In 2024, The Observer profiled Kenny Moll, a Fordham student who ran seven marathons in seven days along with friends and volunteers to raise awareness for climate justice in a challenge called “A Week for the World.” This June, runners took to the paths of Central Park once more, clad in sports gear and donning race bibs that marked them as participants in the third edition of A Week for the World.
Moll, Fordham College at Lincoln Center (FCLC) ’25, organized a week’s worth of programming that combined a run club’s exercise regimen with an activist group’s focus on educational lectures. The daily 26.2-mile marathons began at 6 a.m., with runners settling down by 11:30 a.m. to cool down, rehydrate and listen to the day’s speakers. Some of the invited lecturers had also just completed that day’s run.
Moll invited 25 speakers to talk throughout the seven days of A Week for the World. The speakers included two of Moll’s previous classmates from Fordham, as well as David Vassar, a reference librarian at Quinn Library.
The speakers were mostly organizers involved in the fight for environmental justice, although discussions also connected climate change to its roots in capitalism and its racialized effects on society. Attendees and lecturers emphasized the intersectional nature of climate activism.
“There is no climate solution without climate justice,” Vassar said during his lecture on the second day of the event. “You have to get everybody involved, and we really have to take care of our most marginalized communities in the process.”
“Our advocacy must extend far past what we can see and who we are surrounded by.” Kenny Moll, FCLC ’25
Michael Magazine, who spoke on day five of the event, highlighted how the event allowed for discussions on the different sides of the fight for climate justice.
“There’s people who get involved in different ways,” Magazine said. “There’s some of us who are more involved in the electoral side or the politics side or the policy side. Some people are artists; some people are comedians. There’s so many people involved in this fight.”
The purpose of the run and the talks not only raised awareness towards climate change, but also raised funds for the Sunrise Movement, an organization that A Week for the World has partnered with since its inception. The Sunrise Movement provides a platform for climate activists to canvas voters, lobby politicians and investigate legislation that will help curb climate change. According to Moll, A Week for the World has raised over $20,000 for the organization over the past three years.
In addition to funds, the marathons also helped start a conversation. Tylese Rideout, Fordham College at Rose Hill ’25 and a speaker on day five of the event, pointed out how the marathons are a key aspect of A Week for the World’s activism.
“I was running the Central Park loop with them and this woman stopped me and was like, ‘Is this a race?’ And I had the opportunity to be like, ‘Actually, let me talk your ear off for 30 seconds,’” Rideout said. “And so, even if we’re reaching just one person, or being able to see one person asking the question, it’s raising awareness.”
Throughout the week, Moll and the event speakers reiterated the claim that running is political, as physical exercise is a privilege that is threatened by the environmental decimation caused by climate change. Moll stated that he runs to draw attention to that injustice and to advocate for a world in which one’s physical health is not threatened by the climate crisis.
“In Manhattan, in Central Park, we’re not going to feel the same effects as somebody in the Global South who is contributing much less to climate change than us here in the West,” Moll said. “Our advocacy must extend far past what we can see and who we are surrounded by.”
Magazine agreed and praised the event’s effectiveness at providing a concrete example of the effects of climate change and the possibilities for activism.
“There’s people who can’t run anymore because the temperature is too high on days like today,” Magazine said. “Projects like A Week for the World really make climate action, climate politics, climate as a concept much more digestible for those average, everyday people.”
According to Moll, the last day of the event saw the most participants for that week, with more than 30 people in attendance during the talks. In his closing remarks, he spoke about the importance of creating a lasting community of activists that will remain active throughout the year.
“I really want this to become bigger than the summer marathons, and you guys are helping me do that,” Moll said. “We’re becoming something much more than the athletic achievement that this started out as.”
Moll plans on hosting A Week for the World again next June in Central Park. He is also looking to expand the event to other cities.
