creativity

The Wild Heart of New York City: Earth Day in Inwood Hill Park

Christa Avampato
Inwood Hill Park. Photo by Christa Avampato.

“I wasn’t expecting so many flowers and trees!”

A friend of mine said this to me when she was visiting New York last week. I was so happy to tell her about the vital work of the Natural Areas Conservancy and so many other organizations and individuals working to protect and expand our urban tree canopy and green spaces.

I completely understand her surprise. When we visualize New York City, we usually picture a dense grid of concrete, steel, and glass. We rarely picture an ancient, old-growth forest. Yet, at the very northern tip of Manhattan, a profoundly wild place defies every urban stereotype.

For Earth Day this year, we are looking at the ultimate example of urban resilience: Inwood Hill Park.

A Living Time Capsule Inwood Hill Park holds the last natural old growth forest and the final remaining natural salt marsh in Manhattan. Walking its trails completely transports you. The relentless hum of the city fades, replaced by the rustle of leaves from the massive tulip trees and the calls of migratory birds. The land bears the marks of the retreating glaciers that shaped the island and holds the ghosts of the Revolutionary War. Through centuries of explosive, relentless urban development, this singular forest continues to survive and thrive.

Ancestral Land and Ongoing Stewardship Long before European colonizers arrived, the Lenape people stewarded this land for thousands of years. They utilized the geological formations of the area, relying on the natural caves for shelter and the rivers for sustenance. Inwood Hill Park remains the ancestral homeland of the Lenape. Their connection to this forest does not simply exist in the past; it is an active, living relationship. Today, the Lenape Center leads vital, continuous work across New York City. They actively preserve their cultural heritage, advance indigenous narratives, and nurture their enduring relationship with this place. Recognizing their profound, ongoing stewardship is absolutely essential when we celebrate the survival of this forest.

The Lungs of New York Inwood Hill Park does much more than just provide shade; it performs critical environmental work that keeps our city clean and sustainable. The towering oak, tulip, maple, and cherry trees act as the literal lungs of Manhattan. They actively filter harmful particulate matter and pollutants from the air we breathe. Simultaneously, they absorb massive amounts of carbon dioxide, locking it securely away in their wood and soil to combat climate change right here in our backyard.

Below the canopy, the deep, undisturbed root systems act as a giant sponge. Whenever heavy rains hit the city, the forest floor captures thousands of gallons of stormwater. It prevents devastating runoff from overwhelming our sewer systems and flooding our streets. Furthermore, the thick foliage drastically cools the surrounding neighborhoods, actively fighting the deadly urban heat island effect during the brutal summer months. This single stretch of woods provides millions of dollars in free ecological services to the city every single year, and this is one of the main reasons that we have to increase funding to protect it and the city’s other green and wild spaces.

A Sanctuary for Healing Beyond the environmental benefits, nature provides profound physical and mental healing. Long before modern clinical studies proved that time spent in nature reduces cortisol levels and lowers blood pressure, New Yorkers intuitively understood the medicinal value of these woods.

In the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the House of Rest for Consumptives operated right inside the boundaries of what is now Inwood Hill Park. This tuberculosis sanatorium treated patients not with complex medical interventions, but by prescribing the healing power of the forest. Doctors specifically utilized the deep woods and high elevation to provide patients with pristine fresh air, offering a sanctuary away from the smog of the dense city below. Today, doctors are increasingly prescribing time in nature for many health reasons. We need quiet trails to soothe our nervous systems, lower our stress, decrease blood pressure, bolster mental health, and escape the hyper-connected demands of modern life.

The Power of Preservation We often assume that to build a thriving city, we must completely pave over the natural world. Inwood Hill Park proves we can orchestrate a different reality.

Preserving this old-growth forest within the densest city in the country is a triumph of community stewardship. It demonstrates that we do not have to choose between human progress and ecological preservation. We can protect our wild spaces right alongside our built environment, allowing them to protect us in return. If anything, we should expand our green space to ensure human health and progress.

The Togetherhood Takeaway This Earth Day, we can draw inspiration from the resilience of the forest.

  • Discover your local wild: You do not need to leave the city to find nature. Seek out the untamed green spaces in your own borough or neighborhood.
  • Protect the old growth: Whether it is a historic community garden, a single massive street tree, or a local park, advocate for nature in your area.
  • Acknowledge the history: When you walk through a green space, take time to learn the archaeological and social history of the land. Support organizations like the Lenape Center that actively protect indigenous relationships with nature.

Step Into the Forest This Saturday Reading about the magic of the forest is one thing; experiencing it firsthand is life changing.

This Saturday, April 25, I am leading a guided nature walk through Inwood Hill Park. We will step off the pavement and explore the rich environmental, social, and archaeological history of Manhattan’s last natural forest together. We will look closely at the exact ecosystems keeping our city sustainable and experience the profound health benefits of walking under an old-growth canopy.

