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Climate Week NYC coincides with the annual UNGA

Climate Week NYC, the largest climate-related gathering in the world after the United Nations Conference of the Parties (COP), and the 80th session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) coincided this past September, both taking place in New York City.  

Guided by this year’s theme of peace, development, and human rights, delegates at the UNGA brought up the swiftly approaching 2030 deadline for implementing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Speakers took time to celebrate progress (such as that investment in renewables reached $2 trillion last year) while acknowledging the urgent need to scale up climate action in order to limit the impacts of a warming Earth.  

While the UNGA brought together world leaders from its 193 member states, Climate Week NYC saw policymakers, company representatives, and activists taking the stage to discuss topics ranging from technology and energy to finance and climate justice.  

Delegates at Climate Week NYC highlighted the importance of not only avoiding harm from climate impacts, but of actively creating a better world, viewing climate action as an opportunity.  

The week also included a film screening featuring stories about resilience and collective action—a reminder of the power of storytelling in uniting community and inspiring change. 

Laura Stewart

Board Member

Laura Stewart is the Community Wildfire Resilience Coordinator with Forsite Fire, supporting communities across Canada with wildfire risk assessments, mitigation planning, and program delivery. She has more than a decade of experience advancing wildfire resilience at Indigenous, municipal, provincial/territorial, and national levels. Previously, Laura served nearly eleven years as Alberta’s Provincial FireSmart Specialist, leading community, WUI, neighbourhood, and Home Ignition Zone programs, coordinating funding, and partnering with communities and fire services across the province. She has also served as Board Chair with both the Partners in Protection Association (FireSmart Canada) and the Community Wildfire Resilience Association of Alberta.

 

Sara Walsh, PhD

Board Member

Sara Walsh, PhD, is a disaster risk reduction and climate resilience specialist with more than 15 years of experience spanning Canada, Nepal, the Middle East, and North Africa. Until November 2025, she served as Thematic Lead for Climate and Resilience with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), where she supported Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to strengthen their climate and risk reduction work across the region. Sara currently works as a freelance consultant with the United Nations, governments, and humanitarian organizations on recovery, risk governance, and community-based resilience. She teaches at a Canadian university and holds a PhD in Disaster Risk Reduction. Her work emphasizes anticipatory action, equity, and bridging research with practice to shape more resilient and sustainable futures.

Alison Criscitiello

Board Member

Alison Criscitiello, PhD, is an ice core scientist and high-altitude mountaineer who explores the history of climate and sea ice in polar and high-alpine regions using ice core chemistry. Alison’s work also focuses on environmental contaminant histories in ice cores from the Canadian high Arctic and the water towers of the Canadian Rockies. In 2010, she led the first all-women’s ascent of Lingsarmo, a 22,818-foot peak in the Indian Himalaya. Alison has earned three American Alpine Club (AAC) climbing awards, the John Lauchlan and Mugs Stump alpine climbing awards, as well as the first Ph.D. in Glaciology ever conferred by MIT. She is an Assistant Professor and the Director of the Canadian Ice Core Lab at the University of Alberta. She is the co-founder of Girls on Ice Canada.