Red Hook Residents Take on Climate Change

Red Hook waterfront post Hurricane Sandy; photo by Michael Fleshman, via Flickr Creative Content

Two years ago the neighborhood of Red Hook, Brooklyn was badly damaged during Superstorm Sandy leaving businesses and residents struggling to come back. As sea levels rise, the neighborhood–and New York City as a whole–will become increasingly vulnerable to coastal flooding.

Since 2012, the Red Hook initiative has been working hard to prepare the community for another storm. They’re just one of many projects, big and small, working to prepare New York City for further climate change. City-wide, New York has worked to improve storm water management systems and restore “soft-infrastructure” like marshes and beaches.

New School graduate student Rachel Bongiorno went to Red Hook and produced this story for Deutsche Welle.

On September 16, Feet in 2 Worlds held a workshop on reporting climate change for ethnic and community media journalists. That Sunday more than 300,000 people took to the streets of Manhattan demanding action against climate change. Rachel Bongiorno, who produced this story, attended our workshop.

Fi2W is supported by the David and Katherine Moore Family Foundation, the Ralph E. Odgen Foundation, and the Nicholas B. Ottaway Foundation.

AboutRachael Bongiorno
Rachael Bongiorno is a New York City based multimedia journalist and media educator from Melbourne, Australia. Her work has been broadcast on NPR, WNYC, ABC Australia’s Radio National, Deutsche Welle, Democracy Now!, SBS Australia, Free Speech Radio News (FSRN), and 3CR Radio. She holds a BA with postgraduate Honours from The University of Melbourne and an MA in media studies from The New School. Her stories and projects are available at www.rachaelbongiorno.com