Bronx Design and Construction Academy ninth-graders Elton Hollingsworth (left) and Noel Cruz, both 14, stand atop the green roof with Nathaniel Wight (far right), a teacher who leads the school’s science club. Photo: Nick Pandolfo
Focusing on energy, buildings, and transportation, BCJN’s Energy Solutions Working Group seeks to promote solutions in the Bronx that will support a broader New York City and New York State transition to 100% renewable energy by 2030 (100×30), environmentally sound building practices, and transportation alternatives that promote equity, public safety, and reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. We support binding global agreements on greenhouse gas emissions that will hold the world to below 1.5° Celsius of warming. We seek the rapid termination of dangerous, destructive extraction, transportation, and consumption of fossil fuels, including coal, oil, and natural gas, and work for their replacement with renewable energy sources. We oppose nuclear power. We support global campaigns for divestment from fossil fuels and nuclear energy, and reinvestment in renewable energy projects. These goals must be met with green jobs at living wages aimed at meeting the need for employment in the inner city.
CSX freight train derailment on the Spuyten Duyvil portion of the Hudson River Line in the Bronx, July 22, 2013. Propane is transported daily on this line through densely packed residential areas of the Bronx. Had these been cars carrying propane rather than garbage, loss of life could have been significant. Photo: Richard Harbus, NY Daily News.
The change we’re working for:
Bronx Climate Justice North and its Energy Solutions Working Group stand with the People’s Climate Movement NY and many other climate justice groups and coalitions in our city and state in demanding bold and immediate action to move New York City to 100% renewable energy by 2030.
We call on all of New York’s elected officials to:
- Develop responsibly built and wildlife-friendly off-shore wind power
- Require all large buildings to be energy-efficient
- Divest NYC and NYS funds from all fossil fuels, and reinvest those funds in renewable energy
- Convert all city-owned buildings to solar and other renewable energy sources
- Shut down nuclear power
- Follow up on the state-wide ban on fracking with a ban on all use of natural gas and natural gas infrastructure
- Build no new fossil fuel infrastructure of any kind, including pipelines, oil trains, and transport systems for oil through the Hudson River Valley or elsewhere in the state
- Provide locally grown foods in city and state programs and give permanent protected status to all community gardens; pass the NY Farmworker Rights bill
- Expand and improve the mass transit system
The climate crisis is real and urgent. Our city and state, guided by principles of equity, a just transition, energy democracy, and the critical need for green jobs, should lead the world with climate justice policies that dramatically reduce NYC and NYS global warming emissions, and protect and respect front-line communities, impacted workers, low-income residents, communities of color, and the natural environment.
For more information about 100% renewable energy by 2030 for New York, please see The Solutions Project/New York.
To learn more about the work of the Energy Solutions Working Group, please see the flyer below, and visit our Green Buildings, Green Jobs campaign.
Bronx Climate Justice North 