I have just a few spaces remaining on the tour, and I would love for you to join us. You can grab your spot and register right here: inwoodhillparknyc.eventbrite.com

Let’s celebrate Earth Day by getting our boots a little muddy and taking in the glory of nature together.

creativity

The Overview Effect: Solving Earth’s Problems From 250,000 Miles Away

Christa Avampato
Earth setting on April 6, 2026. Taken by the crew of Artemis II. Photo from NASA.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/earthset/

This week, four astronauts aboard the Artemis II Orion spacecraft achieved something humanity has not done in over fifty years. They flew around the far side of the moon, traveling farther from Earth than any humans in history – 252,760 miles. As they passed behind the lunar surface, they turned their cameras back toward home and captured a breathtaking Earthset, watching our bright blue planet sink behind the desolate, cratered edge of the moon. Looking at all of the media coming from the mission gives me chills in the best way.

The Cognitive Shift
When astronauts view our planet from this immense distance, they often experience a profound cognitive shift known as the Overview Effect. From 250,000 miles away, they can’t see political borders, neighborhood disputes, or ideological divides. They see a single, fragile ecosystem. They realize that every being, be they a person, animal, or plant, shares the same life support system and collectively, the same destiny. We all only have one home and it belongs to all of us.

A Floating Laboratory for a Sustainable Earth
People frequently wonder why we invest in space exploration when we face so many massive challenges right here on Earth. The answer is that a deep space capsule is the ultimate testbed for our future. We do not explore space to abandon our home planet; we explore space to discover the exact tools necessary to protect it.

To survive a lunar mission, astronauts cannot waste a single resource and a vast group of people with different talents and experiences must work together as a cohesive team with a singular shared mission – bring them all home safely. They must operate a circular economy. NASA engineers design advanced filters to scrub carbon dioxide directly out of the cabin air—technology that now forms the foundation of direct air capture facilities fighting global warming today. They develop systems to recover and purify every drop of moisture, translating directly to water filtration for drought-stricken communities. They conduct experiments on high-yield indoor agriculture to feed the crew without the benefits of direct sunlight or nutrient-rich soil, helping us understand how we can grow food in harsh environments. Staging this mission also requires the development of stronger, lighter materials that translates into the conservation of valuable resources.

Alongside this climate engineering, the Artemis II crew is conducting experiments that directly advance medical science. They carry microchips containing living human bone marrow tissue to study exactly how deep-space radiation and microgravity affects human cells. They monitor their own biological responses to understand why and how extreme stress alters the human immune system. Solving these medical challenges in space paves the way for individualized cancer treatments, tools to predict and treat chronic conditions, and advanced healthcare innovations that test drugs and vaccines. All of this research means that the astronauts are both scientists and test subjects. What we learn from these missions directly translates to helping all of us build a better healthcare system.

Orchestration on a Massive Scale
The mission also represents the ultimate example of community orchestration. Sending a crew around the moon and safely bringing them back is never the work of one isolated visionary. It requires a massive, synchronized ecosystem of engineers, technicians, and scientists across the globe. Thousands of people must set aside their individual egos and operate with absolute trust in one another to navigate the unknown.

The Takeaway
We do not need to launch into orbit to apply the Overview Effect to our daily lives. When we get stuck in the weeds of local disputes or feel overwhelmed by the friction of community building, we simply need to change our vantage point.

We can actively choose to step back and look at our neighborhoods as unified ecosystems.

  • Change your altitude to change your attitude: When a conflict arises in your community, intentionally zoom out. Ask yourself how this specific disagreement affects the overall health of the neighborhood ecosystem rather than just your immediate block. Then help other people zoom out as well to gain the same benefits of perspective.
  • Acknowledge the shared ship and the shared journey: Remind yourself and your neighbors that you all rely on the same local infrastructure and green spaces, and that collectively you are building your local economy to benefit everyone. You succeed or fail together.
  • Orchestrate across borders: Look for ways to connect your local initiatives with efforts in neighboring communities. A thriving garden in your neighborhood benefits the pollinators across your city and beyond.
  • Translate the research: Take inspiration from the Artemis crew. Look for ways to do small experiments and use the solutions you develop through those experiments to help your community and share with adjacent communities.

Nature requires us to act as a unified whole. We just need the right perspective to see it. Luckily for us, the crew of Artemis II is helping all of us to keep looking up.

creativity

Cultivating Hope: How Altadena, California Is Orchestrating Its Own Superbloom

Christa Avampato
Poppies in California. Photo by Sarah Wood on Unsplash.

The California poppy is a masterclass in resilience. As a universal symbol of remembrance and hope, this delicate flower possesses a rugged secret. It thrives in some of the most challenging environments on earth, specifically germinating and flourishing in the harsh, scarred soil left behind by wildfires.

While a desert superbloom relies entirely on the unpredictable rhythms of weather, one community in Southern California decided not to wait for perfect conditions. They chose to actively orchestrate their own recovery.

The Ashes of Altadena In January 2025, the devastating Eaton Fire swept through the foothills of Altadena, California. The blaze destroyed thousands of structures, claiming homes, businesses, and irreplaceable personal histories.

Among the survivors was René Amy, a longtime community activist. The fire consumed his home and, in a cruel twist of irony, his native wildflower seed business called Altadena Maid Products. He lost his entire inventory to the flames. But instead of surrendering to the devastation, he immediately began volunteering at local shelters and looking for ways to heal his neighborhood.

