‘MAKE POLLUTERS PAY’
Forest Hills High School student activists rally for the Climate and Community Investment Act
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
A group of student activists
from Forest Hills High
School gathered to raise
awareness and support from
their local elected officials
for the New York Climate and
Community Investment Act
(CCIA) at Juniper Valley Park
on Wednesday, April 7.
About a dozen students set
up signs along a corner of the
Middle Village park at 80th
Street — with one that read
“Make Polluters Pay, Pass
The CCIA” attached to strings
hanging from a tree and a
lamp post — and spoke with
community members about
the newly introduced bill.
The CCIA (S4264A), which
was introduced in March, is
meant to create hundreds of
thousands of jobs, invest in
communities most impacted
by climate change and pollution,
and build a renewable
economy in New York by taxing
corporate polluters.
Rachel Rose, 17, co-president
of Forest Hills High
School’s Green Team club,
said theirevent at Juniper
Valley Park is just one of
several actions taking place
across New York City and
state as part of Climate, Jobs,
and Justice Action week organized
by New York Renews
Coalition.
“We just got it introduced
into the state Senate, and so
a lot of people and students
are working locally to try and
really make sure their local
state senators are signing on
to this and getting it passed,”
Rose said.
Victoria Lu, the event coordinator
for Forest High
School’s Green Team club
and member of New York Renews
Coalition, said they are
particularly asking for state
Senator Joseph P. Addabbo,
Jr. to support the bill.
“In the past he’s actually
agreed to lobby with us and
he has co-sponsored the Climate
Leadership and Community
Protection Act (CLCPA),
so we’re hoping that he shows
the same type of support with
the CCIA, which is basically
the funding for the CLCPA,
and push it through the Senate,”
said Lu, 16.
Forest Hills High School students rallied in support of the Climate and Community Investment Act at Juniper Valley Park on April 7.
Photos by Angélica Acevedo
Lu explained that the
CCIA emphasizes the connection
between environmental
justice and racial justice to
specifically benefit Black, Indigenous
and People of Color
(BIPOC) who have been disproportionately
impacted by
climate issues.
“It provides around $15
billion a year and reinvests
it into BIPOC and frontline
communities, it helps create
more sustainable jobs, like
it’s projected to create around
150,000 jobs in the next decade,
and it would also prioritize
green schools around
more environmentally affected
areas,” Lu said. “And
an important piece of this bill
is that none of the money is
going to go to private prisons,
the policing sector, none of
that — it’s really just meant
to invest in Black and Brown
communities.”
The CCIA was introduced
by Brooklyn state Senator
Kevin Parker and is currently
co-sponsored by several
Queens state senators,
including Jessica Ramos,
James Sanders, Jr. and Leroy
Comrie.
Addabbo is not a co-sponsor.
The senator, who was
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.2 COM | APRIL 16-APRIL 22, 2021
leaving Albany after voting
on the state budget on Wednesday,
told QNS that while the
state passed the CLCPA they
are still in the early stages
of the act and are “behind on
hitting some benchmarks.”
But, Addabbo said that the
state is “moving in the right direction,”
and he continues to be
a proponent of climate change
measures and renewable energy
in the 15th District.
In regards to the CCIA,
Addabbo said he will “definitely
review” the bill and added
that he appreciates the young
residents who are a part of the
climate movement.
The student activists’ action
was in coordination
with TREEage, a youth-led
policy and politics organization
with more than 150 student
activists and 35 school
hubs based in New York, as
well as Our Climate, an advocacy
organization that mobilizes
and empowers young
people to educate the public
and elected officials about
science-based, equitable
climate policy.
Rose said she appreciates
TREEage’s action-based approach
to lobby for the CCIA,
a bill she said they can “quantify
and really get done” to
benefit frontline communities
in the city and the borough.
“My mom is a school nurse
here in Queens and she deals
with a lot of kids with asthma,
and asthma is highly
concentrated here in Queens,
so that actually has to do with
pollution and that is an environmental
issue,” Rose said.
“That’s something that this
bill would definitely address.
So I think it’s really important,
that it’s happening right
here in Queens.”
Reach reporter Angélica
Acevedo by e-mail at
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
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