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Antonia Saint Dunbar, cofounder of the period underwear brand Thinx, loves the way she feels when she’s wearing heels. “It has a divine geometry,” she says. “It creates a perfect pitch for your body, elongating your leg, creating an anatomical architectural balance.” Saint Dunbar isn’t alone: Even as society has become more casual, making sneakers and Birkenstocks acceptable to wear in more situations, many women still love the way they look and feel while wearing heels. But sometimes this means compromising comfort for style. While running Thinx in heels, Saint Dunbar says she often had to scan the room for a place to sit because her feet hurt so much, and took cabs so she wouldn’t have to walk. Part of the reason that heels are so uncomfortable is that many early shoe designers were men. They designed heels they believed would make women look attractive, but had no idea how the shoes would feel on the wearers feet. Today, women aren’t willing to compromise on comfort. This is particularly true after the pandemic, Saint Dunbar says. Stuck at home, women stopped wearing heels and turned to more comfortable footwear. Now painful heels feel even more unacceptable. The good news is that there’s a new generation of shoe brands focused on designs that make them more comfortable, including Sneex, Nomasei, and Marion Parke. Saint Dunbar herself is among these founders. In 2016, while still running Thinx, she launched Antonia Saint NY, which creates more comfortable heels. She’s taken the silhouette of a classic stiletto and added a layer of padding inside to provide better arch support and toe cushioning. She’s just relaunched all of her shoes with a slimmer version of the padding to offer the same level of comfort with less bulk. As we head into summer, we’ve been testing out the most comfortable shoes for everything from weddings to company outings. Here are five we love. [Photo: Antonia Saint NY] Antonia Saint NY Vicki DOrsay, $286 This shoe has a 2-inch heel that gives you just enough lift. Its outfitted with an updated padding system called SoftSurround. There is a layer of cushioning within the entire upper, with a special focus on the toes and the back of the heels. There is also a rubberized outsole for better traction. The outer is made of a soft Nappa leather. It’s designed to help you get through a full day without any pain. [Photo: Sézane] Sézane Gloria Sandals, $215 These strappy sandals offer the vintage aesthetic that Sézane is known for, featuring an elegant circle design. They’re versatile, since they can be dressed up or down, looking just as nice with jeans as with more formal summer dresses. With a 2.75-inch heel, they offer height without leaving you with achey legs or calves. [Photo: Margaux] Margaux City Sandal, $375 As their name implies, these shoes are designed for pounding the pavement. They feature a 2.5-inch block heel that is very walkable, and crisscross straps that are placed to make your feet feel supported. The insole features foam padding for cushioning. They come in a wide range of colors to match your outfits. [Photo: Nomasei] Nomasei Baghera, $450 Founded by former shoe designers at Chloe, Nomasei wants to bring comfort to the luxury shoe experience. The brands Baghera sandals are meant to provide all the leg-lengthening effects of a high heel, bu in a much more comfortable silhouette. They feature a 2.3-inch wide block heel, with an insole made of memory foam, lining made of goat leather, and an outsole made of calf leather. [Photo: Rothy’s] Rothys Knot Sandal, $189 If you’re concerned about the environment, Rothy’s is a good option. The brand was first known for its flats, but it has expanded into new silhouettes, including heels. These sandals are made of eight ocean-bound plastic bottles that have been recycled into a knot material. With a 2-inch block heel and a plush footbed, they’re designed to be worn all day. And as a bonus, theyre machine washable, which extends their life.
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As the Trump administration funnels money into fossil fuels and the country largely retreats on climate efforts, New York City is trying to ensure its pension funds take the climate into consideration. In 2021, New York City officials announced that the citys pension funds divested an estimated $4 billion from fossil fuel companies, a landmark move in the effort to divest money from polluting industries. But divesting directly from these companies only covers a small portion of how the markets support the continued development of oil, gas, and coal. Major asset managers like BlackRock still invest in fossil fuels; so if a pension fund is invested in BlackRock, its still essentially funneling money into oil, gas, and coal. Now, those asset managers will have to show the city that their investments align with New Yorks climate goals, or they could risk losing the pension funds business. New York City Comptroller Brad Lander recently announced new climate standards for pension fund asset managers, including clear net-zero goals that decrease their scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions. Asset managers have until June 30 to submit their climate strategies to the city. Officials will evaluate those net-zero plans to ensure that they’re “real and actionable.” If an asset managers plans fail to meet those climate standards, theyll be sent to a rebid process, meaning theyll have to bid again for the pension funds business, and the funds could then move their money to a different, cleaner asset manager. As part of any new bidding process, Lander will recommend evaluating an asset manager’s corporate-level climate behavior as well. What were doing is getting the New York City pension funds to use their buying power to shift money from dirtier money managers like BlackRock, who are bad on climate, to cleaner money managers, says Pete Sikora, climate campaigns director with New York Communities for Change, a nonprofit that campaigned for these new standards. Activists hope that by taking business away from the less climate friendly asset managers, those companies will be forced to clean up their portfolios in order to get back the pension funds business. New York Citys five pension funds have nearly $300 billion worth of investments, with a few hundred asset managers. The largest is BlackRock, which holds nearly $60 billion of the funds investments. (In total, BlackRock has more than $11 trillion in assets under management.) The citys pension funds include the New York City Employees Retirement System (NYCERS), Teachers Retirement System (TRS), and Board of Education Retirement System (BERS), which have all historically been progressive on climate action; TRS is also the largest investor with $109 billion in assets. (The other two funds are the New York City Police Pension Fund and the New York City Fire Pension Fund.) Already, since 2019, New York Citys pension system has reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 37%. It aims to be net-zero by 2040. This move to require climate plans from asset managersand to stop investing with them if their climate plans arent strong enoughis crucial to reaching that goal, Sikora says. Its a more impactful move than just