After last class, every breath I take on the streets of Manhattan I take with a little ease. I generally used to hold New York in relatively high regard when it came to environmental issues, but after gaining a better understanding of the air pollution problems I decided to do some more research and I found the results to be fascinating. I was not entirely wrong to glorify New York because the greenhouse gas emissions per person and our annual electricity consumption are actually quite low. New Yorkers are responsible for 7.1 metric tons per person per year, less than a third of the national average. The density of New York also allows it to have the largest mass transit system in the United States, meaning far less use of personal cars. For once this semester when I stopped to consider the environment and more specifically its relation to New York City I found myself happy. Maybe the PCBs were acceptable if we were so on game in other ways. Of course unfortunately I realized my mistake when I looked deeper into New York’s air pollution.
Our city’s amazing density may mean less pollution per person, however when factoring in the concentration of people and therefor pollution that it enables it becomes very worrying very quickly. An EPA study ranked Manhattan 3rd in the nation for cancer risk from airborne chemicals with Bronx and Kings counties also coming in the top 10. In the American Lung Association’s (ALA) 2012 report on ozone levels and particle pollution not a single borough broke higher than C with the exception of Staten Island’s particle pollution ranking B; however their ozone levels earned them the five boroughs only F. Perhaps the saddest part is these are the highest rankings New York has ever seen since the ALA began writing these reports thirteen years ago. Rejoice as we may over low emissions and use of mass transit, the air we breath is slowly killing us, with 6% of annual deaths in NYC chalked up to air pollution by the New York Department of Environmental Protection.
The good news however, as proved by the ALA study, is that although New York’s air quality is still horrible it is improving, and the city is making a conscious effort to address the problem. In 2007, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched PLAnyc, a policy agenda intended to tackle many of the problems set to face New York in the future with environmental issues being one of the key platforms. The effort set the demanding goal of having the cleanest air of any big US city by 2030. According to the initiative’s 2011 report “over 97% of the 127 initiatives in PlaNYC were launched within one-year of its release and almost two-thirds of its 2009 milestones were achieved or mostly achieved.” Perhaps the initiative was simply made by Bloomberg to make himself look good (2009 was an election year) but the city has been putting forward a great deal of policy over the last ten years to move the city towards cleaner air. Hybrid buses and cabs now both represent large portion of their larger fleets and since 2005 top city officials have been mandated hybrid vehicles for their personal cars.
What I see to be one of the most potentially exciting improvements is the implementation of the new Citi Bike system set to launch in spring of 2013. Having seen similar bike share systems at work in other major cities in America and abroad I see massive potential in the program and think it is a fantastic alternative to cabs and cars. It provides just the right balance of personal direction and ease of use, allowing one to take a bike wherever they want at any time on a whim without having to worry about the hassle of locking it up and bringing it with them. Unless the program is greatly mismanaged I could see the Citi Bike system making a serious difference in further turning New York away cars which would cause a potentially drastic increase in air quality over time. At least I hope it will.
