SUPPORTING CLIMATE WORK HAPPENING NOW
& STEPPING TOWARDS THE FUTURE WE WANT.
From the Bronx to Staten Island and everywhere inbetween, Imagined Futures works to galvanize, spotlight and hi-five climate work across the five boroughs of New York City. This means honoring the deep legacies of communities, centering our ecologies, and supporting an ecosystem of change and transformation.
Connecting people to place, and to possibility.
Bringing New Yorkers into the communities and the ecosytems already creating our future pathways.
WE ARE STEPPING INTO OUR FOURTH YEAR OF PROGRAMMING
stewarding, repairing and readying our ecologies, our waterways and our communities in tandem.
THIS MUST BE THE PLACE
This year we are working with seven waterbodies in various states of degradation and repair. Supporitng the stewardship rooted in communities and bringing you into relationship with the past, present and possible futures on the water.
September 19 - 27 • 2026
Celebrate where you are.
Go get on the water.
There's a lot about this city worth griping about, but we bet there's a waterway nearby you love. A beach, river, park pond, hidden creek. Even the hydrant cranked open in the height of summer is a love letter to our gravity-fed source. Swim, kayak, canoe, sail, surf...while we still can...
Free community paddles & sailing all over the city.
🛶
Note- these are mostly small, often volunteer-run orgs. All paddles are subject to availability. Please check websites for exact times, locations & important info.
Community Kayaking
Community kayaking Saturdays and Sundays
2. Long Island Community Boathouse Community Kayaking.
Saturdays 10-3p by reservation
3. North Brooklyn Community Boathouse
Community Canoeing and Kayaking
By reservation
Walk up canoeing & events
Free Jamaica Bay Kayaking in Rockaway Beach and Riis Landing. Check for times and locations.
5. Red Hook Boating
Community Paddles
Fight for what you love.
We love basking in the best things about our waterways– the new shoreline parks, public beaches, free community paddles– but most things are here because a lot of people have worked hard to preserve, restore and transform them.
There are countless orgs across the city doing vital work for our waterways. Applaud them. Visit them. Help them. Get involved. Join the scavenger hunt to learn more, put your hands in it, and get connected.
Liz Paredes & Candace Thompson during Ferry Talk from Solar One Park at Stuy Cove to the South Bronx 2024 • Photo by J Lester Feder
Towards a future we want to live in.
Often when we imagine the future, we find our worst nightmares. Admittedly there's a lot to fear with what's ahead, and it's important to feel all of it. But what of the future we actually want?
From the youth just starting to raise their voices to the ones hoarse from years on the frontlines, a tide is shifting, and people are starting to demand something better from our systems, our way of business and even our own habits.
And the more we lean in to the people and ideas worth celebrating and supporting, the more we’ll make the future we need.
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Ferry Talk with Karen Blondel to Red Hook • Climate Week NYC 2024