Check it out: Climate Week NYC

 
Mark Kenber, CEO of The Climate Group, addresses the crowd at the opening ceremony of Climate Week NYC at the New York Academy of Sciences at World Trade Center 7 on the morning of Sept. 19. He is flanked by former British prime minister Tony Blair, left, and New York City mayor Michael Bloomberg. Photo courtesy of The Climate Group.

With autumn knocking on the door -- on Friday, Sept. 23 at 5:04 a.m. to be exact -- and the triple-digit heat wave from this past summer fading from memory, the topic of global warming might not be on the top of most New Yorkers’ minds at the current moment.

Others, though, are taking an active interest by taking part in Climate Week NYC 2011, a series of both private and public events that started Monday (Sept. 21) and will run to Sept. 26 under the leadership of The Climate Group.

Taking part during the same time as the September session of the United Nations General Assembly, the effort started in 2009 by the request of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon as a way to prepare for the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, with about 40 events spanning a week. It has blossomed into a showcase for more than 60 unique events. And not all are directly tied to climate change, but rather an overall sustainability initiative to create what The Climate Group CEO Mark Kenber refers to as a “low carbon future.”

“It’s really bringing people together on a whole range of different issues,” Kenber said about the week-long string of events in a recent phone interview with us.

On Monday at an opening ceremony at the New York Academy of Sciences at World Trade Center 7 in Manhattan, Kenber and a group of other notaries -- including New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former British Prime Minister Tony Blair -- were present for the official launch of a TheCleanRevolution.org, a website that includes eight international success stories actualizing a more sustainable way of life through a variety of newly in place green initiatives that will help lead to creating a tipping point for a low carbon economy.

Included in those is the story of New York, a city that has created more than 17,000 green-related construction jobs and lowered greenhouse gas emissions by 4.6 percent as part of its PlaNYC 2030 campaign that began in 2007. The effort is being jointly supported by the U.N., World Bank, and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, which is chaired by Bloomberg.

While sitting in a Manhattan taxi on Tuesday afternoon, it did not take Kenber long to see all of the fruits of labor that have sprung forth over the past four years. He mentioned catching glimpses of LED-efficient lighting and hybrid electric and natural gas-powered busses throughout the borough. PlanNYC’s mission to is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, which are already the lowest in the country per capita, by 30 percent by 2030.

“That target is not something that’s just an aspiration,” Kenber said. “I know that he takes extremely seriously and so does his administration, so this is a journey, but I think we’ve seen the first steps and it’s not talk -- it’s action.”

 
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg takes the podium at the opening ceremony of Climate Week 2011 on Monday as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, left, and The Climate Group CEO Mark Kenber look on. Photo courtesy of The Climate Group.

The Climate Group, since its founding as a non-profit organization in 2004, has strived to reach out to corporate and government leaders to promote sustainable practices that not only appeal to their sense of duty to the commonwealth of the planet, but also their pocket books. With the new website, the organization can show “replicable and scalable” models of how greener practices have been reducing operating costs while cultivating growth in job opportunities and attracting investors interested in using their own kind of green.

For example, one community in South Australia has been able to cut costs by 15 percent by promoting wind energy -– when initially skeptics thought prices would increase. According to The Clean Revolution site, New York City’s economy spends about $13 billion each year for energy. The city’s collective efforts should create approximately $700 million in annual savings.

“You can have a low carbon future and it’s not just a dream,” Kenber said. “It’s a real, practical future. And not only does it reduce emissions to a level that keeps global warming down, but it’s good for your business and it’s good for your city, so we showcased a few examples.

“We’re in economic hard times and our feelings are not just based on what we think, but on the evidence we see, which is that this is the best way to reignite economic growth and provide long- term prosperity.”

As a sign of the times, The Climate Group has amped up its use of social media to get the word out about The Clean Revolution and Climate Week NYC, which has streaming tweets on its site (@ClimateWeekNYC) as well as an official Facebook page. Kenber himself (@MarkKenber) has an active Twitter account that he updates daily with all the happenings surrounding his group’s effort. The Climate Group’s Twitter account (@ClimateGroup) has one of the most followers of any similar non-profit organization with over 13,200.

“Our Clean Revolution campaign is first and foremost a communications campaign,” said of social media marketing strategies. “It’s communicating success to breed further success.”

What’s most exciting to Kenber is simply that his message is starting to sink into the collective conscience of some of the world’s most influential people.

“More money was invested in clean energy than dirty energy last year and the year before,
 he said. “People are getting it, but we need to scale it up and we need to speed it up and that’s what the Clean Revolution is all about.”

Have you been to any of the events associated with Climate Week NYC? If so, we’d love to hear from you.

Although it’s impossible for The Green Apple to attend all of the different events surrounding Climate Week NYC, we did stop by a forum on composting and waste management sponsored by GreenHomeNYC earlier this week, so stay tuned for more!