A Conversation with Dr. Hayley Elszasz of the Natural Areas Conservancy on Climate Policy and NYC's Green Spaces

01

Background

Will Duhl: To start, you have a background in political science and public policy. Could you talk about how you got involved in climate and environmental justice in New York City, and the work you've done both with the NYC Mayor's Office of Climate & Environmental Justice and the Natural Areas Conservancy?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

I've always been interested in politics from a young age, so I studied political science in undergrad and grad school. I was always interested in environmental issues, and increasingly realized that climate change is probably the most interesting and important challenge facing us right now. A lot of the issues we are going to have to work through to become more resilient to climate change are happening in the political arena. My work during grad school oriented me towards cities as the places doing a lot of the climate work in the U.S. So after I graduated, I was looking for jobs in a major city working on climate policy, which is how I landed that job at the Mayor's Office.

02

Building key partnerships

Will Duhl: It seems like partnerships were a big part of your role at MOCEJ. What were some of the key partnerships you built, possibly related to the New York City Panel on Climate Change (NPCC), Rainproof NYC, and the FloodNet project, and what were some of the important steps in developing them?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

Each partnership that you pointed out (the New York City Panel on Climate Change, Rainproof New York City, and FloodNet NYC) was a result of meeting a need for New Yorkers and leveraging all the resources and skills that we have in academic institutions in New York City. As you know, we're lucky to have so many great universities in the city and the region. When the city's need for research data or tools can match with expertise in universities, that's when I think we see cool, policy-relevant work being done. In my time thus far, I've been lucky to be a part of making some of those connections between the academic community and city climate priorities. The challenges that I've seen tend to occur around different needs or expectations across institutions. Academics often rely for their career on publishing and presenting at academic conferences, while policy folks have less access to academic journals and tend not to attend academic conferences. So I found that an important part of partnership is making sure that everyone gets what they need out of a project to make it worthwhile and meaningful to them. That meant a lot of these initiatives resulted in academic publications as well as policy reports geared towards people in city government and New Yorkers in general.

03

A city perspective of FloodNet

Will Duhl: One project in particular, the FloodNet project, is one that I believe you partnered with at MOCEJ. I actually talked to Dr. Brett Branco, one of the founders of FloodNet, about the science behind it. What is your perspective on the FloodNet project from the city government perspective, and how do you think the sensor network can be best leveraged for the city?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

From the city's perspective, FloodNet meets an important data gap in understanding how flooding impacts distinct parts of the city in real time. It can help city agencies send resources, whether that's emergency managers, rescue vehicles, or water and sewer experts, to areas that are most affected. Rain-driven flooding is especially difficult to predict because its impacts can be so hyperlocal, affecting just particular neighborhoods in New York City, and you often don't know which ones are going to be the most impacted. The predictive capacity isn't quite there to know exactly where rain will fall, even with the best information from the National Weather Service. Before FloodNet, the only real-time data source we had was rain gauges (which are typically at the airports and Central Park, so not really where New Yorkers are living) and 311 reports when people already need help and assistance. We know that not all New Yorkers are equally willing or able to submit requests on 311, or it might already be when things are damaged. So FloodNet really helps fill an important niche there in flood data.

04

Flooding and climate research

Will Duhl: Another interesting area of your experience is the research and studies you've done with the city. You were involved in the city's Vulnerability, Impact, and Adaptation (VIA) study and were also a contributor to the NPCC4 report. What did that research show about flooding and extreme weather across New York City?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

Each of those studies was composed of several parts, each of which filled a unique research gap when it came to climate impacts. Some elements that come to mind include the creation of the city's first Flood Vulnerability Index, which looks at both potential flood exposure as well as socioeconomic indicators that make some New York City communities more vulnerable to harm when flooding does occur. Another piece of this study quantified the health-related costs of climate change for New Yorkers, which were very significant. So I would say all of these reports contribute to a better understanding overall of how climate change is affecting the city, and especially helping us get some facts, figures, and numbers to use when we're making policy or putting in funding requests.

05

Shaping policy

Will Duhl: How do you think those findings from the studies should shape New York City policy and climate mitigation efforts? What steps do you think are most important at this time?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

All of the research makes it very clear that climate change has already impacted the city, and the impacts will continue to become more severe. It's also very clear that climate change is intersectional, and it's an issue that affects every part of city life, whether that's transportation, housing, work, food access, or public health. The city is absolutely making progress and taking climate change seriously, but there's so much more to do. Some examples of things that have already been done: you can go to Lower Manhattan and see some of the coastal resiliency projects that have been built since Hurricane Sandy, or projects recently kicked off in Red Hook, Brooklyn. However, changes in federal administration and pulling funding have definitely set us back and made the road forward more difficult. The hardest thing will be getting adequate levels of funding every year for the long run. That's absolutely the most challenging part, along with all of the coordination and political will that goes behind achieving that.

06

Natural areas and flood mitigation

Will Duhl: I also want to talk about your current role at the Natural Areas Conservancy. I feel like when a lot of people think about flood infrastructure, they picture traditional sewers and seawalls. How do natural urban areas play into flood mitigation, and how are you working to elevate them in local policy?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

The Natural Areas Conservancy is a nonprofit that works closely with the New York City Parks Department to care for our natural areas, which are mostly our forests and wetlands. The forests and wetlands in New York City are very important to our collective resilience and quality of life. My role there, similar to prior roles, involves continuing to build and strengthen partnerships to do this work in the face of climate change. Specifically, I work on the research and conservation team, which researches how much natural areas absorb stormwater, mitigate heat, and capture carbon. The partnerships piece involves translating our research findings into actionable plans and running communities of practice.

The idea of the sponge city is getting more and more traction, which is really exciting, with local examples like Hoboken and NYC implementing things like porous pavement and resilient playgrounds that can capture stormwater. But some of the work around flooding isn't just building new fancy infrastructure; it's also caring for the natural assets that we already have. To cite some facts and figures from our research, we've found that natural areas absorb roughly two times more stormwater on a per-unit basis than any other type of green infrastructure. Our forests and wetlands in the city absorb about 17% of stormwater overall in the city. What's really important is that healthy forests absorb about 10% more stormwater than degraded or unhealthy forests, which I think makes a clear case for maintaining our natural areas.

07

Advice for young people

Will Duhl: You also did work in urban climate mitigation through your dissertation at UVA. Could you talk about what that was like and what insights you gained from that project that could be applied to cities like NYC?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

My PhD work definitely laid the theoretical groundwork for my career that followed, but I learned so much more about climate policy in the first five months of working for the city than I did in five years in grad school! There is no replacement for working in city government to learn about the challenges and opportunities firsthand and really getting to see how things work. Graduate school was very enriching and gave me an opportunity to develop my interests and learn about the theories people were proposing, but I definitely recommend public service to anyone who's thinking about it. Working for a city government is a great way to learn.

Will Duhl: For young people who care about climate policy and want to make a difference: what fields or projects do you think are most valuable to pursue, and do you have any general advice for us?

Dr. Hayley Elszasz

I like to say that every job can be a climate job if you think about it that way. We need smart and caring people in all roles. We need doctors who talk to their patients about heat safety, architects who think about climate risk for buildings, finance folks who are curious about how to get funding to pay for resilience and clean energy, and teachers who help their students navigate how the world is changing. Policy is definitely one avenue for doing this work, but whatever career you pursue, I recommend keeping your eyes open and thinking about how it relates to climate and what you can do to help make your communities safer in whatever role you play.