In Lisa Foderardo’s New York Times article on the Climate March of 2014, the issue of imminent anthropogenic destruction of the earth is discussed. From the lens of the protestors at this movement, climate change is a pressing issue that is closer than a lot of politicians would like to believe. From the way the article was written, the author seems to believe that the protest was well intentioned, but not heavily structured. Forderardo lists groups based on their appearances and rather than painting a portrait of solidarity amongst diversity, I felt that she was trying to portray an image of passion without any real direction. The grandmothers against climate change seem to have little to do with the topless women other than the fact that they all have something against climate change. However, I do believe that this means that the author may support these movements and support educating the public at large on slowing, if not stopping the effects of human damage on the environment.

She points out that we are have, in 2014, broken the record for the highest ambient temperatures; and she suggests that this is how we shall proceed if we do not inform the public on its erroneous ways.

One thing I am curious about is how people address the strange juxtaposition of actions. People at the climate march were ardent in their protests, but ended up creating a large mess. Lots of litter was present when the march ended; how does this paint environmental advocates in the public eye?

The “Cities Under Siege” article talks a lot about the fact that most urban areas are inhabited by minority groups who are usually of the lower-income classes and that suburbs are inhabited by mostly white people of the upper classes. However, I feel that this paradigm does not really fit New York City.  Anyone who lives in NYC knows that everything here is more expensive and that each borough, with the exception of Staten Island, is extremely diverse in terms of race and socioeconomic status. Nonetheless, Manhattan is the most expensive area to live in and can be considered the “inner city” when compared to the other boroughs. Most people have to move to the surrounding boroughs because of this rise in cost of living. Yet, Manhattan as a whole is still quite diverse. This fits in with how things were dealt with during Hurricane Sandy. Manhattan was helped first while some parts of other boroughs were left by the way side. This is especially true of southern Staten Island, a practically all-white neighborhood that was hardest hit by the storm. Although the rest of the country might fit the “inner city” and suburb paradigm, New York does not.

How then, can we explain the lack of aid that outer city areas of New York received?

I remember the posters all over the subway for the People’s Climate March. They’re still hanging in certain trains. I know some Macaulay students showed up for it and they enjoyed themselves. I didn’t really pay attention to it that much other than noting that, while a significant number of people did make it out, it wasn’t quite the million they were advertising. But I guess that’s one of the pitfalls with climate change right now. People don’t take it quite as seriously as other issues because it’s hard to personally document and it doesn’t seem as pressing. A vague ‘somewhere around the latter half of the century there will be more rain and more heat waves’ doesn’t really resonate as much as ‘Iran has a nuclear weapons program and the country’s president has publicly declared that after they wipe Israel off the map their next target is America.’ The projections put out by PlaNYC are certainly bleak, and on the West Coast California is steadily getting hotter and drier, but public protests only do so much.

Question: Is climate change an important issue to you? What would you do to make people more aware and more interested in this topic?

Climate change and the rise of sea levels continue to be a growing concern for the planet, and I believe that more action needs to be taken. While there have been proposals and plans to decrease greenhouse gases and better handle global warming, each year I see expert analyses of how the sea levels and temperatures will continue increasing in the future decades. PlaNYC’s official statement mentions that New York City will experience more heat waves and an increase in flooding. New York City was already hit by Hurricane Sandy and if there is no change and global warming continues, the chances of hurricanes occurring will increase. Graham’s Cities Under Siege states that the warming of the sub-surface of the ocean can cause “hurricanes to continue heating-up” which will make them more powerful. Everyone has the ability to help decrease global warming simply by using less energy and burning less fossil fuel. If there isn’t major action taken soon, the Earth will continue to worsen as more carbon dioxide is released into the atmosphere.

Question: What do you think is the best method to get more people to participate in helping the planet?

Climate change, and the natural disasters that are increasing in frequency and intensity due to it, are biggest and most frightening challenges facing our modern society. It is also undeniable that the government has taken very few steps in fighting climate change. The conservative Bush administration particularly saw policies that ignored Global Warming and it’s disastrous effects. Namely, Hurricane Katrina, which destroyed Louisiana, a state that is still in recovery. Certainly natural disasters cannot be blamed on the administration- they are called natural disasters for a reason- but the administration must be blamed for it’s failure to even acknowledge the climate crisis and it’s causes. Without this recognition, we cannot begin to take steps towards a solution.

And what solutions is that anyway? We don’t have one. The public is clear in it’s demand for government action on climate change, but the government has yet to set forth a viable and effective solution, and with our current congressional gridlock- it may still be a while.

It’s always alarming when a person or organization acknowledges a problem without also presenting a well thought out solution. This was my initial reaction to the PlaNYC page detailing some of the particularly frightening projections for the future of New York’s environment. The page did seem to offer a few actual plans for combating climate change, but they were hidden behind links, PDF downloads, and not presented in a particularly accessible manner. It gives off the impression that the plans weren’t well enough thought out to show off on a front page as a concrete solution.

This lack of concrete solution became even more alarming while going through the following readings, which detailed the chaos and public outcry that leads up to and follows natural disasters. The enormous and passionate demonstrations of concerned New Yorkers that the NY Times article reported on make it clear that people want real answers for the issues of global warming, and it’s near tragic that none have been easily presented. Furthermore, the threat of political turmoil like that which followed Hurricane Katrina is looming over New York now more than ever with the significant threat that global warming poses as a climate crisis.

Natural disasters not only have immediate destructive effects, but also long-term effects. Hurricane Katrina was not only disastrous by destroying hundreds of homes in New Orleans as well as taking the lives of many, but by exposing, as the article on Hurricane Katrina states, the underlying policies that have fueled it to become more “disastrous”. Natural Disasters are not only natural; they are intertwined with the man-made policies created and as such can be more or less “disastrous” depending on those policies. One of Bush’s policies that has been exposed by Hurricane Katrina is his focus away from public policies that aim to improve services like welfare and education. Instead, he aims to privatize many of resources. In addition, he has cut funding for most public sectors of the government. It’s no surprise then that Hurricane Katrina would be so catastrophic on New Orleans. While those with access to transportation outside the city evacuated (mainly the wealthy), avoiding much of Hurricane Katrina, those who were unable to find a way out were stuck to face it.

The reality of the climate change crisis is not one that is unheard of. No matter where or when, it sneaks into conversations all over the world. The topic does deserve it though, because as the PlanNYC article stated, the changes expected are drastic. To think that storms like Hurricane Sandy and Katrina are expected to be more common is horrific! This one storm (Sandy) caused so much damage, and it really brought about a sense of awakening to how vulnerable infrastructure really is. It does also bring to the surface the real problem of not having enough protection by the government from such storms, as the “Cities Under Siege” article discusses. People are raising their voices about this problem to get government officials to listen, and such an event took place last September. The People’s Climate March was an event to get the attention of lawmakers who would meet to discuss future climate related policies. This event was really huge and hopefully it sent a good message to the government, to let them know that the climate problem of the future needs to be fixed now.

Question: What other ways can the public influence the government to do more about the global warming crisis?