Join Pathway to Paris for a Block Party in an Imperiled NYC Greenspace

For the past seven years, Pathway to Paris has been using the power of music to inspire people to act to solve the climate crisis.

That’s why this coming Saturday they are celebrating this year’s Climate Week NYC with a block party in an imperiled urban greenspace.

“This year during Climate Week NYC, we are joining forces to reimagine NYC as a city free of fossil fuels, a lush eco city fueled by 100% renewable energy,” the group wrote in a press release sent to EcoWatch. “NYC has the opportunity to ramp up its efforts and design and implement the most ambitious climate action plan yet, setting an example for cities around the country and the world.”

The BLOCK PARTY IN THE GARDEN will take place this coming Saturday, September 25 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elizabeth Street Garden. It will feature musical guests including Patti Smith, Nikolai Fraiture of The Strokes, local doowop group Acapella Soul, Pathway to Paris co-founder Jesse Paris Smith and DJ Jonathan Toubin.

The BLOCK PARTY IN THE GARDEN will take place this coming Saturday, September 25 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Elizabeth Street Garden. Noam Galai / Getty Images

The event is co-hosted by Helm Bike, a new electric bike company, which is offering free test rides. There will also be boxing lessons from Overthrow New York, yoga classes from Modo Yoga NYC, a raffle, workshops, refreshments, chances for local action and activities for children. In case of rain, the event will be rescheduled to Sunday.

The Elizabeth Street Garden is a rare urban greenspace in lower Manhattan that is currently under threat from development. Since 2012, its supporters have been fighting to protect it from city plans to convert it into affordable housing for senior citizens, Thrillist reported. A non-profit organized to protect the space sued the city in 2019, and a decision is still pending.

“We absolutely need truly affordable housing, but we also need community green space,” the garden’s standing Executive Director Joseph Reiver told Thrillist. “One should never come at the expense of the other. Not when alternatives exist.”

Pathway to Paris further argued that protecting the space was critical given environmental conditions in the city and the planet.

“Losing green space that is vital to community building and connection, in a district with one of the lowest ratios of public open space in the city, would be a major step backwards in the pathway to reimagining NYC,” the group wrote in its press release.

Pathway to Paris was founded in 2014 by musicians and activists Jesse Paris Smith and Rebecca Foon and has worked since then to unite musicians, artists, activists, experts and ordinary people through a series of events dedicated towards turning the Paris agreement into reality.

Climate Week NYC is a yearly event hosted by the Climate Group and the UN to promote climate action.

“It is the time and place where the world gathers to showcase leading climate action and discuss how to do more, fast,” the group explained on its website.

This year, it is running from September 20 to 26.