The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted socio-economic, racial and health disparities in New York. Guest Eddie Bautista, Executive Director of the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance explains how climate change and environmental conditions in lower income neighborhoods have an adverse impact for those same populations and what can be done to bring justice to those communities in New York City to benefit residents there and throughout New York.
ABOUT OUR GUEST:
Eddie Bautista is an award-winning community organizer and urban planner, and Executive Director of the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. In February 2010, Eddie resigned as Director of the Mayor’s Office of City Legislative Affairs to take the reins at NYC-EJA. The Mayor’s Office of City Legislative Affairs is the Mayor’s local lobbying office representing the Mayor and City agencies at the City Council, and serving as liaison between the Bloomberg Administration and the Comptroller, Public Advocate and Borough Presidents. As Director, Eddie spearheaded efforts to pass several major pieces of legislation, including: the City’s 20-year landmark Solid Waste Management Plan (which relied for the first time on principles of environmental justice and borough equity); the creation of the first municipal brownfields remediation office in the nation; the required retrofit of all diesel-powered school buses to reduce air pollution in bus cabins; and the Greater Greener Buildings Plan, the nation’s first comprehensive package of legislation aimed at improving energy efficiency for large scale buildings.
LINKS RELATED TO THIS EPISODE:
- Follow the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance on Twitter
- Grist: New York says goodbye to 6 dirty power plants and hello to working with communities
- NY1: Advocates push mayoral candidates to address climate crisis
- City & State New York: Climate bill would tax carbon in New York
