Open Call: Pitch Reels

New York City produces 25% of the nation’s greenhouse gases. As home to over 8 million people in a small geographic area, it is also a place that is especially vulnerable to the affects of climate change. In particular, New York City’s waterfront communities will have to contend with rising sea levels, the threat of storm surges, and greater damage from storms in general, as they become more frequent and more severe as a result of climate change. The majority of waterfront communities in New York City are low-income communities of color. These communities face the greatest risk since they lack the resources to address such threats.

Sunset Park, Brooklyn is one of these communities. It is a low-income and working-class waterfront community with a highly diverse immigrant population. Half the residents of Sunset Park were born outside of the United States. Since the community is located on the waterfront, it will be one of the first to feel the affects of rising sea levels and flooding due to climate change. Unfortunately, residents of Sunset Park are disproportionately informed about climate change and how it could impact them and their community.

As an environmental justice organization based in Sunset Park, UPROSE is striving to educate and organize the residents of Sunset Park around this issue. UPROSE views this video production as an opportunity to engage youth in the community in an interactive project about climate change, to develop these youth as educators on the topic, and to create a tool to be used for teaching in the community. This youth-led project is a partnership between UPROSE and an art class at a local middle school, MS 88. The short video will give voice to the youth in the community as they struggle to raise awareness about the dangers of climate change in Sunset Park. We hope to interview youth and community members and gather footage of the waterfront to demonstrate the possible affects of climate change. Below is a transcription of the video submitted with this proposal and is used here to exhibit the start of an empowering project.

“Why are we going to the waterfront?
Because we want to see what carbon, carbon dioxide is doing to our, our water, our oceans, are they making it rise, because that’s what carbon dioxide is doing, it’s causing global warming and global warming is melting glaciers and causing the water to rise and we want to see how much of our waterfront has been affected by it.

What happens if the water rises?
All of Sunset Park (the Brooklyn, NY neighborhood the students live in) will flood. It’s not good.”