In The New York Times article titled “How We Know It Was Climate Change,” Noah S. Diffenbaugh examines how changes in the climate consequently creates conditions for extreme climate disaster such as hurricanes. By examining all the contributing factors to Hurricane Harvey, Diffenbaugh noticed how global warming played a significant role in the disaster. Because of global warming, the moisture in the atmosphere increases, causing a storm to produce more precipitation. Furthermore, not only is there an increase in rainfall, coastal flooding is more likely as well (Diffenbaugh 2017).
The article “Can New York City Survive the Sea?” discusses the detrimental impact of hurricanes and the need of government officials to be aware of the flooding crisis NYC may face. From the article written by Diffenbaugh, there is clear evidence that global warming influences the precipitation of hurricanes, causing flooding to be more likely. By examining the conditions and potential causes of specifically Hurricane Harvey, he concludes that global warming does influence the extreme storms in United States. Diffenbaugh argues that we cannot assume that each condition contributing to a hurricane arise by chance, but rather we need to take a more proactive stance in mitigating the consequences of global warming. But, what exactly does that look like? De Blasio hans’t ignored the issue, but hasn’t made much progress; he has tried to set the arbitrary boundaries of NYC by building a physical border, but this hasn’t been helpful in preventing coastal flooding.
Awareness is key to alleviating these environmental conditions. Steinberg elaborates on how de Blasio did not specifically incorporate environmental reform into his political agenda, but rather centers his political vision on social reform. Similarly, Bloomberg was aware of global warming during his administration and decided to address it by expanding New York City; consequently, he contributed to the hazardous conditions by piling more people into low-lying environment that is more prone to flooding (Steinberg 2014). In regard to Bloomberg’s and de Blasio’s administration, it is evident that there is a need to acknowledge that social reform and environmental issues go hand in hand.
Diffenbaugh predicts that there will be more hurricanes to come, hence there’s a need to protect people from it. Storm protection, whether it be restricting NYC boundaries or building more sturdy barriers, should be a key focus for governing officials as multiple NYC residents live in floodplains. Because of such storms, it was an alerting wake-up call that global warming and its consequences ought to be an issue that governing officials face head on or most of NYC will be washed up.
Steinberg T (2014) Can New York City Survive the Sea? https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/can-new-york-city-survive-the-sea (last accessed 27 April 2018)
Diffenbaugh N S (2017) How We Know It Was Climate Change. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/29/opinion/sunday/climate-change-global-warming.html (last accessed 1 May 2018)
I think Joan’s statements on environmentalism meeting social reform in the political arena ring true, and that the governing bodies of New York City have to do better to address the problems that climate change is causing and will continue to cause over time. However, I would like to draw, as a commentary, even more attention to the issue of additional populations being settled into the flood-plains during the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations (Steinberg 2014), and why this is a bigger problem for some communities than others.
According to an article by Guy Michaels, Associate Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science, “Low-lying urban areas are hit by large floods about three to four times more often than other urban areas. This is partly because some low elevation areas are close to coastlines and rivers.” (Michaels 2016). This means that New York City, being an island city, is at increased for flooding as is due to being surrounded by water on all sides. Though low-elevation areas tend to recover from intense flooding quickly, as the water does recede away from it after the initial flooding event, the impact it has on the communities that live there are not as easily recovered. As evidenced in a study published under the American Agricultural Economic Association, “households in extreme poverty… have lower flood damages than any other income group… yet the majority of the population in poverty… suffer greater flood damage impact than middle class households” (Sarmiento & Miller, 2006). This means that even though the lowest income groups living in floodplains suffer the least flood damages, they are impacted more severely by these floods than middle class households, even if the middle class households sustain more physical damages. It is harder for low-income communities to recover because of an inherent lack of resources; without the monetary means to rebuild, these communities continue to be devastated by the effects of flood damage long after the flooding event itself has passed, while middle class communities, for instance, are able to recover from even greater damages. Additionally, because of their inherent inability to access resources or to afford housing in general, low-income communities remain in flood-plains despite the dangers because they do not have the means to move elsewhere. Knowing this, the fact that the Bloomberg and de Blasio administrations expanded New York City as a response to issues created by global warming and consequently contributed to the harmful living conditions of those populations- in addition to the higher-income populations that live in these areas- is particularly unsettling.
References
Ted Steinberg, “Can New York City Survive the Sea?” 2014. https://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/can-new-york-city-survive-the-sea
Guy Michaels, “Why are so many people still living in flood-prone cities?” The Conversation. 2016. https://theconversation.com/why-are-so-many-people-still-living-in-flood-prone-cities-55281
Camilo Sarmiento and Ted E. Miller, “Poverty, Race, and Flooding”. American Agricultural Economic Association. Long Beach. 2006. https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/21042/1/sp06sa08.pdf