“From coastal resiliency and sustainable green practices to the preservation of affordable housing, world-class public art, and vibrant, year-round programming in award-winning public spaces, Battery Park City leads the way in many of the measures that makes cities livable."

Raju Mann

President & CEO
  • 09/16
  • Art & Culture
  • BPC People
  • Community
  • Environment
  • Governance

BATTERY PARK CITY AUTHORITY ANNOUNCES LINEUP OF EVENTS IN RECOGNITION OF CLIMATE WEEK NYC 2022

Climate Week NYC is September 19-25

In keeping with its legacy of environmental leadership, the Battery Park City Authority (BPCA) today announced its lineup of programs, events, and activities celebrating Climate Week NYC 2022 and its goal of driving climate action, fast. Including nature walks, tours, a coastal resiliency project public meeting – even a ladybug release! – the event lineup highlights BPCA’s green legacy and leading-edge sustainability efforts on the path to achieving a carbon neutral Battery Park City by 2050. For more information and a full schedule of events, visit: www.climateweeknyc.org.

“The Authority’s Climate Week NYC events reflect our ongoing commitment to climate action,” said BPCA President and Chief Executive Officer B.J. Jones. “We invite you to take part in this year’s range of free programs and join us in creating a more sustainable future.”

BPCA’s Climate Week NYC 2022 events include:

Monday September 19

Battery Park City Nature Walk – 12PM @ Rockefeller Park. Meet at the Rockefeller Park House to join BPCA naturalists at this ideal Hudson-side setting to celebrate and learn about environmental stewardship by taking part in a nature walk.

North/West Battery Park City Resiliency Project Public Meeting – 5:30PM at 6 River Terrace (event also livestreamed). The North/West Battery Park City Resiliency Project (NWBPCR), part of BPCA’s suite of coastal resiliency initiatives to help protect Lower Manhattan form storm surge and sea level rise, will create protective measures along the northern and western portions of Battery Park City and into Tribeca. Now early in the design phase of the project, the latest in BPCA’s ongoing series of public meetings about NWBPCR, hosted in partnership with Manhattan Community Board 1, will include discussion and input on updated project concepts developed with community feedback to date. The event will be livestreamed for those who cannot attend in person, with a link to the meeting recording and materials available post-meeting. Members of the public can provide comments through September 26.

Tuesday, September 20

Young Sprouts Gardening & Ladybug Release – 2:30PM @ Rockefeller Park. A wonderful opportunity for little gardeners and their accompanying adults to get a “bug’s-eye-view” of the world! Join BPCA as we read stories about the life within our garden beds and then head into the Children’s Garden to water, dig, and admire the plants and flowers all around us. Together, we will observe the changing seasons and learn about the pollinators and other insects who help our plants thrive.

The Nine-Spotted Ladybug, a native and endangered species, is the State insect of New York. Attendees at Young Sprouts Gardening will release ladybugs throughout Rockefeller Park, building on BPCA’s similar efforts last year to help to repopulate these ecologically-important insects that keep our flora healthy and safe from other plant-eating insects. This effort is part of the larger Lost Ladybug Project, a decades-long initiative led by Cornell University researchers to survey ladybug populations across New York State and determine the cause(s) of this particular species’ decline.

Wednesday September 21

The Nest Summit Campus: The Intersection of Climate Change and Infrastructure – 3:30-4:15 PM @ Jacob K. Javits Center. Taking place at the Javits Center, under the largest green roof in the world, The Nest Summit brings together a program of events that explore and engage in the solutions that will allow us to make climate action happen.

This session will focus on organizations working together to create real solutions to the extreme weather conditions created by climate change. Resiliency experts Karen Appell, Climate Adaptation Lead at AECOM Metro New York, Keith Masback, Strategic Advisor at Tomorrow.io, BPCA President & CEO B.J. Jones, and Cortney Koenig Worrall, President & CEO of the Waterfront Alliance, will address the engineering, warning systems and infrastructure commitments required to keep communities safe.

Thursday, September 22

Meet BPCA’s Dog Waste Composting Team – 7:45-8:30AM and 1:30-02:15PM @ BPC Esplanade, south of Esplanade Plaza. Battery Park City’s dog waste compost program, first launched in 2019, continues with daily collection and processing of waste from the neighborhood’s three dog runs. Since the start of the program, more than 4,600 pounds of dog waste have been collected and processed into compost, with the first fully-tested and cured dog waste compost applied along the West Street / Route 9A median earlier this year. BPCA has now installed an additional drop-off location on the BPC Esplanade, just south of Esplanade Plaza, to make participating in this program easier than ever. On Thursday, September 22, come meet BPCA’s Dog Waste Composting team to learn more about the Authority’s dog waste composting program.

