SUPPORTING CLIMATE WORK HAPPENING NOW
& STEPPING TOWARDS THE FUTURE WE WANT.
From the top of Manhattan to the bottom of Brooklyn, the South Bronx to the heart of Staten Island, Imagined Futures works to galvanize, spotlight and hi-five climate work across the five boroughs of New York City. This means honoring the deep legacies of communities, centering our ecologies, and supporting an ecosystem of change and transformation.
JOIN US ACROSS 7 WATERWAYS
September 19 - 27th
Connecting you to seven waterways across NYC in various states of human impact and community care.
In each site we’ve built guided walks and immersive scavenger hunts that move from clue to clue to invite you into place through the eyes of community experts on the ground, audio stories of past and future possibilities, ecological treasures and inspiring your own visions for the future.
The scavenger hunts will be available at each site from 9/19-9/27 through a special URL that will be revealed mid September, hosted again by our friends at Goosechase. The walks are free and easily accessed by any phone or tablet.
And because to be together is more important than ever, we are also gathering people to celebrate and learn together in person through 7 public activations and a closing finale at Kingsland Wildflowers.
RSVP soon as some spots are limited.
You can explore the scavenger hunts at any time during 9/19-9/27
(with some exceptions of open hours).
All programs are free or by donation.
CONEY ISLAND CREEK
Shifting shorelines // International Coastal Clean-up Dance Party
Join artist and researcher Nora Almeida to explore migration and memory through a participatory sand study, clean the beach as a part of International coastal clean-up day, join our scavenger hunt featuring powerhouse Pamela Pettyjohn co founder of Coney Island Beautification bringing the voices of Coney Island Creek all the way to the UN as an example community driven coastal resiliency. With the Coney Island Clean-up Coalition.
9/19• 10a
SWINDLER
COVE
9/20 • 1p
Celebrating the hidden wetland along the Harlem River
Join us at the top of Manhattan on the banks of the Harlem River through Sherman Creek Park and Swindler Cove to celebrate the transformation of this once abandoned & polluted marina to an active wetland & magical hidden green space. Help restore a native wetland beach with the New York Restoration Project. Listen to the soundscape by artist Max Kutner amongst the wild bird calls. See what is possible when we intentionally transform an urban wasteland back to a green oasis.
BRONX
RIVER
9/22 • 10a
Cultivating Abundance with Foragers in the Foodway and La Bruja
Make your way to the North Star of community stewardship and care with the Bronx River Alliance-- a fifty year deep legacy of showing up for the river, the land and the people in tandem. Learn from the amazing Journei Bimwala at the Foodway, an urban food forest and the first place to wild forage food. Followed by an invocation from renowned poet LA BRUJA, a guided offering to the river, and culminating in a performance of her odes to the rivers alongside a small feast from chef Nadia Ketoure. Not to be missed.
NEW
CREEK
BLUEBELT
9/23 • 12p
Walking the Bluebelt... NYC's largest stormwater management system
Peek behind closed gates and under the manholes for this exclusive look at the engineering of the system that can retain up to 8.5 million gallons of water. Join us first on the NYC Ferry or meet us at the public entrance to New Creek– with the heads of the NYC DEP Bluebelt team Sangu Iyer, Robert Brauman and Megan Edic alongside photojournalist Nathan Kensinger. We’ll move through the New Creek Bluebelt all the way down to where it empties into the ocean at Midland beach, near the first ever managed retreat process in the wake of Hurricane Sandy. Not to be missed for any urban designers, environmental engineers, city history buffs and curious minds.
FLUSHING
CREEK
9/26 • 10:30a
Daylighting our future/ towards a radical field station and unburied waters
Join us as we walk the route of Flushing Creek’s buried waters– inviting you into the proposed daylighting process through a guided scavenger hunt and audio walking tour. Beginning first at Queens Museum before museum hours , we'll guide you on a journey of the past, present and future of the creek. We'll joined by the incomparable Cody Herrmann who will lead us to Guardians of Flushing Bay's annual community Celebration SaturBAY, sharing visions of a radical field station with workshops by artist Niceli Portugal, Materials for the Arts and Precious Plastics and sets by HONK Family Brass Band. An epic adventure and celebration. Lunch included!
