STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Build A Better Planet has been around for more than a decade, but the nonprofit media organization is stepping into a new chapter rooted in Staten Island, where founder Soledad Haren hopes to grow a climate-focused storytelling hub.
The sustainability-focused group, which officially incorporated in 2012, lost its Manhattan space during the pandemic and, now, uses the Build A Dream Incubator in St. George. The move has pulled more of its work to the borough, from the shows it produces to its plans for launching a climate-focused film festival next year.
“We’ve published a magazine, we have podcasts,” Soledad told the Advance/SILive.com. “Most of our podcasts are around sustainability, so kind of following a talk show format where we interview people doing great things. We’ve had artists, filmmakers, authors, scientists, all kinds of folks, and we also have several shows that feature indie musicians who are into green.”
Build A Better Planet recently held a preview screening at Beso in St. George, featuring the award-winning animated documentary “Mariposas Negras.”Courtesy of Milena Orlando
Last month, the group held a preview screening for the Better Planet Film Festival, a new event it plans to launch during Climate Week NYC in September 2026. The preview, hosted at Beso in St. George, featured “Mariposas Negras” (“Black Butterflies”), an award-winning animated documentary from director David Baute about three women displaced by climate-related disasters across different parts of the world.
Soledad said the screening was intentionally intimate — a test run of what it hopes becomes a regular Staten Island event centered entirely on climate storytelling. And, of course, the screenings will be free to attend.
“I’m committed to keeping things free to the public,” she said. “I’m not looking to be a Jeff Bezos billionaire. I’m looking to provide people with quality, informative and educational programming.”
Build A Better Planet recently held a preview screening at Beso in St. George, featuring the award-winning animated documentary “Mariposas Negras.”Courtesy of Milena Orlando
The event’s sponsor, Kreindler & Kreindler — a firm long involved in 9/11 victim litigation and related advocacy — has a particularly personal connection to Soledad. Before founding Build A Better Planet, she worked near Ground Zero on 9/11 and lived through the aftermath of the attacks. The exposure to toxic dust, she said, took a toll on her health and ultimately pushed her toward a different path.
In the years that followed, Soledad left the legal field and shifted into the restaurant world, working as a chef in Manhattan and Brooklyn before running her own catering business. She launched Build A Better Planet in 2012 as a way to share what she had learned about health, sustainability and environmental issues.
Soledad hopes the film festival can also help shift the way visitors engage with the borough, pointing to thousands of tourists who ride the ferry only to turn right back around.
“You see the results of that,” she said. “Their tourist dollars are not making their way into Staten Island. I really would love to see a revitalized downtown area.”
Soledad Haren, founder of Build A Better Planet, at the film fest preview in October.Courtesy of Milena Orlando
Soledad sees the festival as a potential spark — something that brings people off the boat and into St. George’s restaurants, shops and cultural spaces. She hopes next year’s festival will grow into a full-day or even two-day event, drawing in Climate Week partners, local businesses and residents.
“Mariposas Negras” (“Black Butterflies”), which she described as both beautiful and urgent, embodies the type of work she hopes to champion: storytelling grounded in real people, real interviews and real environmental consequences.
“That’s what really moves me,” she said. “Talking to real people and telling their real stories.”
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