Celeste Sanchez is the new Director of Environmental Justice

Celeste Sanchez is the new Director of Environmental Justice at the Bronx River Alliance. Celeste is a proud native New Yorker, bringing her efforts back home to the Bronx where her family grew their roots. Most recently, Celeste spent upwards of 4 years at the NYC Environmental Justice Alliance (NYC-EJA), as Policy Organizer and then State Climate Policy Manager. Her work with NYC-EJA focused heavily on tracking and defending the implementation of the nation’s most aggressive climate legislation, the NYS Climate Leadership and Protection Act (CLCPA), as a part of the statewide NY Renews coalition. Celeste’s work entailed engaging in various regulatory proceedings demanding co-pollutant reductions and direct investments to historically overburdened communities of color. Additionally, her work at NYC-EJA also focused on the deadly impacts of worsening extreme heat, including the recent passage of NYC Int 0994 (Cool Homes for All bill) requiring cooling systems in all tenant-occupied dwellings. 

Celeste is very passionate about minimizing the waste we send to landfills, incineration, and our waterways and has worked closely on equitable waste management policies and programs. While at NYC-EJA, she and the Transform Don’t Trash coalition continued calling for the long-delayed promise of shifting from polluting trucks to marine waste export at the City’s owned and operated Marine Transfer Stations. Celeste also worked on advancing composting and organic collection initiatives within the City!  Prior to this, Celeste has dedicated time to her ancestral lands of Puerto Rico, participating in reclamation efforts of abandoned schools devastated by Hurricane Maria to serve as community e-libraries and disaster relief shelters. As a part of the demand for climate justice on the island, Celeste met with the Mayor of Isabela to advance sustainability and resiliency efforts around recycling and local dump sites. Celeste is a firm believer in community-led solutions and the self-determination of communities who are most directly impacted. 

Celeste received a Master of Science in Environmental Policy and Science from Pace University and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology from the University at Albany. She had previously worked as an intern with NYSERDA’s NY Sun team, focusing on programs impacting disadvantaged communities. During her undergraduate career, Celeste identified her passion for the intersection between the environment and public health during her study abroad program in Costa Rica. There she learned about renewable energy sources used by indigenous tribes and the importance of indigenous sovereignty.