The communities of Northern Manhattan are disproportionately exposed to air pollution from multiple sources. In fact, Northern Manhattan – and East Harlem, in particular – has some of the highest asthma rates in the nation. And like most environmental justice communities, they are among the most impacted by climate change, including extreme heat and flooding.
Abundant and healthy parks can reduce these inequitable impacts, improving the health, safety, and wellbeing of these communities. Yet most of the parks in Northern Manhattan are underfunded and in desperate need of maintenance. And while we do have access to a good number of parks, our tree canopy – the parks, greenspaces, and street trees – falls short compared to many other parts of the city.
To help remedy this, WE ACT for Environmental Justice has joined forces with the New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund to launch a campaign – Our Parks, Our Backyards – to engage Northern Manhattan residents on parks issues and the importance of parks funding. As part of this campaign, we will be hosting a series of events throughout Northern Manhattan to bring together community members, park advocates, and elected officials to discuss our parks; to identify problems, solutions, needs, and goals; and to engage in the budget campaign to get our parks adequately funded and maintained.
Interactive Parks Map
The New York City Department of Parks and Recreation has created Vital Parks Explorer, an interactive tool designed to help you better understand access to parks and other greenspaces in your community so that you can be a better advocate for them.
Urban Forest Plan
The Mayor’s Office of Climate and Environmental Justice – in collaboration with NYC Parks, City Parks Foundation, Natural Areas Conservancy, and The Nature Conservancy – is developing an Urban Forest Plan for New York City to equitably increase the existing tree canopy by 28 percent to help reduce extreme heat, storm water flooding, and air pollution. This plan will “set a vision for the care, management, and equitable expansion of the urban forest – which includes all the trees on public and private land in New York City – and also for the ways communities can be involved in the future of the urban forest.”
It’s critical that our community provides input to help shape this plan, so that it will help address our needs as well. Learn more here, and click here to share your thoughts through June 16th.