Climate Week 2025

Join us for a week of events spot­light­ing the Island’s grow­ing role in the research, edu­ca­tion, and demon­stra­tion of equi­table cli­mate solu­tions for New York City and beyond. Cli­mate Week NYC 2025 events on Gov­er­nors Island are orga­nized by the Trust, the Island’s com­mu­ni­ty of part­ners and ten­ants, and The New York Cli­mate Exchange and its core part­ners. Reg­is­tra­tion links for indi­vid­ual events com­ing soon.

Sched­ule of Events

Ongo­ing, dig­i­tal via Bloomberg Con­nects: Gov­er­nors Island Cli­mate Tech Crawl, the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island

Down­load the free Bloomberg Con­nects app to access a self-guid­ed tour through Gov­er­nors Island’s cli­mate inno­va­tions — from resilien­cy mea­sures built into its land­scapes to the lat­est in cli­mate tech, to the future home of The New York Cli­mate Exchange.

Sep­tem­ber 20, 3 – 5PM: Echoes of Change Sound Instal­la­tion Open­ing Day Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um & Human Impacts Insti­tute (HII) Colonels Row Build­ing 406A

Cre­at­ed by Sandy Davis, this immer­sive instal­la­tion blends sound, pro­jec­tion, and a dig­i­tal plat­form to ampli­fy youth voic­es from HII’s Artivism & Ampli­fiers (A&A) pro­gram, rep­re­sent­ing com­mu­ni­ties across the Glob­al North and South. It is designed to edu­cate, inspire, and mobi­lize cli­mate action. Cen­ter­ing per­spec­tives from front­line, BIPOC, and under­rep­re­sent­ed com­mu­ni­ties, it invites you into a space where lis­ten­ing becomes a pow­er­ful act of engage­ment. Instal­la­tion on view through Octo­ber 12.

Sep­tem­ber 21, 11AM-4PM: Eco-Arts Fes­ti­val, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um, DuYe Moves, Arti­choke Dance Com­pa­ny Colonels Row Build­ings 405A & 406A

Kick off Cli­mate Week with a free fes­ti­val show­cas­ing eco­log­i­cal­ly inspired art works and par­tic­i­pa­to­ry expe­ri­ences. EcoArts Fes­ti­val fea­tures inspir­ing dance and music per­for­mances; reflec­tive and joy­ous visu­al arts, sculp­ture and films; and inter­ac­tive work­shops and installations.

Sep­tem­ber 21, 1:30 – 2:15PM: Guid­ed Tour, Earth Mat­ter NY The Urban Farm

Learn about Earth Matter’s mid-scale com­mu­ni­ty com­post­ing facil­i­ty, where they process up to 600 tons of mate­r­i­al annually. 

Sep­tem­ber 21 – 22 & 27 – 28, 11AM-5PM: Futur­ism: A Sea­son Finale and Cli­mate Week Exhi­bi­tion, For­est for Trees Col­lec­tive Nolan Park Build­ing 7B

Visu­al arts exhi­bi­tion where artists draw from tra­di­tions of Afro­fu­tur­ism, Indige­nous futu­ri­ty, eco-sur­re­al­ism, and sur­vival­ist poet­ics to con­jure futures that are messy, mutant, and alive with possibility.

Sep­tem­ber 24, 9 – 11:30AM: The Exchange’s Cli­mate Tech Show­case: Sup­port­ing Ear­ly-Stage Inno­va­tion Build­ing 309

Join The New York Cli­mate Exchange for a show­case spot­light­ing their inau­gur­al cohort of cli­mate tech fel­lows and experts from across the ear­ly-stage inno­va­tion ecosys­tem.

Sep­tem­ber 24, 12:30 – 1:15PM: From Insight to Impact: Dri­ving Agri­cul­tur­al Inno­va­tion with AI Build­ing 309

This ses­sion, co-host­ed by The Exchange and IBM, will explore how cut­ting-edge AI is being har­nessed to dri­ve a par­a­digm shift in agri­cul­tur­al resilience, enabling smarter resource management.

Sep­tem­ber 24, 1:30 – 3:00PM: Cul­ti­vat­ing Cli­mate Resilience of Urban Agri­cul­ture in NYC Build­ing 309
Join The Exchange and Cor­nell Coop­er­a­tive Extension’s Ag Cli­mate Resilien­cy Pro­gram, New York Soil Health, and Har­vest NY for a soil health field day on Gov­er­nors Island. This event, focused on best prac­tices for build­ing cli­mate resilience on urban farms, will con­clude with a GrowNYC teach­ing gar­den tour. 

