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On Thurs­day, July 11, 2024, the Island wel­comed over 100 atten­dees from var­i­ous sec­tors of the cli­mate world for a Cli­mate Demo Day Pre­view event, includ­ing fun­ders, inno­va­tors, and pol­i­cy­mak­ers. The event opened with a wel­come by Deputy May­or Maria Tor­res-Springer, who has been a crit­i­cal cham­pi­on in sup­port­ing the growth of Gov­er­nors Island as a Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions. Her pres­ence under­scored the impor­tance of col­lab­o­ra­tive efforts in address­ing cli­mate chal­lenges and high­light­ed the city’s com­mit­ment to fos­ter­ing an inclu­sive and trans­for­ma­tive green economy.

The excite­ment from the Demo Day Pre­view car­ried over into the week­end with a fam­i­ly-friend­ly Cli­mate Pilot­ing Sum­mer Kick­off held on City of Water Day, July 13, 2024. The even­t’s cen­ter­piece fea­tured ground­break­ing projects from the win­ners of the Water Abun­dance Chal­lenge, the Trust’s first-ever themed chal­lenge, aim­ing to answer how water can help to pow­er cli­mate solu­tions that grow blue and green jobs and cre­ate health­i­er com­mu­ni­ties. Through­out City of Water Day, vis­i­tors had the oppor­tu­ni­ty to inter­act with these inno­v­a­tive projects and the pas­sion­ate indi­vid­u­als behind them. 

Isabelle Stin­nette, Restora­tion Man­ag­er for the New York-New Jer­sey Har­bor and Estu­ary Pro­gram at the Hud­son Riv­er Foun­da­tion, one of the orga­niz­ing bod­ies behind City of Water Day, expressed her admi­ra­tion for the event, stat­ing, ​“I think it’s real­ly nice that this is a hotbed of inno­va­tion, espe­cial­ly cli­mate-focused inno­va­tion. There’s a safe space for these small com­pa­nies and non­prof­its to pilot their projects, share with the com­mu­ni­ty, and get input and help.” 

The fol­low­ing sec­tions detail spe­cif­ic projects that cap­ti­vat­ed atten­dees and show­cased the poten­tial for sus­tain­able urban development.

Air Qual­i­ty Mon­i­tor­ing with South Bronx Unite

South Bronx Unite show­cased an air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing ini­tia­tive aimed at iden­ti­fy­ing pol­lu­tion sources and their health impacts in the South Bronx. 

“Air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing is not some­thing that every­body is famil­iar with,” said Leslie Vasquez, Clean Air Pro­gram Orga­niz­er. ​“We need to advo­cate for pol­i­cy changes based on our data.” This project uti­lizes autonomous, solar-pow­ered mon­i­tors to pro­vide real-time data, help­ing to push for clean­er air and bet­ter health resources in dis­ad­van­taged com­mu­ni­ties. By involv­ing the com­mu­ni­ty in mon­i­tor­ing efforts, South Bronx Unite aims to raise aware­ness and dri­ve pol­i­cy changes that can sig­nif­i­cant­ly improve air qual­i­ty and pub­lic health outcomes.

Find South Bronx Unite’s air qual­i­ty mon­i­tor at the base of Out­look Hill.

Duro UAS: Real-Time Water Qual­i­ty Data

Duro UAS, show­cased their Inter­net of Things (IoT) water qual­i­ty mon­i­tor­ing devices, which pro­vide real-time data to track water conditions. 

“Engag­ing the pub­lic and show­ing them the amaz­ing cli­mate tech projects hap­pen­ing here is essen­tial,” empha­sized Bri­an Wil­son, Co-Founder and CEO. Duro UAS’s dig­i­tal sen­sors offer a prac­ti­cal solu­tion for mon­i­tor­ing water qual­i­ty, mak­ing it eas­i­er to man­age and improve water resources. Their tech­nol­o­gy not only helps in detect­ing pol­lu­tants but also in under­stand­ing broad­er envi­ron­men­tal trends, there­by enabling more informed deci­sion-mak­ing for water man­age­ment and con­ser­va­tion efforts.

Check out Duro UAS’s son­des in the waters off of Yan­kee Pier and Sois­sons Landing.

LAERO: Trans­form­ing Grey­wa­ter Treatment

LAERO intro­duced Cycleau, a com­pact grey­wa­ter treat­ment sys­tem that can be installed under sinks, show­ers, and laun­dry units. 

“By treat­ing grey­wa­ter where it’s gen­er­at­ed, we can reduce the num­ber of pol­lu­tants enter­ing our water­ways,” high­light­ed founder Noe­mi Flo­rea. This inno­v­a­tive sys­tem has the poten­tial to sig­nif­i­cant­ly decrease urban waste­water pol­lu­tion, pro­vid­ing a sus­tain­able solu­tion for res­i­den­tial and com­mer­cial use. LAERO’s approach to onsite water treat­ment rep­re­sents a shift towards decen­tral­ized water man­age­ment, which can alle­vi­ate the bur­den on munic­i­pal treat­ment facil­i­ties and con­tribute to health­i­er urban water­ways. The prod­uct oper­ates as a stand­alone piece of equip­ment and can also inte­grate into a household’s exist­ing sup­ply lines and drain­pipes, equip­ping res­i­dents and com­mu­ni­ties with an afford­able and scal­able option to improve their own water infrastructure.