Friday, September 23

Meet the Beekeeper – 1:30-2:30PM @ Rockefeller Park. Battery Park City is home to a diverse array of wildlife, with many species of insects, including native pollinators, inhabiting its gardens and lawns. Contributing to that biodiversity is the BPC beehive in Rockefeller Park, which houses more than 50,000 honeybees and is aimed at sparking interest and conversation about pollinators in BPC as they pollinate flowers, trees, and shrubs throughout the neighborhood. On Friday, September 23, meet at the bee hive for a presentation and talk led by Alveole beekeepers and learn about the importance of urban beekeeping and its benefit to sustainability efforts.

Saturday, September 24

Art & Poetry in Battery Park City – 2-4PM; meet at Irish Hunger Memorial. On Saturday, join BPCA for an art walk & poetry reading led by Art Historian Dorothea Basile and Poet Jon Curley. Perched where the urban world meets the natural, Battery Park City celebrates this juxtaposition with its unique public art and exploration of poetry. A reading featuring local poets Michael Heller, Barbara Henning, and Burt Kimmelman will follow.

– 2PM: ART WALK; meet at Irish Hunger Memorial
– 3PM: POETRY READING; Belvedere Plaza

New York State Birding Trail

The gardens and trees of Battery Park City support both migratory and resident birds. Maintained organically and pesticide-free, these plantings offer a food source and cover to song birds looking to eat and rest safely before the next leg of their journeys. With more than 100 species of bird identified as living in or passing through Battery Park City, the neighborhood is a biodiversity haven across its 36 acres of parks and public space. As part of Climate Week, Battery Park City has also been welcomed as part of the New York State Birding Trail, which highlights world-class birding opportunities across the state. The trail provides information on places anyone can go to find birds amid beautiful settings. The trail is not a physically connected or built trail, but a network of promoted birding locations that can be accessed by car or public transportation and providing an inclusive experience for all.

“DEC is proud to partner with Battery Park City Authority in our work to enhance all the offerings of the New York State Birding Trail, especially in an urban area like Manhattan” said NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos. “Birdwatching has become one of the State’s fastest-growing recreation and tourism activities. We look forward to working with partners like BPCA for years to come to provide New York residents and visitors with a positive, sustainable outdoor recreation experience and one that is and welcoming to beginner birders of all ages, abilities, identities, and backgrounds.”

Want more birds of BPC? Join BPCA in Rector Park East for Fall Birdwatching on select Friday mornings this season.

All Week Long – Get There Green!

Get There Green! (#GTG22) is a week to promote and celebrate more sustainable modes of transportation. Taking place this year during Climate Week NYC, everyone is encouraged to join in a week of climate action by using a more sustainable mode of transportation for as many trips as they can. These include:

– walking;
– biking;
– taking public transit;
– carpooling;
– driving an electric vehicle, or;
– anything else that isn’t driving alone in a fossil fuel-powered vehicle

As a sustainability leader, BPCA has also made the following recent strides in green governance and programming:

o In April 2022, BPCA released its Climate Action Plan, a detailed roadmap of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction strategies in the energy, transportation, and waste sectors. The Battery Park City Climate Action Plan was crafted by calculating current GHG emissions for the neighborhood, as well as projections of how those emissions would change year-by-year through 2050, and followed on the heels of a report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change outlining the dire need for swift action to avert the worst effects of climate change.

o In April 2022 BPCA completed the BPC Ball Fields and Community Center Resiliency Project, which entailed construction of an independent flood barrier system along the eastern, northern, and southern boundaries of the BPC Ball Fields. The approximately 800-linear foot barrier system protects the 80,000 square foot playing surface – used by some 50,000 local youth annually – and adjacent community center from the risks associated with storm surge and sea level rise.

o In November 2021, BPCA’s Zero Waste Initiative has recognized by the National Recycling Coalition, an organization focused on promoting and enhancing recycling in the United States that envisions waste reduction and sound management practices for raw materials in North America as a path to an environmentally sustainable economy. The award followed the Authority’s Zero Waste Advisory Committee recognition by the New York State Academy for Public Administration with a Public Service Excellence Award earlier that year. BPCA’s Zero Waste Advisory Committee engages staff from various departments, conducts regular waste audits, and monitors the Authority’s longstanding community compost program to increase the amount of compost generated. To date these actions have helped transform BPCA’s Park Operations facility and achieve 90% waste diversion and TRUE Gold certification, paving the way for sustainable business practices.

Read more about BPCA’s sustainability initiatives here.

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