Two Brooklyn-based companies were part of the six winners chosen for The Trust for Governors Island inaugural Climate Solutions Challenge, presented through its Living Lab program. Through this initiative, the Trust makes the Island available as a site for local small businesses, entrepreneurs, and nonprofits to test and demonstrate urban climate solutions for cities and their diverse communities.
The “Water Abundance Challenge,” sought projects that utilize water to help power climate solutions that grow blue and green jobs and create healthier communities. Each of the six New York City-based innovators will receive a site to demonstrate their projects, grant awards of up to $25,000, and access to a common pool of additional funds to support pilot implementation. Their pilot sites will also provide valuable opportunities to engage with the Island’s rapidly growing audience of nearly one million annual visitors through public demonstrations, workshops, training opportunities, and other initiatives.
Two of the pilot programs are Brooklyn-based, RETI Center and Seaweed City. RETI Center is a Red Hook-based nonprofit that works to educate, train, and work with local youth, experts, professionals, and community members to transform our coastal city from one that is driven by fossil fuels to one balancing equity, ecology and economy. On Governors Island, they will pilot their Floating BlueBlocks Gardens, integrated ecological systems that can be installed in any body of water, in collaboration with thread collective.
“RETI Center is proud and excited to launch our Floating BlueBlocks Gardens at Governors Island. We see the creation of natural habitats and support of biodiversity as a crucial element in climate adaptation. All visitors to the Island, no matter their age or experience level, are welcome to come help us build and launch our gardens this summer,” said Tim Gilman-Sevcik, Executive Director of RETI Center.
Seaweed City is a nonprofit citizen science initiative exploring the benefits of seaweed aquaculture in New York City’s waterways. On Governors Island, they will pilot their urban kelp farming infrastructure. The project is fiscally sponsored by Newtown Creek Alliance.
This remaining cohort of pilot projects includes: Duro UAS, a South Bronx-based company with the goal of improving how environmental data is collected and shared through advanced, affordable, and easy-to-use water monitoring systems and data services. Just Ecocities which is a nature-based solutions consultancy working to improve water quality, expand habitat, and promote engagement with New York City’s waterways. LÆRO is a small business founded in collaboration with experts across fields of water advocacy, manufacturing, and electromechanical engineering, working to reduce the levels of untreated wastewater that enter New York City’s waterways. Object Territories is a critical design practice based in New York and Hong Kong that works at the intersection of architecture, landscape, and urbanism.
For more information on the pilots, visit www.govisland.org/living-lab.