Dis­cov­er the Cycleau device in action at the Parade Ground water sta­tion and inside the ADA bath­room at Yan­kee Pier.

Eco­log­i­cal Inno­va­tion by Object Territories

Object Ter­ri­to­ries pre­sent­ed their project focused on cre­at­ing urban habi­tats along shorelines. 

“Our goal is to fos­ter eco­log­i­cal stew­ard­ship and cre­ate sus­tain­able urban envi­ron­ments,” stat­ed Mar­cus Carter, Part­ner at Object Ter­ri­to­ries. Mar­cus is also an Assis­tant Pro­fes­sor at Rens­se­laer Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute, where his stu­dents work along­side experts to design and imple­ment urban micro­hab­i­tats along shore­lines. This hands-on involve­ment pro­vides them with prac­ti­cal expe­ri­ence in sus­tain­able urban plan­ning, prepar­ing them to con­tribute to future urban resilience initiatives. 

Their designs allow vis­i­tors to inter­act with and under­stand the impor­tance of urban eco­log­i­cal sys­tems, pro­mot­ing a deep­er con­nec­tion to nature with­in the city and were designed in col­lab­o­ra­tion with the Cen­ter for Archi­tec­ture, Sci­ence, and Ecol­o­gy (CASE) at Rens­se­laer Poly­tech­nic Insti­tute, after­NA­TURE, and Fort Miller Group. The Object Ter­ri­to­ries team aims to enhance bio­di­ver­si­ty and resilience in urban areas, mak­ing cities more liv­able and envi­ron­men­tal­ly friend­ly by inte­grat­ing green spaces and nat­ur­al habi­tats into urban planning.

Find Object Ter­ri­to­ries’ instal­la­tions along the shore­lines near Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

RETI Cen­ter: Water­front Resilience

RETI Cen­ter dis­cussed their ini­tia­tives relat­ed to coastal activ­i­ties like kelp har­vest­ing and their float­ing Blue­Blocks Gardens. 

“RETI Cen­ter pro­vides train­ing pro­grams for peo­ple involved in coastal activ­i­ties and work­force devel­op­ment for a more sus­tain­able city and urban envi­ron­ments,” explained project team mem­ber Greg Pucil­lo. ​“I’m excit­ed to see the launch out into the water and also to engage with oth­er groups on Gov­er­nors Island who are pilot­ing new projects to envi­sion a future for New York City’s water­front. Our goal is to fos­ter a broad­er con­ver­sa­tion about sus­tain­abil­i­ty in con­nec­tion with the water.” 

New York City youth are active­ly involved in RETI Center’s projects. They par­tic­i­pate in hands-on learn­ing expe­ri­ences, help­ing to build and main­tain the Blue­Blocks Gar­dens and kelp har­vest­ing sys­tems. This engage­ment not only pro­vides valu­able work­force train­ing but also instills a deep­er under­stand­ing of sus­tain­able prac­tices and the impor­tance of eco­log­i­cal stewardship​. The Blue­Blocks Gar­dens allow marine habi­tat to thrive both in and above the water, sup­port­ing wildlife and build­ing a liv­ing shore­line. When deployed in large instal­la­tions, they are envi­sioned to absorb and slow down wave action in low-lying water­front communities. 

Find RETI Center’s Blue­Blocks Gar­dens float­ing off Yan­kee Pier.

GrowNYC: Hydro­pon­ics for Urban Agriculture

GrowNYC high­light­ed the ben­e­fits of hydro­pon­ic farm­ing with their con­tain­er farm locat­ed on Gov­er­nors Island — a joint effort between the orga­ni­za­tion, Con Edi­son, the Elec­tric Pow­er Research Insti­tute (EPRI), and the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island.

“Hydro­pon­ics can mit­i­gate many chal­lenges faced by tra­di­tion­al agri­cul­ture, espe­cial­ly in a chang­ing cli­mate,” observed Bar­ry Roth­stein, Con­tain­er Farm Coor­di­na­tor. GrowNYC’s sys­tem uses sig­nif­i­cant­ly less water and space, mak­ing it a viable option for urban food pro­duc­tion and con­tribut­ing to food secu­ri­ty and sus­tain­abil­i­ty. This approach not only con­serves water resources but also pro­vides a scal­able mod­el for urban agri­cul­ture, which can be adopt­ed by com­mu­ni­ties to improve local food sys­tems and reduce their envi­ron­men­tal footprint. 