The Great Altadena Poppy Project Understanding the deep psychological toll of the fire, René launched the Great Altadena Poppy Project. His vision was breathtakingly simple but massively ambitious: blanket the fire-scarred town in vibrant color by planting poppies – millions of them.

A century ago, golden poppy fields covered Altadena so densely that tourists traveled from across the country just to witness the bloom. René wanted to restore that legacy and offer his neighbors a tangible sign of life returning to their barren lots.

He initially purchased 120 million seeds with $20,000 of his own money and invited fire-impacted residents to sign up for free seeding services on their impacted properties. The response was overwhelming. Hundreds of homeowners asked to participate. Thanks to an outpouring of community support and anonymous donations, the project expanded its goal to sow a quarter of a billion seeds across more than 700 properties.

Orchestrating a Bloom This effort is the ultimate example of community orchestration. René and his crew of volunteers traverse the burn zones, spreading seeds across empty lots and blackened earth. Local scout troops pack envelopes of seeds to distribute globally, allowing friends and family far away to plant their own flowers in solidarity.

They are not just planting flowers; they are actively rehabilitating the degraded soil, preventing erosion, and providing a massive food source for local pollinators. Most importantly, they are giving traumatized residents a reason to look forward to the spring.

The Togetherhood Takeaway When we face immense loss or walk through a difficult season, it is easy to look at the scorched earth and assume nothing will ever grow there again. The residents of Altadena remind us that we do not have to passively wait for healing to arrive. We can plant the seeds of our own recovery.

Perhaps the most inspiring aspect of this entire project is its absolute lack of formal bureaucracy. René Amy did not wait to incorporate a nonprofit, assemble a board of directors, or build a complex fundraising platform. He just bought seeds and started asking his neighbors to help. This operates as pure mutual aid. It proves that you do not need a massive organizational apparatus or a corporate budget to orchestrate a community transformation. You simply need a good idea and the willingness to do the work.

Imagine what our country would look like if we all took this grassroots approach to our local ecosystems. A nationwide sight of vibrant, resilient flowers pushing through the cracks would be a powerful testament to our collective strength.

You can get involved with the Altadena project directly and bring this exact DIY energy to your own neighborhood right now.

  • Fund the recovery: While the poppy planting operates informally, the community still needs immense support for ongoing rebuilding and soil rehabilitation. Donating to the Altadena Community Preservation Fund provides direct financial assistance to the fire survivors.
  • Send seeds of solidarity: The project actively encourages people nationwide to purchase and plant native seeds in their own yards in solidarity with the residents, creating a networked superbloom across the country.
  • Plant a local blend: While California poppies thrive out West, creating a resilient ecosystem locally requires native species adapted to our specific climate. Instead of planting poppies, source a specific wildflower blend native to your area. In New York, that blend could contain Lanceleaf Coreopsis, Purple Coneflower, and Black-Eyed Susan. Scattering these in tree beds, empty lots, or window boxes around NYC creates a vital food source for local bees and birds.
  • Support local restoration: Channel the energy of the poppy project into ongoing efforts in our home area. In New York City, volunteering with the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative or local community gardens helps build the exact same kind of resilient infrastructure René Amy is building in California.
  • Be the orchestrator: Do not wait for someone else or a formal organization to beautify your street. Organize your neighbors, share resources, and create the conditions for your community to thrive.

Nature teaches us that even the most devastating fires eventually give way to new growth. We just have to be willing to do the planting and ask others to join us in our efforts.

creativity

Magic Awaits: Life and Career Lessons from Death Valley’s Superbloom

Christa Avampato
California wildflower superbloom. Photo by Mason Field on Unsplash

Death Valley is the hottest, driest, and lowest place in North America. Most of the time, it looks like a barren, windswept land. Unforgiving. Hopeless. On the surface, it looks as if nothing could ever survive here. In line with its name, dead.

And yet, out of sight, millions of tiny seeds, bits of magic, lie in wait for just the right conditions to fulfill their potential. Patiently, they track rainfall, temperature, and wind. They have one shot to show us what they can do so they wait for the odds to be ever in their favor.

November 2025 – January 2026 set the stage for them to shine. In those months, a year’s worth of rain fell. The record rains leached salts from the soil and that triggered massive germination. The temperatures were exceptionally mild without becoming scorching hot. A mild winter and early spring temperatures gave the seeds the exact level of warmth they needed without burning them. The winds were calm, allowing the seeds to anchor themselves and root into the soil at their earliest growth stage rather than being blown away.

The patience of the seeds was rewarded, and so were we. The 2026 superbloom of wild flowers in Death Valley was the most significant in a decade, and on par with those in 2016, 2005, and 1998. Desert Gold, Poppy, Verbena, Golden Evening Primrose, and Purple Phacelia bloomed in such density that they looked like swaths of color rather than individuals flowers. The monotonous, dry land of Death Valley was transformed into a thing of beauty that rivals, and I would argue exceeds, any work of human art.

Bees buzz. Hummingbirds hover. A light wind carries the perfume of the flowers. Sights, sounds, and scents for sore eyes, weary souls, and hearts that need to be made whole in a way that only nature can provide. It will not last forever, and will be gone all too soon. But while it’s here, in all its blooming glory, we revel in it.

