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Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Launch­es Free Cli­mate Field Trip Pro­gram for NYC 6^th Grade Students

Oct 28, 2026 9:53 am

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island today announced the launch of a new, free cli­mate field trip pro­gram for New York City pub­lic school sixth graders, pre­sent­ed in part­ner­ship with Beam Cen­ter and Turn­stile Tours. The pro­gram, dubbed ​“Cli­mate Action Quest,” invites stu­dents to explore cli­mate and envi­ron­men­tal solu­tions in action on Gov­er­nors Island through hands-on activ­i­ties that demon­strate prac­ti­cal cli­mate solu­tions they can apply in their class­rooms and communities. 

“Since open­ing to the pub­lic in 2005, Gov­er­nors Island has grown into an incred­i­ble resource for New York­ers of all ages,” said Clare New­man, Pres­i­dent and CEO of the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“We are so excit­ed to offer this extra­or­di­nary oppor­tu­ni­ty for both hands-on cli­mate learn­ing and ear­ly career explo­ration through our work with Beam Cen­ter and Turn­stile Tours, allow­ing stu­dents and edu­ca­tors alike to come out to the Island for both hands-on cli­mate learn­ing and ear­ly career exploration.” 

“Through this pro­gram, stu­dents will have the unprece­dent­ed oppor­tu­ni­ty to wit­ness cli­mate solu­tions in action while imag­in­ing the role that they can play in mak­ing a dif­fer­ence in their own com­mu­ni­ties,” said Lau­ren Wang, Direc­tor of Cli­mate Pro­grams at the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island. ​“By con­nect­ing learn­ing with real-world inno­va­tion, we’re excit­ed to empow­er young peo­ple with a sense of pos­si­bil­i­ty and hope in the face of the cli­mate cri­sis togeth­er with our part­ners at Beam Cen­ter and Turn­stile Tours.”

“Beam Cen­ter’s col­lab­o­ra­tion on the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Cli­mate Field Trip ini­tia­tive was an ide­al way for us to bridge our long-term ten­an­cy and com­mit­ment to the Island com­mu­ni­ty with our decades of part­ner­ship with NYC pub­lic schools and edu­ca­tors. For us, Gov­er­nors Island is an impor­tant and unique place along­side the oth­er authen­tic cre­ative and tech­ni­cal envi­ron­ments in which we col­lab­o­rate with NYC youth on tan­gi­ble, real world learn­ing,” said Bri­an Cohen, Beam Center’s Exec­u­tive Director.

“Turn­stile has been shar­ing sto­ries of indus­try, inno­va­tion, and resilience along New York City’s water­front for more than 15 years,” said Cindy Van­den­Bosch, pres­i­dent and founder of Turn­stile Tours & Stu­dio. ​“Gov­er­nors Island is such a unique his­toric land­scape, and we are so hon­ored to have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to explore the island’s present and future as a hub of cli­mate inno­va­tion through these immer­sive, hands-on field trips.”

The immer­sive, mul­ti-stop out­door expe­ri­ence is designed to strength­en cli­mate lit­er­a­cy by help­ing stu­dents ana­lyze local cli­mate chal­lenges, build sci­en­tif­ic vocab­u­lary, and iden­ti­fy action­able solu­tions while intro­duc­ing them to the wide range of careers avail­able in cli­mate and sus­tain­abil­i­ty. Stu­dents will be able to engage with top­ics includ­ing cli­mate sci­ence, green­house gas emis­sions, elec­tri­fied trans­porta­tion, liv­ing shore­lines, waste-to-resource sys­tems, and sus­tain­able mate­ri­als. The pro­gram also encour­ages con­tin­ued learn­ing with on-Island orga­ni­za­tions includ­ing Bil­lion Oys­ter Project, GrowNYC, and oth­er Island partners.

Field trips are free and open to New York City pub­lic school Grade 6 class­rooms, with book­ings avail­able for select dates dur­ing the 2026 – 27 school year. Edu­ca­tors can request book­ings online at www​.gov​is​land​.org/​c​l​i​m​a​t​e​-​quest.

Gov­er­nors Island is at the fore­front of research­ing and demon­strat­ing urban cli­mate solu­tions that can be scaled glob­al­ly. Its unique water­front envi­ron­ment com­ple­ments an award-win­ning park engi­neered for cli­mate change; near­ly one mil­lion annu­al vis­i­tors; oppor­tu­ni­ties for edu­ca­tion, research, and pilot­ing; pub­lic art­works engag­ing with cli­mate issues; and a grow­ing com­mu­ni­ty of edu­ca­tion­al, non­prof­it, and com­mer­cial ten­ants focused on cli­mate solutions. 

The Trust and the New York City Mayor’s Office have devel­oped a vision to cre­ate the Cen­ter for Cli­mate Solu­tions, an ini­tia­tive on Gov­er­nors Island to accel­er­ate cli­mate solu­tions for cities. In April 2023, The New York Cli­mate Exchange, led by Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and a con­sor­tium of part­ners, was select­ed as the initiative’s anchor insti­tu­tion fol­low­ing a two-year com­pet­i­tive process. The Exchange will devel­op a $700-mil­lion cam­pus on the Island focused on advanc­ing cli­mate solu­tions and prepar­ing New York­ers for green jobs.

The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island’s Cli­mate pro­grams are sup­port­ed by Ama­zon, Con Edi­son, New York Com­mu­ni­ty Trust, and Anonymous.

The Gov­er­nors Island 2026 sea­son is gen­er­ous­ly sup­port­ed by the Black­stone Char­i­ta­ble Foun­da­tion, Bloomberg Phil­an­thropies, Don­ald A. Pels Char­i­ta­ble Trust, and Riv­ian Foundation.