The Palisades Fire burns a structure in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood of Los Angeles, Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Eugene Garcia) By Meera JoshiPUBLISHED: February 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM ESTNew York’s heart broke for L.A. as our sister city burned.For those of us who had the ugly but fundamentally human thought that this was a California issue, a state long beset by fires — and that New York would be safe from that scale of climate disaster, a new Regional Plan Association study should provide little comfort: it found that our city could be in store for L.A.-level housing loss due to floods over the next 15 years.It’s time to come to terms with the truth that severe weather is a kitchen table issue we all must face, urgently and together.That starts with rethinking how we talk about it.Too many of those managing the climate crisis have fallen prey to opaque language; discussions steeped in lingo are only informative to the well-informed. A 1.5-degree global temperature increase, the point of no return which we surpassed for the first time last year, hardly screams “clear and present danger.”This isn’t merely bad form. A lack of clarity can build real schisms, a feeling that the climate change conversation is for them, not us — while houses and livelihoods burn. But L.A. reminds us that extreme weather knows no borders and spares no one. Every year, more lives and property are lost to flooding and fire and childhood asthma rates tick up.It’s time to talk less about resiliency and decarbonization, more about extreme weather, public safety and health.The Adams administration is making swift, intentional investments, building smart to protect all New Yorkers from harsh rains, blazing sun and smog. Building for extreme weather is as essential as building bridges, roads and schools.United Nations Climate Report Issues A Dire “Code Red For Humanity” Due To Global WarmingSpencer Platt/Getty ImagesThe island of Manhattan is seen from the Staten Island ferry in the Hudson River on August 09, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)In the densest city in the nation, we no longer have the luxury of single-use development. Everything must do double duty.Pavement and tree pits can soak up water; we’ll invest $385 million to deliver 100 miles of porous pavement by 2031, glugging up to 500 million gallons of rainwater per year. There are 68 miles in process.Basketball courts and playgrounds can be sunken to hold rain until there’s room in the sewers. We’ve invested $400 million in building dozens of “cloudbursts” which double as playspaces citywide.Marshland can be creatively re-engineered into bluebelts, routing water away from homes and businesses. It’s working on Staten Island — we just announced $300 million for three new borough bluebelts.Our waterfront, which provides recreation space year-round, must be elevated to protect us from rising tides. This fall, we finished phase 1 of the East Side Coa
Mar. Feb 11th, 2025