The Togetherhood Takeaway
Long after the flowers wilt and Death Valley fades back to its seemingly empty landscape, we can carry the superbloom’s lessons into our lives, communities, and careers.

We don’t do anything alone
The context and environment in which we find ourselves impacts our growth and progress. I’m obsessed with settings and orchestration. It’s my favorite thing to work on. How can I create the conditions to thrive, for myself and for others? How can I help us all to grow together?

Timing matters
We are so quick to judge our own efforts and the efforts of others as if we solely control how successful something is. While we have control over our own efforts, we do not own the results. That is a difficult lesson for creators of any kind to learn and accept. It’s why I spend a lot of time and effort on creating environments and ecosystems where the people I work with can become the best versions of themselves. Some of our experiments work right out of the gate. Some of them don’t. And many times, our successes and failures are truly a matter of timing. The good news is we can always learn and try again. Improvement, no matter where we start, is a continuous process.

Quiet work is foundational
It’s healthy to take a break, regroup, reflect, and come back stronger and more well-rested, and perhaps in a totally different form. Just because someone isn’t showing off what they’re doing doesn’t mean they aren’t building something worthy. In a world that is addicted to social media and recording every single moment for public consumption, there’s a profound sense of peace to be found in doing work in our own space without outside distractions. We don’t need to accept that all eyes have to be on us all the time. Underground work has immense value. We can choose the time to bloom when it’s right for us.

creativity

Gold Medals & Grit on March 29th – my next storytelling show plus a discount code

Christa Avampato
Tix: https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/sports-secrets-lies/

My NYC’s Secrets & Lies storytelling show is heading back to the South Street Seaport Museum on Sunday, March 29th at 3pm. Our first-ever afternoon show and first-ever weekend show. I would love to see you there and I’ve got a special deal available for you!

Buy your tickets at https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/sports-secrets-lies/. Enter the code SECRETS20 after you put in your billing info and you’ll get the tickets for $12, which includes the show, museum entry, snacks, drinks, and the chance to win a sail on the museum’s 1885 Schooner Pioneer. Did you already buy your tix? Just let me know when you arrive and I’ll give you an extra set of lottery tickets for the prize drawing.

About this show’s theme and cast:

Keep the competitive spirit high with an afternoon of New York City’s most incredible secret sports history stories. We’re excited to dive into the grit and glory of the city’s athletic past, from legendary boxing gyms to behind-the-scenes at the NBA.

We’ve got two special guests for this show (also a first for us!) and they are two elite sports history experts: renowned photojournalist Arlene Schulman, who spent years documenting the raw world of NYC boxing, and Gina Antoniello, Academic Director at NYU’s Tisch Institute for Global Sport and a pioneer in professional sports communications. They will share unbelievable, firsthand accounts of how they broke barriers in NYC sports alongside other rising stars.

Then, the game is on! Public historian Alexa Rast and I will face off in a high-stakes battle, trading increasingly wild mini-stories from NYC’s sports history. All are true—except for one. Can you spot the masterful lie to win an exclusive prize – a sail on the Seaport Museum’s 1885 Schooner Pioneer?

We’ll have plenty of light bites and drinks on hand, included in your ticket. After all, what’s a sporting event without a snack?

I hope you’ll join us on Sunday at 3pm!

creativity

The Blueprint of Return: What Rewilding Teaches Us About Community

Christa Avampato
Naval Cemetery Landscape. Brooklyn, New York. From Landezine International Landscape Award. https://landezine-award.com/naval-cemetery-landscape-3/

March 20th marks the spring equinox and World Rewilding Day. Around the globe, conservationists and community leaders are celebrating this year’s theme: Choose Our Future.

We often operate under the assumption that we have to engineer our way out of every crisis. We build concrete seawalls to stop flooding and pour chemicals into the soil to force crops to grow. But the rewilding movement offers a radically different approach to leadership and resilience. It suggests that nature already holds the solutions. When we step back, relinquish a little control, and restore the natural balance, the ecosystem heals itself.

We can see this extraordinary transformation happening right now across diverse landscapes and communities.

The Affric Highlands In the central Highlands of Scotland, a groundbreaking, community-led coalition is leading the largest rewilding project in the United Kingdom. For centuries, intensive grazing and logging severely depleted the region, fragmenting the ancient Caledonian pinewoods.

Instead of forcing a heavily engineered recovery, the Affric Highlands project focuses on natural regeneration across 200,000 hectares of land. A diverse group of local landowners, businesses, and volunteers work together to remove barriers and simply allow native birch, rowan, and alder to reclaim the bare hillsides. As the trees return, so do the red squirrels, golden eagles, and black grouse. They are proving that large-scale nature recovery works best when deeply rooted in local collaboration, creating a landscape where both the wildlife and the rural economy thrive together.

The Naval Cemetery Landscape Rewilding does not require thousands of acres; it happens in the densest urban environments. Right here in Brooklyn, a forgotten piece of history recently experienced a profound ecological rebirth. For almost a century, a plot of land at the Brooklyn Navy Yard served as a hospital burial ground before the military decommissioned it.

