Government
Swimmable Cities Are a Climate Solution
Sarah Amandolare |
Amid scorching heat, cities around the world are rethinking access to waterways. This article originally appeared in Nexus Media News.
Amid scorching heat, cities around the world are rethinking access to waterways. This article originally appeared in Nexus Media News.
Gathering data from satellites and sensors placed on trees, the network measured temperatures across different types of urban green spaces in 12 U.S. cities, including New York. It found that the air temperature was cooler in forests compared to landscaped trees at over 90 percent of locations.
“It’s an issue that seems to be within DOC’s control, something they can anticipate, and yet they’re really not able to make sure that the conditions are humane for the people that are forced to be there,” one civil rights attorney said.
“New York City is preparing for its first official heatwave of this summer. And while many of us are able to stay inside, limit outside activities, and safely work from home, many of our city’s most vulnerable residents are not as fortunate.”
“Extreme heat is not an isolated issue. It is intertwined with other injustices like urban development and racist infrastructure,” said Rami Dinnawi, a representative from the community human rights organization El Puente de Williamsburg. “We need to support community-led initiatives on mitigating the effect of extreme heat.”
“The climate crisis requires more than empty words and the too-little-too-late warnings we’re getting in New York. Without action to curb our reliance on the fossil fuels supercharging this crisis, this hot, toxic summer is only going to get hotter, more expensive, and more dangerous.”
NYCHA reported a decrease in heat outages and shorter restoration times during the 2022-2023 winter heating season, which concluded Friday, citing millions of dollars invested in upgraded boiler systems and newly installed hot water heaters and heat pumps.
Meal delivery programs are uniquely positioned to keep the most vulnerable safe during climate emergencies.
A staff of just 302 people tend to a crop of over 865,000 trees across the city. Adams’ preliminary budget aims to slash $46 million from the Parks Department, which environmentalists fear signals a step back in the mayor’s promise to keep New York City’s canopy alive and growing.
Across the country, cities are transforming asphalt schoolyards into spongy, shady community centers. The new playground at PS 184M Shuang Wen School in Manhattan’s Chinatown, for example, has a porous turf field that can capture an estimated 1.3 million gallons of stormwater runoff.