The best Earth Month events in NYC

Open Streets: Car-Free Earth Day will close down 54 streets and plazas to vehicular traffic across all five boroughs from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, April 26. Expect community programs and public art activations in the areas as well. 

The idea is a simple one: by turning a portion of our city into a car-free zone, officials hope to promote activism and education about sustainable modes of transportation, climate change and environmentalism. This year, the NYC DOT has also commissioned five artists to come up with temporary, environmentally-focused works of different mediums along certain routes, including some by New York-based illustrators Ishita Jain and Caitlin Keegan. 

You can look through a map of all the streets and plazas set to go car-free right here. 

It's that magical time of year when red buds and green leaves finally burst forth from the brown tree branches we've been seeing for months. If you want a tree of your own to care for, you can get one for free this spring thanks to the New York Restoration Project (NYRP). 

Just in time for Earth Month, NYRP is hosting free tree giveaways with community partners throughout New York City from April 5 through May 4, 2025. They play to distribute 3,500 trees across the five boroughs, including American persimmon, flowering dogwood, and Pawpaw trees, as a way to help NYC's environmental resilience. Here's how to find a tree distribution spot near your neighborhood. 

What better way to celebrate the natural beauty of New York’s waterways than by getting out on the water? Set sail this Earth Day and beyond with Classic Harbor Line’s Climate Change eco-cruise series, which will be narrated by local expert Doug Fox and will circumnavigate Manhattan in a custom-crafted, 1920s-style yacht.

Leaving from Chelsea’s Pier 62, the 2.75-hour tour will give you a panoramic and thought-provoking view of the city’s growing sustainability efforts, including eco-conscious architecture springing up citywide to reduce NYC’s carbon footprint, renewable energy sources, elevated shoreline parks and neighborhoods, and fortified transportation infrastructure. Your ticket will include one beverage (beer, wine, or soft drink) or one half-price cocktail. Plus, there's a curated snack menu available on board.

Tours run from April 22 through November 7.

In honor of Earth Day, Brooklyn Art Haus is presenting a lineup of prominent visual artists whose works powerfully respond to the climate crisis.

"The Human Layer" exhibition highlights artists such as Ross Carvill, Max Gordon, Julia Forrest, Nia, Tslil Tsemet and Lei Tyebie, whose pieces react to "evolving landscapes, high moments of social activism, and the relocation of humans, as an attempt to expand and shift perceptions of the onlooker," per the gallery. Along with taking in these evocative works, viewers are welcomed to participate in the exhibition by "adding their own wisdom and illustrations to form their own collective response."

You can attend the opening reception for "The Human Layer" on Thursday, April 3 from 6pm to 9pm—it’s free to attend, just RSVP here. After that, the show runs through May 29.

FAD—which stands for Fashion, Art and Design—takes over different venues with a horde of independent vendors and creators. Admission is free and dogs are welcome!

Peruse handmade jewelry, apparel, skincare products, tableware, artisanal packaged food, and more. Whether you're shopping for you or a friend (or even getting an early on that holiday shopping), there are plenty of local gems to pick up.

On April 26-27, there's an Earth Month pop-up at Center for Brooklyn History in Brooklyn Heights. 

Boradway musical Redwood is very much in the Earth Day spirit. 

It centers on Jesse (played by Idina Menzel), a capable, cosmopolitan Jewish woman paralyzed by sadness about the recent death of her college-age son (Zachary Noah Piser). Her desperation literally drives her up a tree: She leaves New York City—where, of course, she owns an art gallery—and motors to California, where she persuades a pair of environmentalists, Finn (Michael Park) and Becca (Khaila Wilcoxon), to let her join them in scaling an enormous redwood for science. Can “nature’s remedy” help this neurotic city gal find her bearings? Naturally, it can.

Here's a round-up of food and drink venues working to minimize food waste, reduce or reuse and aim to go green. From a bar minimzing its carbon footprint to a "certified green" barcade, you can have some fun while helping the planet.

In a city full of lost and discarded items, there’s beauty and meaning to be found in our trash.

As NYC deals with what seems like more garbage on its streets and the threat of climate change on its waterfront, an increasing amount of artists are turning to the sidewalks, alleyways and curbs to find their respective mediums. Sure, it may be your trash, but it’s their treasure.

Here are five of NYC’s sustainable artists who make radical art using found objects. Their work, piece by piece, aims to turn the effects of overconsumption and waste on their head and illuminate viewers on the imbalance in our ecosystem. 

In a city of 8.5 million, New York City sure has a ton of trash. Actually, it has tons of trash every year.

Whether we like it or not, garbage is so much a part of NYC living. It’s just part of the makeup of the city like pigeons or mystery puddles.

Here's a comprehensive guide on how to to recycle, compost and get rid of anything in NYC.