Instead of paving it over for commercial development, the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative transformed the site into the Naval Cemetery Landscape. They planted a 1.8-acre meadow teeming with over fifty native plant species like milkweed, asters, and switchgrass. Today, this formerly restricted land is a public haven buzzing with native bees, moths, and migratory birds. A raised wooden boardwalk allows visitors to experience the vibrant ecosystem without disturbing the soil. By bringing abundant life to a space that memorializes the dead, the community created a powerful sanctuary honoring the cycles of nature.

The Saw Mill River Daylighting In Yonkers, New York, city planners buried the Saw Mill River under a concrete parking lot in the 1920s. For nearly a century, the waterway vanished from the community. Recently, a coalition of residents and environmentalists championed a daylighting project to tear up the concrete and bring the river back to the surface.

Today, a thriving aquatic ecosystem runs right through the downtown plaza. American eels, snapping turtles, and migratory birds returned almost immediately. Uncovering the river revitalized the local economy and proved that removing artificial barriers allows life to rush back in with incredible speed.

The Snowchange Cooperative In Finland, decades of industrial peat mining severely damaged the boreal forests and wetlands. A network of local villages and Indigenous Sámi communities formed the Snowchange Cooperative to buy back the degraded land and restore it.

They block the old drainage ditches and allow the water to flood the peatlands once again. This simple act creates vital habitats for nesting birds and traps massive amounts of carbon. They combine traditional ecological knowledge with modern science, showing that the people who live closest to the land are often its most effective healers.

Green Forests Work Across the Appalachian region of the United States, legacy coal mining left behind millions of acres of compacted, barren land. Traditional reclamation simply planted non-native grasses, creating ecological dead zones.

An organization called Green Forests Work takes a completely different approach. They use heavy machinery to deliberately rip up the compacted earth, loosening the soil so water can penetrate. Then, volunteers plant native hardwood trees like American chestnut and oak. By breaking up the hardened surface, they allow a diverse, native forest ecosystem to replace an extractive wasteland.

The Togetherhood Takeaway Rewilding is more than an ecological strategy; it is a mindset for community building.

When we look at our own neighborhoods, our workplaces, and our creative projects, we often try to force outcomes. We exhaust ourselves trying to micromanage every detail. Rewilding teaches us to focus on the environment instead. When we cultivate healthy soil, encourage diversity, and remove the toxic barriers, we do not have to force growth. It happens naturally.

This spring, consider how you can rewild your own life. Plant native species in your window box. Support local ecosystem restoration projects. If you have a lawn, let it grow wild and free – better for you and better for the planet. Give yourself permission to grow, thrive, and create joy even in times of difficulty. Save room in your life for the unexpected and the not-yet-imagined. Be a joiner and link arms with those around you. Nature teaches us that when we uplift others, we create the conditions for everyone to rise together.

creativity

The Power of Local: How Community Energy Builds Global Resilience

Christa Avampato
Sunset Park Solar project at the Brooklyn Army Terminal. Photo from Working Power: https://www.workingpower.com/case-studies/sunset-park-solar-upro

The news cycle frequently reminds us how fragile our extractive energy systems truly are. When we rely on distant supply chains and volatile markets to power our homes, a disruption on the other side of the world immediately impacts our local stability. We tether our daily lives to global anxieties.

But true energy independence looks entirely different. It comes from making nature an ally.

When we build symbiotic systems that harness the sun and the wind, we stop relying on extraction and start cultivating true resilience. Renewable energy does more than lower carbon emissions; it insulates our communities from global market shocks. The sun does not care about international borders, and the wind does not respond to market panic. They simply provide.

Across the country, communities are already proving that the best way to weather a global storm is to build a strong local energy ecosystem.

Sunset Park, Brooklyn

Right in our own backyard in Brooklyn, a grassroots organization called UPROSE is transforming the industrial waterfront. They spearheaded the creation of New York City’s first cooperatively owned community solar project on the roof of the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This massive solar array—a system that links hundreds of individual solar panels together so they function as one unified power plant—provides discounted, clean energy to approximately 150 local households and small businesses. Instead of traditional corporate ownership, UPROSE and the developer Working Power co-own the system alongside the community. They direct the revenue generated by the array into a community wealth fund, allowing residents to finance additional local projects based on their own priorities. This structure empowers Sunset Park residents to vote on spending the profits, such as funding additional local solar initiatives. Instead of waiting for top-down solutions, the neighborhood is building its own climate resiliency and keeping the economic benefits firmly rooted in the community.

Shungnak, Alaska

Inside the Arctic Circle, the remote Iñupiat village of Shungnak historically relied entirely on shipped-in diesel fuel to run its generators. This dependence made energy incredibly expensive (sometimes as much as $15 per gallon) and vulnerable to supply chain issues. Recently, the community installed a hybrid microgrid featuring a 225-kilowatt solar array and an advanced 384-kilowatt-hour lithium iron phosphate battery system. These batteries are grid-forming, meaning they seamlessly take over the electrical load without a flicker. They provide a safer, longer-lasting alternative to standard lithium-ion options. This technology allows the village to completely shut off its diesel engines for hours at a time during the long summer days. The community has recorded stretches of up to 11 straight hours running purely on solar and battery power. The system saves the community 15,000 to 25,000 gallons of diesel fuel annually. This translates to well over $125,000 in savings each year, bringing true energy independence and resilience to the region. This project won Solar Builder Magazine’s Project of the Year Award.

