“We can get a baseline and then we can monitor through the decades to keep it going,” said Rosenzweig. “It will be a template for lots of other places.”
Mae Lee, executive director of the Chinese Progressive Association, said the presentation was interesting. “But how are we going to do something?” she asked. It's a challenge working in an immigrant community where business interests can run counter to public health. For example, “businesses want more parking,” she said. But more parking brings more cars, and more cars means more air pollution, and more air pollution is often linked to increased asthma rates.
CB3’s challenge now is to decide what projects to pursue and how to fund the research. Paul Bartlett, chair of CB3's Con Edison Environmental Settlement Fund Subcommittee, will be collecting the suggestions that come out of the meeting and will bring these ideas to the board's executive committee to initiate the next steps.
"The kids get it," Lower Eastside Girls Club Director Lyn Pentecost said of climate change. She said her organization's volunteers are ready to do something now, like help people switch from incandescent lights to "greener" compact fluorescent bulbs.
Imagining what's possible at the public housing complex just a short hike east on Houston Street from her club on 1st Street, Pentecost said, "If we could get 10,000 light bulbs, I could change out Baruch over the summer."
