TREEage Demands Mayor Adams Fix NYC Public Schools, Says $100M for Clean Green Schools Initiative Isn't Enough

NEW YORK, NY (01/30/2024) (readMedia)-- In response to Governor Hochul's announcement that $100 million is now available through the Clean Green Schools Initiative, TREEage, an organization of young New Yorkers fighting for environmental justice, urged Mayor Eric Adams to expeditiously apply for this funding, while showing that this pot of funding is far from enough to fully clean up all New York City public schools.

The city's aging public school buildings use oil and gas for heating and emit the equivalent of 154,000 cars' worth of carbon dioxide every year. The campaign for Green Healthy Schools headed by Climate Works for All is currently demanding that Mayor Adams and the NYC Council electrify and upgrade 500 public school buildings by 2030 and electrify and upgrade all school buildings by 2040. New York City estimates that it costs an average of $27 million to electrify and upgrade one school, which means that electrifying and upgrading 500 schools will cost $13.5 billion, or an average investment of $2.7 billion annually until 2030.

"By not aggressively investing in our crumbling public schools, Mayor Adams is showing us that he does not care about young people in the city. $100 million is a drop in a bucket for the amount of investments our public schools need to be fixed and electrified. Mayor Adams should direct our most environmentally-burdened public school districts to apply for this funding, but we also urge him to fully commit to fixing all our public schools. Students are being poisoned every day while trying to learn," said Kathryn Gioiosa, Co-Executive Director of TREEage.

A 2021 study that reviewed a nationwide panel of school districts shows that air pollution is associated with lower academic performance among children. Other studies link pollution to a decrease in memory function, poor concentration, and more absences due to health issues like asthma, associated with bad air. Inferior ventilation has also been linked to worse exam performance. Low-income students of color experience the brunt of this, with their homes and schools more likely to be located in highly polluted neighborhoods. In NYC, asthma disproportionately affects Black and LatinX children, as well as those residing in high poverty neighborhoods.

TREEage is currently hosting a contest for NYC public schools students to grade their schools on how "green" and "healthy" they are, to identify the schools in most need of energy upgrades. Submissions are due by Friday, February 2nd and can be uploaded to Instagram or TikTok with hashtags #MayorAdamsFixMySchool and #GreenHealthySchools or submitted here.

About TREEage

Since 2019, TREEage has focused on educating high school and college students on the magnitude of the climate crisis, legacies of environmental injustice, and our vision for an equitable future; training the next generation of climate activists to lead their schools and neighborhoods and build winning campaigns; and championing Green New Deal legislation and mobilizing young people to make it a reality.

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