Assembly Now! CUNY & The Climate Democracy We Need

Climates of Inequality

New York, New York

Curious about climate assemblies? Join us during Climate Week NYC to celebrate the CUNY Climate Assembly Project on Waste at Hunter College (CCAP)!

Come learn about CCAP and its impact directly from Student Assembly Delegates, Hunter College and CUNY Graduate Center Leadership, and experts in diverse sectors reimagining democracy, sustainability, and the humanities as key tools for social flourishing in the age of climate change. Students will reflect on the democratic process, share assembly’s recommendations for sustainable waste strategies at Hunter, and chart the path ahead.

After the event, please join us for a reception in the Leubsdorf Gallery (West Building) to mingle and view the current exhibition Climates of Inequality: Stories of Environmental Injustice .

In spring 2026, the Center for the Humanities at the CUNY Graduate Center and Hunter College made history, convening the first university climate assembly in the US. CCAP gathered a group of 43 Hunter College and 14 CUNY Graduate Center students for nine sessions over three months to assess and improve waste management strategies on campus. Through this process, they built community, gained democratic experience, and honed their collective vision toward the common good.

A climate assembly brings together a randomly selected, demographically representative group of participants to study all sides of a pressing environmental problem, deliberate on possible solutions, and develop policy recommendations. The model broadens mass engagement, deepens public understanding of the assembly topic, and removes barriers to civic participation and decision-making. While assemblies generate creative solutions and community engagement from the ground up, their full impact ultimately depends on how institutions respond to the recommendations.