How Climate Change Can Alter NY

By Sung Bin Park

The Sea Of People project combines the dynamics of a mass rally with the expressive power of an interactive artistic installation. Following a 12 Noon Rally in Battery Park on Saturday, April 14, 2007, thousands of participants, dressed in blue, will stretch north in two columns along the projected eastern and western 10-foot waterlines that may one day redefine lower Manhattan under the ten-foot sea level rise scenario.

Those living in New York City and its boroughs especially in those many areas only ten feet above sea level could notice changes in the form of more frequent and intense storms, hurricanes, damaging coastal floods and damages to homes and wetlands. Extreme cases of heat waves and droughts, and already rising sea levels are also on the list. With close to 600 miles of coastline, even city homeowners living in “risky” areas most prone to storm damage are getting heated with insurers denying some low lying areas, including greater metropolitan New York, coverage. Beyond the threat to existing infrastructure there are also concerns about public health effects including poor air quality leading to respiratory ailments and asthma, and rising heat temperatures that could potentially be hazardous to the elderly and young children. According to a recent study by the New York Climate and Health Project, if the current climate change trend continues “summer heat-related mortality could increase by 55% by the 2020’s, more than double (129% increase) by the 2050’s”.

The best case scenario is still possible but only with collaboration and collective efforts. Increase in energy produced means increase in burning of fossil fuels. Population increases mean changes in land-use which directly affect the amount of carbon levels. Can the city learn to make the necessary changes to mitigate the problem? Can small changes to our growing and substantial lifestyle have any impact? As New Yorkers, we are already remarkably sustainable, living in a dense, compact and efficient city. We account for a mere 2% of emissions in the U.S. and though the actions we take may not have a big enough impact on global warming, the city is certainly poised to lead the charge and set the standard for others to follow in curtailing carbon emissions. And a slow down of those emissions can play a large role in buying more time, time that is valuable and necessary to find ways to adapt effectively. If New York City can provide the best possible model for carbon efficiency and still maintain a quality of life, it can probably be repeated just about anywhere. Many experts are foreseeing a major damaging hurricane due for New York City. And all inhabitants will have to be prepared for this. The secret to keeping parts of New York from going underwater in the next 50 years is in understanding ways we can lessen our impact, by preparing for the future and getting involved.

According to Columbia University’s Climate Change Information Resources website: www.ccir.ciesin.columbia.edu/nyc, a helpful information hub: “Individual actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions can help to slow climate change. Many actions have synergistic, or "win-win" effects.” While skeptics may believe it is futile to try to lessen our carbon emissions impact, the choices we make and actions we take in a city of 8 million can certainly have a ripple effect.