Buffalo, New York

Upstate in Buffalo, New York, a non-profit called PUSH Buffalo transformed a vacant 1927 public school building into a thriving community hub. The renovated School 77 now houses 30 affordable senior apartments, a neighborhood gymnasium, and a local theater company. They installed a 64-kilowatt community-owned solar array on the roof to supply energy to the local grid. PUSH Buffalo offers the resulting energy credits directly to the buildings low-income tenants at a steeply discounted rate compared to the standard utility company. Furthermore, the tenants engage in a participatory budgeting process to decide exactly how to spend any excess revenue generated by the system. While they initially lacked the funding for battery storage, PUSH Buffalo actively plans to add this capacity. This future upgrade will officially turn School 77 into a microgrid and resiliency hub during extreme weather conditions.

The Togetherhood Takeaway These communities are not just changing how they get their power; they are fundamentally changing their relationship with the natural world. They are moving from an extractive model that leaves them vulnerable, to a symbiotic model that makes them remarkably strong.

When we make nature our ally, we stop being passive consumers of a fragile global market and start becoming active builders of a resilient local ecosystem that benefits all beings who call it home.

Taking Action in Your Own Ecosystem Building a resilient local grid starts with small, deliberate steps, and you do not need to own a roof to participate. Here are four ways to start cultivating energy independence in your own community right now:

  • Find a Community Solar Farm: Platforms like EnergySage allow you to enter your zip code and find local solar arrays looking for subscribers. You simply connect your utility account and start powering your home with local sun, often at a discount.
  • Join a Solar Co-op: Organizations like Solar United Neighbors help neighborhoods band together to bulk-purchase solar installations, driving down costs and building collective community power.
  • Support Energy Democracy: Groups like WE ACT for Environmental Justice and the Institute for Local Self-Reliance provide incredible blueprints for advocating for equitable energy policies in your city.
  • Advocate Locally: Connect with local chapters of the Climate Reality Project to organize around local infrastructure changes and demand clean energy investments from your elected officials.
creativity

Unleashed: How I Used AI to Find Affordable Acupuncture for Cancer Care Relief

Christa Avampato
Photo of me post-acupuncture

On Monday, I felt like I walked through a portal into a different world. Not through a book or movie, but in real life. This is a story about determination, the power of technology to improve our health, and the desire to heal through a combination of Eastern and Western medicine.

The Long Tail of Cancer Treatment

When I went through ACT chemo, a notoriously difficult treatment, I received acupuncture with Ryan Smith after every round. I responded exceptionally well, experiencing fewer side effects than most because of acupuncture. Now five years into cancer survivorship, I face a lot of daily side effects that I need to manage: fatigue, pain, anxiety, hot flashes, insomnia, and weight management are just a few of them. In August, my med regimen changes because I am (thankfully and gratefully!) five years out from active treatment and disease-free. Med changes are frightening for me because when I transitioned from ACT chemo to Taxol, Taxol nearly killed me twice. It turns out I have a deathly allergy to it and I received dense-dose treatment. So, add that to my anxiety load.

I knew acupuncture could help with these side effects and ease my August med transition. However, the cost of regular individual sessions has gotten prohibitive in NYC, where I live. I searched relentlessly for an acupuncturist skilled at cancer survivorship who also took my insurance. I came up empty-handed every time. For years, I heard the common refrain: acupuncturists do not take insurance. Stop looking, bite the bullet, and pay the small fortune as an investment in your health.

And then I tried one last time. I called United Healthcare, my insurance company, to ask if I could submit partial reimbursement for anyone in their network. The agent came back with something even better: a list of medical doctors practicing acupuncture in my insurance network. I was floored. And then I immediately assumed the experience would not match the care I received from Ryan during my chemo days.

Hacking the System with AI

I popped the list of providers into AI, explained my needs, and asked if it could identify a doctor who met my criteria. AI returned one name and identified the perfect provider for me: an MD, MPH, and acupuncturist who takes my insurance, conveniently located in midtown Manhattan at NYU Langone (where I already get all my medical care) with stellar reviews of 4.8 out of 5 stars after almost 3,000 patient ratings. Rather than paying almost $200 per session, I will pay my $40 co-pay. My mouth fell open. Could this be the diamond I searched for all these years?

I went in for my consultation a month ago, and in 15 minutes he showed me exactly how acupuncture could alleviate my side effects because they all stem from my body’s structure. I wrinkled my forehead. Structural? He explained the radiation I received on my left side essentially split my body in half, tightening my entire left side from my neck to my toes, which directly contributed to my symptoms. Through a few quick mobility tasks, he demonstrated that the strength and flexibility of my right and left sides were so different it felt as if I was two different people. All of that tension originated from the radiation on my left side, causing my left shoulder to tighten and roll forward compared to my right. Acupuncture, over time, could unblock all of that, allowing us to reteach my left side how to stay open.

I told him I believed completely in the power of acupuncture, and he said I did not have to believe. I will actually see the effects after every session. We do mobility tests before the treatment, and then we repeat the mobility tests afterward.

