Climate Week NYC — the largest event of its kind in the world — is running this week alongside the U.N. General Assembly, which means Midtown is full of motorcades and most of the programming is closed-door panels for policymakers and industry. The part an ordinary New Yorker can actually attend is free, dated, and mostly just needs a sign-up.

Here is what is on the public schedule for the next four days.

  • Monday, Sept. 21 — PlanetHAUS. 13 E 19th St, Manhattan, 9 a.m.–4 p.m. An immersive walk-through of a house (kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, garden, living space) showing everyday sustainable products in context, with samples to take home. Register on Luma.
  • Tuesday, Sept. 22 — NYC CoolRoofs Volunteer Coating Day: Queens. 138-38 68th Dr, Kew Gardens Hills, 9:30 a.m.–12 p.m. Volunteers work alongside HOPE Program green-workforce trainees to coat 4,500 square feet of roof with reflective paint, which cuts surface temperature and cooling costs. No experience necessary; supplies and training provided on site. Sign up.
  • Tuesday, Sept. 22 — “Please Don’t Flush: Gowanus.” 303 Bond St, Brooklyn, 6:30–7:30 p.m. A municipal comedy about a community board about to vote on a waterfront development that residents, plumbers, and seagulls fear will worsen flooding — developed with NYC Emergency Management and the Waterfront Alliance. Free, register here.
  • Wednesday, Sept. 23 — Walking the Bluebelt. New Creek, 1941 Hylan Blvd, Staten Island, 12–3 p.m. A tour of the natural stormwater system that drains roughly a third of Staten Island, including gates and trails that are normally locked. There is also a 10 a.m. option that meets in Manhattan to take the ferry over together and see Last Chance Pond. Rain or shine, two-plus hours of walking on uneven ground; bring lunch, headphones, water, and real shoes. Tickets on Eventbrite.
  • Thursday, Sept. 24 — Communities Take Charge: Launching the Data Center Policy Toolkit. Manhattan, 12–3 p.m. Public Citizen, We Build Progress, Climate Justice Alliance, and partners launch an interactive toolkit of customizable legislative templates covering data center energy and water use, pollution, permitting and zoning, subsidies, transparency, and moratoriums — followed by a networking reception. Register on Luma.
  • Also on the schedule: the EcoArts Festival, environmental writing workshops, and introductory “Power to the People” energy seminars.

Thursday is the one worth clearing an afternoon for. Data centers are about 4.4% of U.S. electricity consumption now and projected to hit 12% by 2028, and the fights over them are already local: substations, water draw, and the utility bills that follow. A toolkit of actual legislative language is a different kind of object than a panel about the problem, and it is aimed at the people who show up to community board meetings.

Two practical notes. Registration is the step that matters — several of these are capacity-limited, especially the Bluebelt walking tour. And one event that appeared in the official Climate Week schedule, a “Whack-a-Data-Center” piñata kickoff, was canceled; Gothamist appended an editor’s note after organizers pulled it, so treat the event calendar as live rather than final.