click below to learn more about the intersections of organic farming and health outcomes in upstate new york. 

may 2019. i don’t remember the exact date, but i know it was a tuesday. the day started off seemingly normal, or so i thought. i woke up with my chest tight, not a rare occurrence since i struggle with anxiety. i really didn’t think anything of it. 

i’ve always struggled with the allergy season. i had childhood asthma, my mom used to administer nebulizer treatments to me at night when i was in elementary school. a couple of annual checkups later, my pediatrician told us i outgrew my asthma. i was given a fresh albuterol inhaler prescription and was told to pick it up and keep it on me at all times.

my parents live on roosevelt island, a small island between manhattan and queens. there’s an aerial tramway that connects the island to the upper east side of manhattan and only one subway line, the f train. in the early spring, roosevelt island is known for its lush cherry blossom trees and the annual cherry blossom festival. needless to say, when you live here and struggle with allergies, you have to take preventative measures. i wouldn’t leave the house unless i’ve taken my allergy medication and have some on me just in case. yes, it’s that serious. 

seasonal airborne allergen exposure in the us begins with the release of tree pollen in the spring. according to the national climate assessment, between the 1950s and the early 2000s, warmer winters and earlier arrival of springs has resulted in the earlier flowering of oak trees. increases in co2 have induced earlier and much more intense seasonal pollen production in pine and oak trees. the first week of may is historically known as the worst time of the year for pollen levels in new york city. 

and so that’s what i did. i was getting ready to go meet up with some friends for lunch. i took some zyrtec and tucked the rest of the pack in my bag before leaving. we were meeting at a taco spot not too far away from the manhattan tramway stop. i figured i would just take the tramway and walk for 20 minutes. 

the national climate assessment details how rising temperatures and increased co2 concentrations can influence asthma in “three ways: by increasing the duration of the pollen season, by increasing the amount of pollen produced by plants and by altering the degree of allergic reactions to pollen.”

as i was walking, my chest felt like it was getting heavier and heavier. i figured it was just my fast pace (of course, i was running late). i knew something was wrong when i was on the corner of 68th street. at this point, my cough had become uncontrollable and i was starting to wheeze. i was looking for somewhere to sit so i could catch my breath. i found a stoop and immediately called my mom. the second she heard me on the phone she told me to hang up and call 911. and that’s what i did. i hadn’t been carrying my inhaler around for years because i really didn’t think i would ever need to use it after so long. 

climate change is lengthening and intensifying pollen seasons. for people with allergic asthma, exposure to certain types of pollen can result in worsening of symptoms leading to increases in allergy medication sales and emergency room visits for asthma, as already documented in new york city.

i don’t remember riding in the ambulance. when i woke up, the nurse taking care of me explained how i had a severe asthma attack. she talked about how she’s seen more and more people have been coming into the er for asthma treatment. i asked why. she then in turn explained how pollen seasons have been longer and more intense due to warmer temperatures.

experts are noticing a longer-term trend in allergy complaints and are linking it to climate change. “as global warming increases, it’s actually making the seasons longer and making the pollen counts much higher,” said dr. purci marikh with the allergy and asthma network in an interview with jeff smith from abc7ny news.

i’ll probably never know if climate change caused all that extra pollen that sent me to the emergency room that day, but the science is definitive. warming temperatures usher in way more pollen…for way more of the year. it affects more and more people every year, and i may have been one of them.

in the state of new york, environmental organizations are fighting for access to clean water and clean air for their communities despite obstacles created by the pandemic. food & water watch, a national nonprofit founded in 2005, works on a variety of environmental issues including industrial pollution, the spread of diseases by factory farms and the privatization of water.