FAR
ROCKAWAY
9/27 • 10a
Dune Dreams & Peninsula Power in the Far Rockaways
Come to the unsolicited NYC climate frontline on the narrow peninsula of the Far Rockaways, where the community is often left to themselves to deal with everyday inequities and has planted pockets of transformation throughout. Join us for a bird walk with NYC Plover Project and RISE or a Climate Cafe led by the Climate Imaginarium, Climate Psychology Alliance of North America and Elizabeth Orpheum of the Edgemere Alliance to process our climate emotions, grief, and be introduced to the Rights of Nature movement. Together we’ll all venture from Beach to Bay, across Edgemere, led by community member Quinn Robinson who was eight years old when Sandy hit. We’ll end at beach 43rd st where we’ll have hands-on artistic invitations from Camila A. Morales and Carine Gibert, free snacks and celebration.
NEWTOWN
CREEK
9/27 • 4p
Deep time and Future Feasts// Explore Newtown Creek!
Along one of America's most polluted waterways, discover tendrils of transformation and communities of care, choose between a giant group choral singing of "Big Yellow Taxi," with Mycelium Choral Project, an immersive performance at Penny Bridge at SOIL: Field of Awareness, or our guided scavenger hunt of the Newtown Creek Nature Walk where you’ll hear from ecological steward, horticulturist and writer Lisa Bloodgood, Gil Lopez of Smiling Hogshead Ranch, Gus Perry, head of restoration and marine project at Newtown Creek Alliance and artist Liz Ensz. Along the way you’ll find a virtual feast from the future, constructed in augmented reality by Everything Good Studio. With the optional but very encouraged continuation onto the rooftop closing celebration at Kingsland Wildflowers.
CLOSING CELEBRATION
at KINGSLAND WILDFLOWERS
9/27 • 6p-9p
Wrap up Climate Week NYC in celebration of our city’s waterways, fortifying our wild resilience & wielding wonder for our imagined futures.
Bringing together water activists, urban ecologists, community stewards, neighbors, artists and friends, featuring artistic activations by artists Shahira Hammad and joined by Mycelium Choral Project to sing a giant group rendition of Big Yellow Taxi to the last of the fading sun. Special guest volumetric mycelium timelapse projections and DJ set from Winslow Porter. With virtual and literal morsels and libations from installations from Everything Good Studio, Grimm brewery and Brewheister’s late summer brew from Community Garden Hops. Made in collaboration with Noo Arts. If you are anywhere in NYC on the 27th, make your way here to end the evening and week.
Our program partners...
Supported by...
Scavenger hunt powered by
Watercolors and maps by Emily Garfield
Four years of Imagined Futures
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We love basking in the best things about our waterways– the new shoreline parks, public beaches, free community paddles– but most things are here because a lot of people have worked hard to preserve, restore and transform them.
There are countless orgs across the city doing vital work for our waterways. Applaud them. Visit them. Help them. Get involved. Join the scavenger hunt to learn more, put your hands in it, and get connected.
Celebrate where you are.
Fight for what you love.
Restore what we've lost.
Reimagine what is coming.
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Liz Paredes & Candace Thompson during Ferry Talk from Solar One Park at Stuy Cove to the South Bronx 2024 • Photo by J Lester Feder
Towards a future we want to live in.
Often when we imagine the future, we find our worst nightmares. Admittedly there's a lot to fear with what's ahead, and it's important to feel all of it. But what of the future we actually want?
From the youth just starting to raise their voices to the ones hoarse from years on the frontlines, a tide is shifting, and people are starting to demand something better from our systems, our way of business and even our own habits.
And the more we lean in to the people and ideas worth celebrating and supporting, the more we’ll make the future we need.
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Ferry Talk with Karen Blondel to Red Hook • Climate Week NYC 2024