Sep­tem­ber 24, 3 – 6PM: Hope & Heal­ing: Cli­mate Grief Film Screen­ings, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um (in part­ner­ship with Good Grief Net­work, Strand­ed Astro­naut Pro­duc­tions, Cli­mate Film Fes­ti­val, Here On Earth, Human Impacts Insti­tute, Broad­way Cli­mate Sum­mit, and Cli­mate Café NYC) Colonels Row Build­ing 406A

Join the Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um for a New York Cli­mate Week dou­ble fea­ture screen­ing event, show­cas­ing cli­mate grief on the big screen. The night will include screen­ings of the films Good Grief: The 10 Steps and Heal­ing Lahaina, as well as ground­ing exer­cis­es, plant-based treats, and a spe­cial Q&A session. 

Sep­tem­ber 24, 3:30 – 5:00PM: Island(ing) Adap­ta­tions: Lever­ag­ing data to inform resilience Build­ing 309

Island(ing) Adap­ta­tions, co-host­ed by Pratt Insti­tute School of Archi­tec­ture & The New York Cli­mate Exchange, brings togeth­er vision­ar­ies from gov­ern­ment, design, finance, acad­e­mia, and pol­i­cy who are gath­er­ing crit­i­cal envi­ron­men­tal data and turn­ing water into oppor­tu­ni­ties across three continents. 

Sep­tem­ber 24, 4 – 6PM: Field Test­ing Reuse: Shap­ing a Cir­cu­lar Future Togeth­er, Earth Mat­ter NY The Urban Farm

Learn about Earth Matter’s hands-on inves­ti­ga­tion of reuse as an anti­dote to plas­tics pol­lu­tion and throw­away society. 

Sep­tem­ber 25, 9 – 11:30AM: Sus­tain­able Solu­tions Chal­lenge Final­ist Show­case LMCC Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island

Join The Exchange, the Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, AWS and Intel, and VELUX, for a show­case of the win­ning inno­va­tions from the orga­ni­za­tion’s Sus­tain­able Solu­tions Chal­lenge—a glob­al call for bold, scal­able ideas in cli­mate-resilient design, infra­struc­ture sys­tems, and build­ing tech­nolo­gies. Each select­ed solu­tion has the poten­tial to shape The Exchange’s ground­break­ing cli­mate cam­pus on Gov­er­nors Island and trans­form cities worldwide. 

Sep­tem­ber 25, 12 – 1:30PM: Achiev­ing Zero Waste: Mov­ing the Cir­cu­lar Econ­o­my from Idea to Prac­ti­cal Imple­men­ta­tion LMCC Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island

This event, pre­sent­ed by The Exchange and Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil, starts with the premise that waste is a design flaw — in pack­ag­ing, prod­ucts, and the design and oper­a­tion of our build­ings and com­mu­ni­ties. Speak­ers from the Cen­ter for Zero Waste Design, the U.S. Green Build­ing Coun­cil, and CET will share con­crete steps that archi­tects, builders, build­ing own­ers, and oper­a­tors can take to imple­ment the cir­cu­lar econ­o­my in the built environment.

Sep­tem­ber 25, 2 – 3:30 PM: Marine Debt-for-Nature Swaps: What is Need­ed to Scale Blue Finance? LMCC Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island

Join Duke Uni­ver­si­ty and The New York Cli­mate Exchange for an engag­ing event explor­ing how marine debt-for-nature swaps can deliv­er stronger out­comes for ocean con­ser­va­tion, cli­mate resilience, and coastal communities.

Sep­tem­ber 26, 9AM-6PM: Pow­er Down & Get Out­side: A Cli­mate Week Cul­mi­na­tion with The New York Cli­mate Exchange & the Trust for Gov­er­nors Island Build­ing 309

An 8‑minute hybrid-elec­tric fer­ry ride is all that stands between you and a day full of fun and free out­door activ­i­ties. Shift away from for­mal Cli­mate Week NYC con­ver­sa­tions and toward nature-inspired con­ver­sa­tion, con­nec­tion, food, and action. Whether you come for an hour, or the day, join us in cel­e­brat­ing the Island’s land­scapes, his­to­ry, and future — as a mod­el for cli­mate solu­tions in cities around the world. 