“we work very closely with some wonderful groups in buffalo that were contending with, you might say, an epidemic of water shutoffs that became particularly acute with the pandemic because of the absolute imperative for people to be able to wash their hands,” said new york senior organizer eric weltman. 

as millions of people all over the country lost their jobs during the pandemic, many were unable to pay rent or their utility bills, resulting in widespread water shutoffs. in june, new york gov. andrew cuomo signed a bill banning utility shutoffs until march 31, 2021, at the latest. this landmark piece of legislation is one of many that food & water watch has lobbied elected officials to pass. 

another of the organization’s major goals was realized in 2014 when cuomo banned fracking in new york state. however, this has not prevented the construction of other fossil fuel projects including pipelines and fracking power plants, which food & water watch has fought against in order to protect communities from exposure to harmful pollution. weltman says that the pandemic has not slowed down the progress on this campaign or any of the other work that his organization continues to do. 

“we have a range of tools at our disposal to interact with people. and let’s be clear, i mean, we love to see people,” weltman said. “we miss seeing a lot of our favorite activists and allies face to face but….we’ve got twitter, we’ve got facebook, we’ve got email, we’ve got texting, we’ve got zoom, we’ve got instagram — even old-fashioned telephones.”

weltman continued to list all of the ways food & water watch has adapted to the pandemic including calling elected officials, hosting webinars, and sending out petitions. in the past, the nonprofit rented buses to transport people from new york city to albany to lobby in the state’s capital. now, inspired by the marches for black lives matter, weltman and his colleagues have held outdoor rallies where people are required to socially distance and wear masks. 

despite not being able to meet with fellow activists or speak with elected officials in person, weltman has found the silver lining to an online approach. 

“you’re able to invite more people to attend and are able to invite more guest speakers. if you want to hold a zoom meeting and have a guest speaker from, you know, los angeles or honolulu or wherever, you just do it,” he said. “people are still craving connection and we’re providing it.”

just a little more than 60 miles north of new york city on the hudson river, one of the organizations that food & water watch works with faces its own battle with access to clean water. in the historical district of newburgh, generations of people have been plagued by a variety of illnesses including cancer and compromised immune systems. the newburgh clean water project (ncwp) believes the source of this hardship is the long-term contamination of their community’s water sources. 

“so we’re fighting lead in our water pipes and in our paint,” said tamsin hollo, one of ncwp’s steering committee members. “we’re fighting the pfas. we’re fighting pcbs in the hudson river. we’re fighting generations of manufacturing pollution. and most recently, we’re fighting this massive fracked gas power plant expansion just three miles from the center of newburgh.”

according to the environmental protection agency (epa), pfas is an umbrella term for man-made chemicals that do not break down easily over time and have been shown to result in a number of health issues including low birth weight for infants, compromised immune systems, thyroid problems and cancer. pcbs are organic chemicals used in industrial and commercial processes that can result in cancer, neurological issues and many other health problems. 

deborah brown, also a member of the steering committee and one of the people who founded ncwp in 2017, said that continuous industrialization has created a cycle of pollution, beginning with the construction of the stewart air national guard base in 1934. 

“the (new york state) department of health dropped our watershed from its maps very conveniently to allow the (new york state) department of transportation and the new york new jersey port authority to build a highway right on our watersheds,” brown said. “there are storm drains so if there was some kind of accident, if there was some kind of spill of chemicals or anything, it goes right into our reservoir.”

according to the u.s. census bureau, newburgh’s population is mostly latino and african american. the epa has recognized that environmental issues disproportionately impact communities of color and that these communities do not receive the same protections that predominantly white areas do. on top of this, the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc) found that communities of color have been at a higher risk from covid-19 due to “long-standing systemic health and social inequities.” 

