Albany, NY – Today, Members of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic, and Asian Legislative Caucus hosted the fourth episode of the “Caucus Corner'' of the 2024 legislative session. The Caucus Corner is an audio series initiated by members to discuss and analyze major Caucus priorities from its annual People’s Budget with policy experts and community-based organizations from across the state. Additionally, Caucus members are able to increase support for various initiatives and campaigns.

With the Caucus Corner, members have the opportunity to talk directly to New Yorkers on the issues that matter most to them. This series creates a forum for media, government officials, and constituents to gather and explore the various affairs before the state. This week, the members discussed Environmental Advocacy & Conservation in celebration of Earth Day.

Listen to the program here on Spotify or on Youtube.

There is so much work that needs to be done to clean up the planet we live on, which is why the caucus continues to take steps to preserve New York’s environment while uplifting disadvantaged communities. This is being done through championing policies, holding events to highlight the dangers the planet is facing due to our consumption and by reevaluating how energy is produced by large corporations. This episode explores the ways lawmakers & environmental advocates in our state are keeping places like the Bronx & Queens as green as possible.

“It is critical for us to address the environmental injustice that has disenfranchised communities of color all across this great state.” said Chair of the Black, Puerto Rican, Hispanic & Asian Legislative Caucus, Michaelle Solages. It’s important that we focus our policy and our politics on the environment and ensuring that we are building a cleaner world for our residents to live in.

“While we think globally, we should act globally. We should immediately look into the Environmental Bond Act that New York State passed and see how we can apply it to our communities.” said Senator James Sanders. “We should also look at the Inflation Reduction Act and find ways that we can champion bringing solar, geothermal and other sources of green energy to our local communities and champion those things even as we fight and ensure that we are included in this new world order that we see ourselves in.”

“I think it is incumbent upon us as legislators and as advocates and everyone who is vested in the future of our planet to get up and do the hard thing. As legislators, that means turning to some big industry and saying ‘Listen, you have had a free pass for a long time, the wreckage is palpable and now we have to turn back some of that damage.’ Is that an easy conversation? No, but it is an absolutely necessary one,” said Assemblywoman Amanda Septimo. I look forward to continuing to champion these important issues because New York is the first in the nation on so many incredible things and making sure we lead in making the clean transition that is also a just transition is an incredible opportunity to change the lives of our residents in an incredible way.”

“The impacts of climate change do not fall equally across all New Yorkers. There's a growing body of research over the past decade that has highlighted the links between vulnerability to the effects of climate change and the persistent disparities in economic opportunity, education, housing, environmental quality, health status, mobility, and healthcare access as well as by race, gender, and socioeconomic status,” said the New York Policy Director for Rewiring America, Michael Hernandez. “We have to realize that climate change is really impacting our communities. When there is a heatwave, it is the urban communities that are much hotter than the suburban communities.”