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TESTIMONY
Keanu Arpels-Josiah, Organizer at Fridays for Future NYC, on the Urgent Need for Climate Justice and Restoration of Community Composting Programs in New York City
7:23:41
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Keanu Arpels-Josiah, an eighteen-year-old high school student and organizer with Fridays for Future NYC, a youth-led climate justice organization, testifies on the urgent need to address the climate crisis and restore funding for community composting programs.
- Highlights the adverse effects of climate change in NYC, including the worst air quality globally and the hottest summer on record.
- Criticizes the city's budget cuts, especially the elimination of the $7 million community compost program.
- Emphasizes that addressing climate change is impossible without community composting initiatives.
- Cites the alarming UN statement about having only two years left to save the world.
- Urges investment in communities, parks, climate justice, and composting to secure the future for the younger generation.
- Calls on the City Council and mayor to prioritize climate action over continued environmental neglect.
Keanu Arpels-Josiah
7:23:41
Hi.
7:23:42
My name is Kiana Orpels Josiah.
7:23:44
I'm an eighteen year old high school student and an organizer with Fridays for Future, NYC, the youth guard, climate justice organization representing high school students and young people throughout the city.
7:23:54
We're nearing the anniversary of our skies turning orange last June of asthma rates spiking of the worst air quality in the world.
7:24:01
Last summer was the hottest summer on record, though it will go down in history as the coldest one for the rest of my generation's lives.
7:24:08
And what does our city do in response cut investment after investment in our communities and in our future.
7:24:14
In New York City, 20% of our landfill waste is composed of food scraps.
7:24:19
58% of national methane emissions at greenhouse gas, 80 times more warming power than CO2 when it's released.
7:24:27
Come from these food scraps.
7:24:29
There is no addressing the climate crisis.
7:24:31
There is no climate justice without community composting.
7:24:35
Just a few weeks ago, the head of the UN Climate Body, Simon Steele, said we have 2 years left to save the world.
7:24:42
That's not hyperbullying.
7:24:43
It's high time for this city, which is ranked as the 3rd high submitting city in the world to restore the $7,000,000 community compost program entirely cut by the mayor as well as the rest of the budget cuts.
7:24:56
The current anaerobic co digestion being partially used by the city is simply not composting.
7:25:01
It actually continues to perpetuate the same system of burning fossil fuels and creating planet warming emissions.
7:25:08
Simply put, we need to invest in our communities, in our parks, in climate justice, and in film posting.
7:25:14
Our generation's future is online.
7:25:16
The question for this body, for the mayor, for the New York City, is will you choose our generation, our communities, or you hand down a dust sentence frontline communities here in New York, around the world, in the global south.
7:25:30
In 2018, Greta Thunberg left school to protest for climate justice outside the Swedish parliament.
7:25:36
In New York City, we've been doing the same here every Friday since 2019.
7:25:41
Since January 2022, just here at City Hall, every sick from every Friday from 6 from 4 to 6, we've been doing the same.
7:25:50
Stand up for our generation, restore the budget cuts.
7:25:53
Thank you.
← Previous Chapter
Speaker on behalf of Marisa DeDominicis, Executive Director of Earth Matter NY, on the Impacts of Defunding Community Composting Programs and Education Efforts
Next Chapter →
Justin Wood, Director of Policy at New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, on Sanitation, Composting, and Environmental Justice Policies in New York City