Climate Change

Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time.  It is stressing our water supplies, leading to hotter days, increasing the impacts of air pollution on our health and destabilizing social structures.  As a city, New York is planning for increased intensity of storms and major challenges to the City's infrastructure, including our transportation systems.  

One important distinction about climate change is the definition of climate.  The climate of a certain area is the "average weather" (e.g. precipitation, humidity,  or temperature)  over a time period of approximately thirty years or more.  Just because New Yorkers experience a really hot summer, this isn't necessarily "climate change".  Weather is a variable element of any location:  it may be sunny and warm one day and rainy and cool the next.  However, the climate of a region is quite predictable, such as the fact that New York City's summers are hot and humid and the winters are cold.  Global climate change is just that: the climates of our earth are changing leading to increased variability, more intense storms, and overall increased uncertainty for most communities.

One component of climate change is that the overall average temperature of the earth is rising.  This component of climate change is called global warming.  The atmosphere is made up of many gases. Some of these gases, acting like a porous blanket, trap heat and keep the planet warm, allowing for life as we know it to exist. These types of gases are called greenhouse gases.   The most predominant greenhouse gases are Carbon Dioxide (CO₂), Methane (CH₄), Nitrous Oxide (N₂O), Ozone (O₃), and Water Vapor (H₂O). The earth is experiencing global warming because humans are accelerating the release of greenhouse gases predominantly through deforestation and the burning of fossil fuels for energy, faster than the earth can absorb it. The excess of greenhouse gases disrupts the natural balance in the environment and changes the climate of the planet.

In urban environments like NYC, the focus is often on CO₂ because there are high levels of energy demands requiring the burning of fossil fuels and relatively little agriculture, industry, or animal husbandry, which are the primary producers of Methane and Nitrous Oxide .   The earth is capable of using some of our CO₂ emissions through photosynthesis in plants.   In this process, plants absorb CO₂ and convert it, then release Oxygen, a necessary element for human life. When in balance, the total carbon dioxide emissions and removals are roughly equal, becoming Carbon Neutral.

Climate Change in NYC

The New York Metropolitan Area has over 31 counties and 19.6 million people, putting great stress on the natural resources of the region. Climate Change puts even more stress on the reliability and quality of resource allocation and distribution systems.  As temperatures rise in the area, increases in the numbers and intensities of heat waves put added pressure on the city's water supply and sanitation system, adds to energy demands and impacts air quality and public health.  An effect known as the Urban Heat Island Effect results in even higher average temperatures in NYC than surrounding suburban and rural areas.

In New York, scientists predict that climate change will not only mean an increase in average temperatures, but also increases in extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, and heat waves, as well as a rise in sea level.  New York City is especially affected by sea level rise with 600 miles of coastline and the majority of the city's infrastructure at or near current sea levels. Any increase in sea level threatens New York's tunnels, airports, and roads, as well as the housing and economic security of millions.

Due to an combined sewer system that combines street runoff with building's waste water,  NYC dumps nearly 30 billion gallons of untreated waste water and sewage into local waterways.  These events, called Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs) occur due to increased runoff from rain events and snow melts.  With the increased intensity and numbers of storms predicted due to climate change in our region, NYC will be dumping even more sewage into the waterways, further reducing water quality and increasing health impacts of potential waterborne diseases in our communities.  

What is Carbon Neutral?

A Carbon Neutral NYC, would be a city where the amount of CO₂ emissions put into the atmosphere by the City were equal to the amount of CO₂ absorbed by the City's plant-life.  We will achieve a carbon neutral NYC by decreasing the amount of CO₂ New Yorkers produce and increasing the amount of CO₂-absorbing plants and green spaces in NYC.