Mayor Adams: Green and Healthy Schools Now!
Eric Adams, Chancellor Banks and NYC Council
New York City K-12 students deserve safe and healthy schools. Teachers and school staff deserve safe and healthy workplaces. But the climate crisis and decades of disinvestment are already wreaking havoc on NYC public schools and nearly 1 million students and their caregivers.
NYC already has access to BILLIONS of dollars through IRA and city funding for electrifying and upgrading school buildings, but city agencies and politicians are letting the money sit there while our schools flood and fill with smoke.
New York City's school buildings alone account for nearly 20% of the city's public buildings emissions. Right now, schools rely on dirty fossil fuels to power and heat classrooms, and our 100-year-old infrastructure desperately needs repairs and upgrades. We’re fighting alongside youth, labor, and environmental justice organizations for Green, Healthy Schools so all students can breathe clean air and attend school safely.
We’re calling on Mayor Adams, Governor Hochul, and the NYC DOE to invest in our students, teachers, and staff by funding green, healthy, safe, and comfortable schools to learn and grow up in—regardless of zip code.
Sponsored by
To:
Eric Adams, Chancellor Banks and NYC Council
From:
[Your Name]
Dear Mayor Adams, Chancellor Banks and the NYC Council:
Our children deserve safe and healthy schools and a livable future. Teachers and school staff deserve safe and healthy workplaces. The city has committed to be carbon neutral by 2050 with public buildings leading the way. But school buildings are unprepared for the climate crisis and its impacts.
In just the last year, NYC public school students experienced catastrophic flooding and an air quality crisis caused by climate change-fueled wildfire smoke. We are also in year four of an airborne pandemic worsened by poor ventilation in our aging infrastructure. Right now, schools rely on dirty fossil fuels to power and heat classrooms; New York City's aging school buildings account for nearly 20% of the city's greenhouse gas emissions. It’s past time to green and upgrade our school buildings.
NYC schools SHOULD have access to BILLIONS of dollars in federal and city funding for upgrading buildings through the Inflation Reduction Act and the Mayor’s Leading the Charge initiative, but city agencies and politicians are leaving the money on the table while emissions continue to rise and our schools flood and fill with smoke.
Local Law 97 requires that the city reduce the emissions produced by the city’s largest buildings 40 percent by 2030 and 80 percent by 2050. The city already has a goal to install 100 megawatts of solar on City-owned buildings by 2025.
We are simply asking that the city meet its own stated climate goals and immediately pursue ALL available funding opportunities to upgrade school buildings so that our children can attend school safely.
We’re calling on Mayor Adams, and the NYC DOE to invest in our students, teachers, and city by funding an urgent transition to green and healthy schools for our children and all children.
Specifically:
--We call on New York City to immediately apply for time-sensitive grants to upgrade school buildings through the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal funding sources so as not to leave hundreds of millions of dollars on the table.
--We call on the Mayor and City Council to commit to fund electrification and ventilation upgrades for 500 school buildings –prioritizing those in communities most at risk of climate consequences– by 2030.
--We call on the Mayor and City Council to pass Intro 1183 (CM Nurse), which implements a solar power goal of 100 Megawatts (MW) on city-owned buildings by 2025 and Intro 1130 (CM Powers), which would require the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to set standards regarding indoor air quality in city buildings, and engage in outreach and education regarding indoor air quality.
Signed,