“there definitely is a trend. i think just the term ‘environmental justice community’ was coined because of the relationship between poverty, race, and contamination,” brown said. “when you go around the country, where does the coal ash go? where do all the really toxic end products of the american lifestyle go? they tend to go to the places where poor people live and where people are the least listened to.” 

to combat these issues, ncwp successfully advocated to expand blood testing for harmful chemicals by the new york state department of health and demanded that the information also be provided in spanish. before the pandemic, ncwp held in-person events where people would break bread and share information to be prepared when different government agencies like the department of defense held community meetings about pollution coming from the air base. ncwp also held watershed tours where people could go see how the streams running near big box stores like kohl’s and home depot carried trash into various water sources. 

now during the pandemic, the grassroots organization continues to work with colleagues like food & water watch to campaign against a number of issues such as preventing a power plant in newburgh that operates only a few days each year from becoming a fracked gas plant that would operate year-round. throughout new york, 150 elected officials, including members of the state senate and state assembly, signed a letter urging cuomo to stop the upgrade of danskammer generating station and prevent newburgh residents from being exposed to “the brunt of air pollution.” 

“right here, right now, this community cannot survive yet another source of pollution,” hollo said.

in addition to partnering with other organizations, ncwp also relies on social media and webinars to get the word out on the dangers of contaminated water and fossil fuel emissions. according to hollo, who runs ncwp’s social media accounts, there are pros and cons to strictly virtual advocacy. 

“not having that face to face interaction, not having something on paper, i think, has not been the best way to reach out to our communities of color,” she said. 

hollo went on to explain that many people in her community only speak spanish or french creole but because ncwp is a small volunteer-based grassroots organization with limited funding, they can’t afford instant translation for webinars and other online events.  

“i guess i’ll just say it’s a double-edged sword,” she said. “you may think you’re reaching, you know, hundreds of thousands of people and you are, but are you reaching all the people for whom this is the most important issue and for whom this is really a life threatening issue?”

despite these limitations, both brown and hollo have been astonished with how effectively social media has mobilized young people. 

“young people have created a different way of voicing their concerns and certainly the latinx community has definitely come out strong in newburgh against danskammer (power plant),” hollo said. 

she also noted that many of the older members of the community were concerned about their vulnerability to covid-19 and were unable to protest in person, creating a unique call to action. 

“(young people) had to carry the torch and they did it beautifully,” hollo said. 

one organization has used social media as not only a tool for change but as a way to create a network of young climate advocates. new york youth climate leaders (ny2cl) is a coalition of 70 individual groups across new york state, founded in november 2019. the leaders of the organization are either in their late teens or completing their first semester of college, while members across the state range from middle schoolers to college undergraduates. the coalition focuses on policy surrounding fossil fuels, renewable energy, health care, and the green new deal. 

according to social media director sophie campbell, ny2cl has taken advantage of the digital space by organizing virtual strikes, creating a social media campaign to support the new york fossil fuel divestment act, pushing petitions on multiple platforms, and encouraging people to call elected officials such as cuomo and new york state senate majority leader andrea stewart-cousins. the organization also created a podcast and hosts informational webinars with guest speakers and panels. 

“i think the biggest thing was figuring out how to do our events and actions virtually,” campbell said. “social media has really been the key to activism and just keeping the climate movement alive during the pandemic.” 

even though ny2cl has fully embraced online tools for activism, campbell recognizes the limitations of not being able to conduct business as usual in person. 

“climate anxiety is very real, especially in youth organizers, and taking away that socialization aspect makes it very difficult to keep going and keep fighting all the time,” she said. “but i think that, you know, we’re getting through it. and we’re finding ways to have more fun, engaging in activities, not just activism, because i think that with everyone doing school virtually, and being on zoom all day every day, people are less excited to get on the call for climate organizing.” 

to prevent members from feeling isolated or disengaged, campbell has incorporated more art and activities into her social media strategy. 

during earth week, ny2cl held a climate art challenge where people could post individual creations inspired by the environment. the organization also hosted a virtual open mic via instagram, launched the #hugsomethinggreen challenge and drew slogans with chalk about divesting from fossil fuels in front of stewart-cousins’ office.

“we’re working on a lot more kinds of artistic, creative projects for our social media, for our website, for engagement, because i think that art and activism is incredibly important to the climate movement, both for engagement and (because) it’s just such a good way to spread awareness.” 

despite the variety of strategies and individual obstacles, all three organizations agreed on the importance of continuing their work during the pandemic. 