divesting directly from fossil fuel companies, he notes, because it pushes the entire financial industry to be cleaner. Theres no way to stave off global climate catastrophe unless finance as a whole flees from oil, gas, coal, and deforestation, he says. The move is also a direct response to the Trump administrations efforts to funnel money into the fossil fuel industry, and to push back the entire countrys climate progress. We will not retreat from our strong climate action, a position that remains consistent with our fiduciary duty. Climate risk is financial risk, Lander said in a statement. Some may cave to the Trump administration and reverse their climate commitments, but we will not be deterred from jointly prioritizing our climate goals and financial responsibilities. (Lander is running to be the Democratic candidate in New York City’s mayoral race, and has made standing up to Donald Trump a tenet of his campaign.) New York Communities for Change has been advocating for these climate standards for years, Sikora says, and was talking to Lander about the possibilities before he was even elected as comptroller in 2021. Before that role, Lander was on the city council, where he sponsored a resolution calling on BlackRock, JP Morgan Chase, Liberty Mutual, and other financial institutions to stop lending to and investing in the fossil fuel industry. That hinted to activists that he would be supportive of these efforts. Though this effort was years in the making, it’s becoming more urgent as the financial industry backslides on climate commitments at large. In January 2025, weeks before Trump took office, six major banks left the Net-Zero Banking Alliance, a group that was setting net-zero targets for the financial world. Still, some funds are trying to hold banks to account. In February, the People’s Pension, one of the United Kingdom’s largest pension funds, said it was “prioritizing sustainability” by pulling a majority of its money out of State Street; the fund moved 20 billion to a different asset manager, Amundi, which it says has stronger climate standards. Changes to New York City’s pension funds wont happen immediately, though. After asset managers submit their climate plans to the city, officials have to review them before they make recommendations on whether to put the business up for rebid; those recommendations will likely start to happen in the summer or early fall. New York Citys move to divest its pension fund from fossil fuels did face a lawsuit from oil and gas companies in 2023; in 2024, the city won. These additional climate requirements may also face criticism or legal pushback, particularly from the Trump administration, but Sikora is confident it will hold up in court. Investing in fossil fuels is no longer a sure route to profitability; thousands of oil and gas assets are at risk of becoming strandedmeaning they would be unprofitable or forced to shut down years before plannedbecause of the impacts of climate change. New York City pension funds have an interest in a healthy world, he says. You dont have New York City pension funds in a dead New York City that is submerged under rising seas. . . . On a basic, prudential level, you shouldnt be furthering your own destruction with your investments.
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Perus decision to shrink its archeological park home to the famous Nazca Lines by around 42%an area roughly the size of 1,400 soccer fieldshas sparked alarm among conservationists, archaeologists and environmental advocates. Critics say the rollback paves the way for informal mining and weakens decades of cultural and ecological protection, while the government says the adjustment reflects updated scientific studies and does not compromise the UNESCO World Heritage status or the sites core protections. The reduction not only removes protectionsit does so precisely where extractive activity is expanding, said Mariano Castro, Peru’s former vice minister of the environment, adding that the decision could cause very serious risks and cumulative damage, as it excludes zones with active or pending mining claims. Castro added that safeguards for archaeological heritage during the formalization of artisanal mining are already limited. This is made worse by the ministry of cultures failure to consider the cumulative impact of dozens or even hundreds of mining operations on sensitive archaeological zones, he said. The area in question forms part of a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site, home to the Nazca Linesmassive geoglyphs etched into the desert thousands of years agoand one of Perus most fragile desert ecosystems. Peruvian environmental lawyer César Ipenza, who has closely followed the decision, said the resolution has already been approved and that it reduces the Nazca zone by more than 1,000 hectares. This is a weakening of both environmental and cultural protections, Ipenza said. The state should be upholding its commitments under international agreements, not yielding to private interests. Ipenza and others say the rollback reflects a pattern of regulatory concessions to mostly informal gold miners. Theres an alliance between the current government and informal mining sectors, he said. The legal framework continues to be relaxed to benefit them. Peru’s ministry of culture, which decided on May 30 to reduce the Nazca reserve from about 5,600 square kilometers to roughly 3,200 square kilometers, declined to answer specific questions from the Associated Press. Instead, it sent a press release saying the adjustment was based on updated archaeological studies and does not affect the UNESCO World Heritage designation or its buffer zone. The ministry said it remains committed to preserving the sites cultural heritage through regulated management. A day after the May 30 decision, Fabricio Valencia, Peru’s minister of culture, acknowledged that illegal mining exists within the reserve. Unfortunately, informal mining is an activity present in this area, but the measure we have taken does not mean it will be encouraged, nor that the likelihood of any harm from informal mining will increase. That will not happen, Valencia said on RPP, one of Peru’s largest radio programs. When asked for more details about the presence of illegal activity in the reserve, Valencia said, there are some mining deposits, but I dont have exact information on what type of mineral is there. UNESCO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Castro, the former vice minister, warned the move could violate Perus own laws. It contravenes Article 5(h) of the Environmental Impact Assessment Law, which mandates the protection of archaeological and historical heritage, he said. Ipenza said the government is enabling illegality under the guise of technical adjustments. It is shameful to forget our ancestors and our heritage, and to disguise decisions that pave the way for sectors seeking to impose illegality, such as illegal and informal mining,” he said. “This decision benefits those groups and harms all Peruvians. The Associated Presss climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find APs standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org. By Steven Grattan, Associated Press
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