The Moment of Release

On Monday, he combined acupuncture, heat, and electrode stimulus for my first session. My body accepted the treatment so readily that my left side was actually freer than my right side post-treatment. Even he was surprised at how much my body wants to heal. That release lasted for about 72 hours. Not bad for being crunched for five years. As I left the office, I felt my life begin to shift. I felt unleashed.

What Comes Next

Our plan includes weekly sessions for four weeks. Then we will re-evaluate. We also plan to try a few other complimentary treatments, including a saline drip he developed to release the layers of fascia in my scar tissue from one another. I cannot wait to see what lies ahead, and how healing myself will help heal the world around me. And I cannot wait to share it all with you.

creativity

The Blueprint of Reinvention: What Nellie Bly Teaches Us About Leadership

Christa Avampato
Nellie Bly, c. 1890. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

At the top of Women’s History Month, there’s no shortage of women who’ve shaped business in every sector and shown us the economic and human value of heart-centered leadership. When I think of women who’ve given us an example of women who can do anything, the first woman I think of is Nellie Bly.

History often paints Nellie Bly as a two-hit wonder. We know her as the fearless 23-year-old who invented investigative journalism by tricking police into committing her to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island. She spent ten days there uncovering the abhorrent conditions and unethical reasons women were being imprisoned there. She wrote the exposé that sparked grand jury investigations and reformed mental health care.

We also know her as the 25-year-old who set out to beat a fictional record, traveling around the world alone in just 72 days with nothing but the dress on her back, a coat, and a single handbag the size of a toaster oven.

But at 25, Nellie Bly was just getting started. Over the next six years, she wrote 13 novels and three nonfiction books. Her most radical acts of leadership were still to come.

Leading with Care and Building an Ecosystem At 31, she married Robert Seaman, the millionaire owner of the Iron Clad Manufacturing Company. She retired from reporting to run his Brooklyn factory. She refused to be a mere figurehead; she rolled up her sleeves, learned to weld, and racked up 25 patents to her name.

When her husband died ten years later, the world expected her to become a quiet Gilded Age widow. Instead, at 41, she fully took control of the company and completely changed how a business cares for its workers.

She built her 1,500 employees an on-site gym, a bowling alley, and a library. She became the first person to pay a living weekly wage instead of paying people by the number of pieces they produced on the line. She knew if she treated people well, they’d be happier, more productive, and more loyal. She took care of her people, and she proved that a business thrives when it nourishes the ecosystem that supports it.

Doing the Work That Needs Doing Her trusted managers eventually betrayed her. They forged her signature and spent nearly ten years bleeding her dry, stealing millions. When she caught them, she went to war, spending years in one of the most bitter and expensive legal battles in New York City history. She refused to let them get away with what they did to her and her workers, ultimately losing her fortune, her factory, and her home in the fight.

By age 49, she was broke.

She didn’t have a mid-life crisis; she created a mid-life conquest. Determined to revive her business, she packed her toaster-oven-sized handbag and sailed for Europe just before her 50th birthday to find a financial backer.

World War I broke out days after she landed in Austria. She didn’t head for a bomb shelter. She saw a job that needed doing, talked her way onto the Eastern Front, and became the first woman to report from the trenches. The military even arrested her as a British spy for getting too close to the gunfire. She told the officers they were doing their jobs poorly, filed her dispatches, and kept moving. She never carried literal or emotional baggage; she took what she needed, left the rest behind, and moved faster than anyone else of her era.

A Legacy of Action Returning to New York at 55, she took a job writing a newspaper column and used it to launch an adoption bureau, placing hundreds of orphaned or abandoned children into homes. She personally vetted parents to prevent fraud and abuse, demanding high standards for the welfare of the children.

At 57, Nellie Bly got pneumonia and died in NYC. She wasn’t a millionaire anymore, but she was still telling stories, giving a voice to the voiceless, and terrifying corrupt politicians by standing up, speaking out, and writing about all of it. She effectively used storytelling as a form of social activism, forcing city officials to address the suffering of marginalized people including women, people with mental illness, and children.

The Togetherhood Takeaway We often view our careers as linear paths. Nellie Bly proves our lives have chapters, and they can all be fulfilling. You can be an undercover reporter, an inventor running a factory, a war correspondent, and a social justice advocate all in one lifetime.

If we’re in the midst of reconsidering our careers and the value of our work, Nellie Bly’s story holds valuable examples for all of us. When we look around and see work that needs doing, we can step up and make it happen. When we see someone who needs help, we can be that support. When history places us in circumstances to be of service, we can serve.

Nellie Bly teaches us our prime isn’t a decade; it’s a mindset. We always have agency; we always have the choice to use what we have, where we are, to do the most good that we can.

creativity

How I’m celebrating my birthday all month

Christa Avampato

My birthday is on March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day. 🍀 While I love to see all the decorations and parades, it unfortunately makes going out on my actual birthday a little… messy. So, I choose to celebrate the entire month of March and fill it with joy.

Though some people bemoan getting older, I never do. I know many people who never had the privilege to get older. I almost didn’t either. I’m so grateful to get every minute of this life. I love my birthday, and truthfully I’m so happy to get every day that each one feels like my birthday.