“climate change is the greatest threat that humanity faces because now, more than ever, we need access to safe (and) clean food, air, and water,” said food & water watch’s eric weltman.

related: from industrial wasteland to community park

many u.s. cities don’t offer equal access to green space. for example, los angeles has 23,000 acres of parks, which puts the city in the top 15 in terms of total green space, but much of this parkland is near the mountains so most of the city’s low-income, inner-city communities don’t have any parks at all. peter harnik, director of the center for city park excellence at the trust for public land, says in reality 3.8 million residents of l.a. are too far from “a park to use one easily, conveniently, or frequently.” similarly, in new york city, high-quality parkland is found in greater abundance in wealthier districts, while low-income communities don’t enjoy the same access. more than half of the city’s 59 community board districts were found to have less than 1.5 acres of parkland per 1,000 residents. a university of chicago study found that communities with lower incomes, higher poverty rates, and higher proportions of racial and ethnic minorities also had the “fewest opportunities for community-level physical activity.” lack of green space is then not just about unfairness, it’s about health. low-income communities may have higher rates of health problems like obesity and asthma in large part because they don’t have parks.
(source: “urban green: innovative parks for resurgent cities,” peter harnik, island press, 2010 and “healthy parks, healthy communities: addressing health disparities and park inequalities through public financing of playgrounds, and other physical activity settings,”
trust for public land, policy brief, november 2005)

new parks can sprout up in the unlikeliest places. low-income, inner-city communities are characterized by hardscapes – asphalt surfaces. when a community organizes and creates a plan for a new park, local governments can respond and purchase asphalt-covered areas like parking lots and transform them into public community parks. the average neighborhood park can run into the millions, but including a park budget in the initial master plan helps ensure local governments will finance it, and even partner with developers, local foundations, or conservancies to get it built. these types of projects can also come about if they are part of broader public-private urban redevelopment schemes aimed at providing housing, improving access to transit, and investing in the local environment. transportation infrastructure like boulevards, rail lines, and trails can be expanded, greened, and designed to become easily-accessible parks. in addition, even landfills, rooftops, reservoirs, and cemeteries can be turned into parks. (source:“urban green: innovative parks for resurgent cities,” peter harnik, island press, 2010)

park design needs to be compelling so people visit and forge community ties there. parks that are designed for local residents and include them in the design process often do the best. new york city’s famed central park, designed by asla founder frederick law olmsted, and bryant park, designed by laurie olin of fasla are two examples of great community parks designed for people. the 843-acre central park has many “functional areas,” including game fields, gardens, skating rinks, a boating lake, and winding paths that offer “dozens and dozens of different kinds and moments of experience “ says sarah goldhagen, architecture critic for the new republic. bryant park’s movable café table and chairs set under a rich tree canopy and spread around a central lawn enable people to easily form groups or stay on their own. the park is now viewed as a model for how public places can facilitate human interaction. human interaction isn’t just needed to make a popular and sustainable park, new research demonstrates that people with strong community ties also live longer healthier lives. parks provide the space for communities to form.
(source: “goldhagen: ‘democracies need physical spaces,” the dirt and “bowling alone,” robert putnam)

unique features of the solar roofpod are:
1).smart engineering systems that allow a relatively high percentage of glazing in the curtain wall cladding of the building envelope,
2. a rooftop-mounted solar trellis that shades and protects the building from heat gain from the photovoltaic panels,
3. a solar trellis that is easy to upgrade with new pv technologies as they become available,
4. a modular dwelling unit design with components that can easily be arranged in multiple high-performance configurations,
5. a water use indicator to assist inhabitants in monitoring their daily water consumption,
6. the highly efficient and unique solar thermal storage system (described below),
7. the symbiotic relationship with the host building below, and
8. the potential to be installed on hundreds of thousands of rooftops around the world. in this last regard, roofpod installation can be considered a land conservation infrastructure; each new unit added to already developed land equals one fewer newly-developed greenfield parcel.