• 9 – 10:30AM – Root­ed in Iden­ti­ty: Reimag­in­ing Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Through Com­mu­ni­ty and Cul­ture, pre­sent­ed by Lat­inX in Sustainability
• 11AM-12:30PM – Human Nature: A Cli­mate Mind­ful­ness Expe­ri­ence with Kate Mar­vel, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Pratt Insti­tute and the Cli­mate Men­tal Health Network
• 1 – 3:30PM – OBSERV­ER Cli­mate Doc­u­men­tary Screen­ing with Q&A, in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty and the Sci­ence Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Lab
• 2 – 2:30PM – Cli­mate Change Gar­den Tour, GrowNYC
• 3 – 4PM – Guid­ed Cli­mate Tech Crawl, The Trust for Gov­er­nors Island
• 4 – 6PM – Hap­py Hour & Cli­mate Triv­ia at Taco Vista, Bill McCabe from Green Apple Trivia

Sep­tem­ber 27, 12 – 6PM: Cli­mate Week Open House, Low­er Man­hat­tan Cul­tur­al Coun­cil (LMCC) LMCC Arts Cen­ter at Gov­er­nors Island

Join LMCC for a full day of art in action explor­ing the inter­sec­tion of art, cli­mate, and urban ecol­o­gy — free and open to all. Activ­i­ties include open stu­dios, the Works on Water 2025 Tri­en­ni­al, and a par­tic­i­pa­to­ry work­shop from Works on Water Tri­en­ni­al Artists and Sunk Shore co-founders Car­olyn Hall and Clarin­da Mac Low imag­in­ing the future of our shore­lines in the year 2100. 

Sep­tem­ber 27, 11AM-3PM: Urban Farm Cyan­otypes, Earth Mat­ter NY & Penum­bra Foun­da­tion The Urban Farm

Learn how to make cyan­otype pho­tograms with for­aged botan­i­cals from Gov­er­nors Island — par­tic­i­pants will learn about mate­ri­als and tech­niques, for­age for their own mate­ri­als at Earth Matter’s site on the Urban Farm and cre­ate their own unique cyan­otype prints. Rain date: Sep­tem­ber 28. Reg­is­tra­tion required. 

Sep­tem­ber 27, 2:15 – 3:45PM: Cli­mate Week Bird Tour, NYC Bird Alliance Depart­ing from Sois­sons Landing

Join NYC Bird Alliance for a spe­cial Cli­mate Week Bird Tour on Gov­er­nors Island — home to near­ly 240 bird species. Whether you’re an expert bird­er or a begin­ner, these tours will help you dis­cov­er what makes this island an excel­lent place for birding.

Take a cli­mate change gar­den tour and enjoy fan mak­ing crafts dur­ing the Urban Farm’s week­end pub­lic hours. 

Sep­tem­ber 27, 12 – 3PM: Teach­ing Gar­den, Cli­mate Change Edi­tion, GrowNYC The Urban Farm

Take a cli­mate change gar­den tour and enjoy fan mak­ing crafts dur­ing the Urban Farm’s week­end pub­lic hours.

Sep­tem­ber 28, 1 – 4PM: Rip­ples of Change Scav­enger Hunt & Zine Release Par­ty, Cli­mate Imag­i­nar­i­um & Brave Leap Colonels Row Build­ing 406A

Cel­e­brate the clos­ing day of Cli­mate Week NYC with an after­noon of adven­ture, sto­ry­telling, and com­mu­ni­ty spir­it hon­or­ing 20 inspir­ing New York­ers who are mak­ing nature in the city more acces­si­ble, from surfers rid­ing the Rock­away waves to urban farm­ers grow­ing fresh pro­duce to boat builders and kayak­ers reimag­in­ing our waterways.

On View Dai­ly: Gov­er­nors Island Arts Pub­lic Artworks

Gov­er­nors Island Arts, the arts and cul­tur­al pro­gram pre­sent­ed by the Trust, boasts a diverse col­lec­tion of pub­lic art pieces on view dai­ly through­out the Island, sev­er­al of which engage with issues of cli­mate and the environment: 

• Sam Van Aken’s The Open Orchard, locat­ed in The Hills with­in the Island’s award-win­ning park, takes the form of a vast pub­lic orchard of hybrid fruit trees, each con­tain­ing mul­ti­ple heir­loom vari­eties that were once found in abun­dance in the New York City area but have large­ly dis­ap­peared due to cli­mate change and the indus­tri­al­iza­tion of agriculture.
• Mark Dion’s The Field Sta­tion of the Melan­choly Marine Biol­o­gist, locat­ed inside Build­ing 105 across from Fort Jay, trans­forms a his­toric for­mer arse­nal build­ing into an aban­doned research out­post that invites vis­i­tors to peer inside and imag­ine the life of a soli­tary researcher faced with the real­i­ties of a future marred by cli­mate change.
• Duke Riley’s Not for Nut­ten, locat­ed in the Bat­tery Mar­itime Build­ing fer­ry ter­mi­nal at 10 South Street in Man­hat­tan, is a large-scale mur­al depict­ing vignettes from the Island’s his­to­ry con­tained with­in mod­ern-day sin­gle-use plas­tic con­tain­ers found float­ing in oceans world­wide in a play on the tra­di­tion­al ​“ship in a bottle.”