee for the EPA, former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, was sworn in on January 25th, 2025. During his term in the house, Mr. Zeldin voted against clean water and air legislation numerous times.
But not all hope is lost yet. Fighting for climate justice has always been an uphill battle — having to rally at local, state, and national levels to acquire the necessary support for the movement. Many efforts will be affected, yes, but others will continue.
“There is still so much that can be done at the local level and at the state level by groups that are committed to being ethical actors, that are motivated by climate justice,” said Ruback. Actions such as lobbying and testifying and mutual aid will become even more crucial than before. Ruback continues, “There’s much that can be done… to benefit our own communities and in solidarity with this international effort to phase out fossil fuels and to care for the communities that are at the front lines of the climate crisis. And so hope isn’t lost. It just changes where the most strategic fights are.” This is precisely why fighting for climate justice in New York, and especially New York City, is so important.
We are in a critical moment in history, in a critical location, “because of the multinational corporations that have headquarters here [in NYC], [we activists] have a lot of access to the people who are most at fault for the problem, and that means that climate action here can have a really big ripple effect around the world,” said Ruback. Getting involved in local communities will become more important than ever, to support and work in solidarity with communities.
Ruback believes, “One of the best ways that you can deal with that is by getting to know your neighbor, knowing who in your own community is vulnerable to [climate] impacts, and then figuring out if there are tools in your community to keep them safe, and creating the types of community relationships that will keep us safe through any type of crisis that is coming.” There are countless ways to fight for our peers in the city, it’s simply up to us to make the effort.
“One of the best ways that you can deal with that is by getting to know your neighbor, knowing who in your own community is vulnerable to [climate] impacts, and then figuring out if there are tools in your community to keep them safe, and creating the types of community relationships that will keep us safe through any type of crisis that is coming,” said Rachel Ruback (she/her), the North America Project Manager of the Fossil Fuel Non-Proliferation Treaty.