GrowNYC’s con­tain­er farm is locat­ed on the Parade Ground behind the Colonels Row houses.

Sea­weed City: Urban Sea­weed Farming

Sea­weed City explores the poten­tial of urban sea­weed farm­ing for envi­ron­men­tal remediation. 

“Sea­weed farm­ing can help clean our water­ways and cre­ate marine habi­tats,” explained co-founder Luke Eddins. Their project aims to use sea­weed to extract excess nutri­ents from the water, com­bat ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion, and pro­vide raw mate­ri­als for sus­tain­able products. 

“I’m excit­ed because my nephews are here, and I’m real­ly excit­ed to share some water activ­i­ty with them and see how much I love plants,” added co-founder Shan­jana Mah­mud. Grow­ing sea­weed through urban aqua­cul­ture cre­ates a small­er car­bon foot­print than land-based agri­cul­ture and presents an oppor­tu­ni­ty to engage New York­ers in farm­ing meth­ods for a sus­tain­able future. Through that, Sea­weed City hopes to pro­mote an eco­log­i­cal­ly, eco­nom­i­cal­ly, and cul­tur­al­ly pro­duc­tive shore­line. Sea­weed City’s pilot­ing project is fis­cal­ly spon­sored by New­town Creek Alliance.

Check out Sea­weed City’s Urban Sea­weed Nurs­ery in the waters off Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

Just EcoC­i­ties & Bio­hab­i­tats: Tidal Planters

Just EcoC­i­ties and Bio­hab­i­tats intro­duced their tidal planter project, a col­lab­o­ra­tion aimed at improv­ing water qual­i­ty and expand­ing wet­land habi­tats. ​“We’re pilot­ing this project to address com­bined sew­er over­flows and enhance urban bio­di­ver­si­ty,” men­tioned Jamie Ong, Founder of Just EcoCities. 

“It’s been real­ly excit­ing today to talk to dif­fer­ent peo­ple and see who knows about com­bined sew­er over­flows, who doesn’t, and then get input on what they think are rea­son­able solu­tions,” added Kevin Dahms, Water Resources Engi­neer at Biohabitats. 

Their tidal planters act as mini-wet­lands, fil­ter­ing water and pro­vid­ing habi­tat for wildlife. This tech­nol­o­gy pro­vides a mod­el for expand­ing marsh habi­tat through­out urban water­fronts with lim­it­ed space on land or with no nat­ur­al shore­lines. The project exem­pli­fies how design inno­va­tion and com­mu­ni­ty involve­ment can work togeth­er to estab­lish marsh habi­tat through­out urban water­fronts, clean up pol­lut­ed water, and increase con­nec­tion with local waterways.

Find Just EcoC­i­ties & Bio­hab­i­tats’ tidal planters near the water­front at Yan­kee Pier lat­er this year.

Vycarb

Brook­lyn-based start­up Vycarb has devel­oped a new sys­tem for mea­sur­ing and remov­ing green­house gas car­bon diox­ide (CO₂) in water. CO₂ is increas­ing in the atmos­phere, warm­ing the plan­et, and in the ocean, where it harms ocean life. In the East Riv­er, CO₂ is excep­tion­al­ly high because of pol­lu­tion, con­tribut­ing to glob­al warm­ing and acid­i­fy­ing the water. Through car­bon cap­ture, cli­mate change impacts can be mit­i­gat­ed in water. With its first of its kind tech­nol­o­gy for cap­tur­ing and mea­sur­ing CO₂ in water, Vycarb is able to reverse ocean acid­i­fi­ca­tion and remove cli­mate-warm­ing CO2 in the waters just off this pier. Vycar­b’s mod­u­lar, scal­able mod­el opens up oppor­tu­ni­ties for all com­mu­ni­ties to inte­grate car­bon cap­ture tech­nolo­gies into urban envi­ron­ments to achieve envi­ron­men­tal and eco­nom­ic benefits. 

Vycar­b’s drop-in water treat­ment sys­tem can be seen at Pier 102.

By bring­ing togeth­er diverse solu­tions and fos­ter­ing pub­lic engage­ment, the cli­mate pilot­ing projects on Gov­er­nors Island demon­strate one impor­tant step towards a sus­tain­able future by wel­com­ing all vis­i­tors to meet a diverse cohort of cli­mate inno­va­tors and to learn about cli­mate solu­tions in devel­op­ment today. The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s com­mit­ment to sup­port­ing such inno­v­a­tive projects under­scores the poten­tial for cities to become hubs of envi­ron­men­tal solu­tions and resilience. As these ini­tia­tives con­tin­ue to evolve, they hold the promise of mak­ing sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to urban sus­tain­abil­i­ty and cli­mate resilience, set­ting an inspir­ing exam­ple for oth­er cities around the world. The Trust is grate­ful to the sup­port­ers of Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate pro­grams, includ­ing ConEdi­son, Ama­zon, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, the Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, Deutsche Bank, and LISC.