This year, I put together a list of things I’d love to do this birthday month. It’s mostly a list of things I’ve never done before and places I’ve never been. Most of them have been on my list for a long time and I want to mark my birthday by weaving them into the fabric of my life. Some are free. Some are paid. Some are simple. Some are more elaborate. Some are on specific dates and some can be done at any time, or when weather permits.

Have you done any of these things? Are there any I missed that you would add? I’d love your input and ideas.

Here’s the list (so far!) in no particular order:

  • The Morgan Library visit (Free Fridays with music)
  • Roosevelt Island Tram ride
  • A Gratitude Walk in Central Park / Prospect Park (Maybe March 20th – the start of Spring)
  • Jim Dale storytelling show (March 9th)
  • See Six on Broadway
  • Lincoln Center show (March 11th)
  • Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge with a bagel and coffee
  • ARTECHOUSE visit
  • Spa day at World Spa in Brooklyn
  • Japan Village in Industry City
  • Tea at Brooklyn High Low
  • Queens County Farm Museum
  • Cooking class – would love suggestions!
  • NYC’s Secrets & Lies show at Seaport Museum (March 29th)
  • Ghost tour – would love suggestions!
  • Catacombs under St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral
  • Pizza (See No Evil underground at 50th Street; Arthur & Sons; Roey’s; Paul Gee’s; Williamsburg Pizza)
  • Brooklyn Grange tour – they do yoga there, too
  • AIA New York Architecture tour by boat
  • Go to a reading party with Reading Rhythms
  • Ford Foundation garden
  • Go to Nonna’s of the World Restaurant
  • The NY Earth Room – 141 Wooster Street, New York. The “Broken Kilometer” in SoHo – sister installation to the Earth Room. It’s 500 polished brass rods in a silent, high-ceilinged room. It’s a space designed for pure contemplation. Both are free, silent, and very powerful.
  • Paloma the Bakery
  • Lectures on Tap (March 24th)
  • Redecorating my apartment
  • Raphael exhibit at the Met Museum (March 29th)
  • See a movie at Rooftop Cinema Club
  • A class at Brooklyn Brainery
  • A dining oasis inside the 50th Street 1 Station with a cozy cafe Tiny Dancer, craft cocktails at Nothing Really Matters, and See No Evil’s excellent pizza.
  • Hilmalayan Salt Cave and Red Light Sauna at FloLo Holistic
  • Mani / Pedi
  • Acupuncture sessions – started on March 2nd
  • Ellicottville visit (Feb 27th – March 1st)
  • Spend an hour at a beautiful library (like General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen on 44th St or The New York Public Library’s East Room) writing a letter to my future self to be opened in 10 years.
  • Candlelight Concert at the Church of the Heavenly Rest featuring the best works of Hans Zimmer (Interstellar, Inception, The Lion King). (March 20th)
  • Ophelia Lounge’s “Luminosity” – Located at the top of the historic Beekman Tower, this lounge is currently doing an installation called Luminosity. They have filled the space with 1,000 flickering candles and projections of the Northern Lights. It’s quiet, incredibly beautiful, and feels like a literal “temple” to the city.
  • “First Light” at Pier 3. Grab a coffee and go to Pier 3 in Brooklyn Bridge Park. It has a “labyrinth” garden made of hedges and is one of the best spots to watch the sun hit the Manhattan skyline.
  • Electric Lemon’s Terrace: Perched on the 24th floor in Hudson Yards, this terrace has a massive Jaume Plensa sculpture and incredible, unobstructed views of the Hudson River. It’s much quieter than the nearby “Edge” and feels very sophisticated.
  • The Staple Street Skybridge: Go to Tribeca and find this tiny, iconic bridge connecting two buildings over a cobblestone alley. It’s one of the most “old New York” photo ops in the city.
  • Sunset from the South Brooklyn Ferry: Instead of a tourist cruise, take the NYC Ferry (South Brooklyn route) from Wall Street to Sunset Park. It’s $2.90 for a 45-minute “cruise” that passes right under the bridges.
  • A Sound Bath at Woom Center: They use 3D sound and “vibrational therapy” in a dark room. It’s an incredible way to clear the mental clutter and focus on the health and strength of your body.
  • Evening Star at SVA Flatiron Project Space: This is an immersive exhibition (running through March 19th) that explores “feminine folk wisdom” and ancestral magic. It’s a very cool, atmospheric space to wander through.
  • Arte Museum New York: A brand-new immersive digital art space in Chelsea that engages sight, sound, and even scent. It features “Eternal Nature” exhibits like crashing waterfalls and blooming flower fields—a perfect sensory celebration of life.
  • Gratitude postcard writing
  • A “Life at Sea” Visit to the Brooklyn Museum. They have an exhibit right now called Oliver Jeffers: Life at Sea. It is whimsical, meditative, and focuses on our connection to the ocean and the environment. It is a great way to spend a quiet afternoon.
  • The Battle of Brooklyn: Fought and Remembered at the Center for Brooklyn History
  • Chamber Magic at the Lotte New York Palace. It’s held in a private suite at the Palace Hotel. It’s “parlor magic” for a small audience in cocktail attire.
  • The “Lobby of the Future”: Visit the brand-new STORIED Chelsea. It’s a landmark building that was recently restored into a stunning event and art space.