There is something about these two articles that is deeply disconcerting about the real lack of preparation NYC has undergone for the next 100 years and about how blind we are to the problem of climate change. In the Executive Summary section of the NPCC Climate Risk Information Report, it states that Mayor Bloomberg convened the first New York City Panel on Climate change in 2008. It wasn’t until 2013 (FIVE years later!) that he convened the second panel, after Hurricane Sandy had occurred in October 2012. And while we have gathered data and come to the firm conclusion that climate change is occurring more and more rapidly, the only suggestions mentioned were to create more models and do more research. While there’s no denying the fact that scientific research and modeling are crucial to understanding how the next 100 years or so will unfold, it has no real value if it cannot be put into practice.
The MPRA study by Luca D’Acci really answers the question why do we wait until the problem has already occurred to do anything about it? “Societies and cities–their physical skeletons–are created by the constant game between private and public interest, personal and aggregate preferences/needs; and private and public interests depend on cultures, religions, politics, etc.” But this relationship goes both ways. People, too, are influenced by the physical cities they live in. This is why it’s so difficult to break the cycle once a city, such as NYC, becomes so deeply rooted in its ways. Because there is a lack of government initiative in terms of smarter urban planning, citizens do not feel the need to respond to climate change. Because citizens are not pushing for legislation, the government also occupies itself with more “urgent” legislations. The question is: who needs to make the first steps towards changing the way we prepare for the future?
The fact that people don’t act until something has happened is truly scary. People in NYC seem to be very passive, and the planners (that noun describes them perfectly) of the city tend to hold the same characteristic. The planning is endless and the action is always eventually coming, but rarely does. Hurricane Sandy is what woke up the sleeping giant that is New York City, but it seems to me that most of the active response has simply attempted to bring NYC to the way it was before the storm hit rather than transform it into a city less vulnerable to storms.
To answer your final question, everyone has to take the first steps and they had to take those steps a couple of years ago if they planned to keep up with mother nature.
To calm the nerves though, the fact that we’re discussing the steps that need to be taken is, yes, planning just like the Panel on Climate Change, but also spreads the information out and in a way takes the first steps needed for improvement. We’re on the right path, but the next steps are actually the jumps of action and implementation.
To answer your question on who needs to make the first step, I’d say that it should be the citizens who need to make the first step. If we actually take a look at the average person today, there is a high chance that they would express at least some concern in regards to global warming. However, this was not the case a few years ago even though global warming has been supported with a large amount of evidence. This is the case because of lag time. While issues are continuously being presented in the scientific circle, these issues are not made clear to the public to bring forth any actions from the citizens.
For NYC to tackle this issue of climate change would also require a great deal of change in the lifestyle New Yorkers are use to. It wouldn’t just be a simple task of recycling bottles, rather, to effectively promote and encourage preventing climate change would require a cultural change that many people may not be readily able to accept immediately. Without the population of New Yorkers ready to take this first step to accepting this change would make it extremely difficult even if the government were create even more programs targeting climate change. Therefore, just like Wesley said, New Yorkers themselves have to take the first steps of showing willingness to adapt, accept change, and put in a lot more efforts to create a future sustainable NYC for when the effects of climate change become more evident.