visit the solar decathlon category page!

looking to keep track of team new york?

click here to view the previous idea submission from new york’s solar decathlon team. for access to the entire archive of new york solar decathlon 2011 videos: visit the member page

the roofpod is engineered as a “smart house” rather than a “passive house.” accordingly, it features a number of sophisticated, innovative active systems to regulate and control the lighting, hvac, water systems, and appliances. to ensure optimal performance, the photovoltaic design uses micro-inverters in each individual panel, rather than regular inverters, to prevent shadows that might fall on only a portion of the array from decreasing the total output—as might happen in the city from neighboring building shadows or from leaves and snow. the hvac system is driven by the sun’s thermal energy, using much less electricity from the pv array than would a vapor-compression system.

solar thermal collectors on the solar trellis gather the sun’s heat, making direct use of this often-neglected abundant energy source. the thermal energy runs the adsorption system as well as the radiant floor system for cooling and heating. however, this system has a drawback: thermal energy from the sun cannot be collected when it is dark. therefore, we have designed a unique and innovative thermal storage system using a phase change material (pcm) tank composed of a paraffin and graphite composite. the use of pcm rather than a more typical water-based thermal storage system reduces the space requirement of the tank by half. the pcm tank will also supply thermal energy to the hydronic system, to supply hot water. black water will be collected into a septic tank (though in an actual rooftop installation the black water would be tied into the host building’s system), while graywater will be stored separately. stormwater will also be collected and used for irrigation, along with the graywater.

to integrate all the active systems of the roofpod, the energy management and control system is designed to ensure seamless levels of comfort quality and to regulate energy consumption for maximum efficiency. the integrated monitoring system senses and responds to weather conditions by regulating artificial light levels and controlling exterior shading. sensors collect lighting, heating, and cooling performance data and assemble it in a logger system. a next-generation graphic digital display allows the inhabitants to be aware of the roofpod’s minute-to-minute performance and encourages active energy-conscientiousness and may assist the city with peak load management.

visit the solar decathlon category page!

looking to keep track of team new york?

click here to view the previous idea submission from new york’s solar decathlon team. for access to the entire archive of new york solar decathlon 2011 videos: visit the member page

while residential density is known to reduce carbon footprints (especially when, as in new york, automobile use is low), even more gains in energy efficiency can be achieved with innovative designs. team new york examined the claritas prizm marketing analysis tool to identify a target market profile. the particular segment we selected is “bohemian mix,” comprised of urbane, ethnically diverse and progressive singles, couples and young families. other urban market segments that could find the roofpod lifestyle and the considerable utility savings appealing are empty-nester “cosmopolitans” and “american dreams” immigrant families. the “bohemian mix” couple we envision living in the prototype roofpod are motivated to live an eco-conscious lifestyle, committed to urban revitalization and sustainability; we imagine their professions as building manager and urban gardener. while the engineer husband manages the host building, including energy flow, his biologist spouse tends the green space. together, they are engaged with emerging green technologies and are proactive in upkeep of the pod, the garden, and the host building.

the roofpod design accommodates this market segment’s needs foremost by adding new, live-work dwelling units to vibrant urban neighborhoods. the benefits that the host building and the municipality would realize could subsidize construction costs and rent. the opportunity to perform a stewardship role, in exchange for reduced rent, would be highly appealing to the target market of educated, eco-conscious urban professionals. the open unit plan, spacious roof garden, amazing views, and the elaborate system of smart controls are all aspects of the roofpod’s design that would accommodate the needs and desires of these clients, and would provide them opportunities to productively apply their skills and knowledge to “give back” and form bonds in their neighborhood.

visit the solar decathlon category page!

looking to keep track of team new york?

for access to the entire archive of new york solar decathlon 2011 videos: visit the member page

learn more about ecotech fuels and its mission to transform waste into fuel. the idea earned ecotech a nomination in planet forward’s april 2011 pbs special, “the energy of innovation”.