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?

Initially I expected PlanNYC’s “official statement” to be long multiple page PDF. Instead, I was disappointed by the brevity of the statement and it’s lack of substantive scientific data. The 2020 and 2050 projections listed, fail to place the problem of climate change in the present. The year 2050 is the year people reference when predicting that flying cars will be the norm. Lastly, despite being an official statement of an NYC organization, there is no mention of any agenda/policy the city has adopted with regards to climate change.

I absolutely LOVED Stephen Graham’s “Cities Under Siege: Katrina and the Politics of Metropolitan America”, primarily because I agree with the political tone of the piece. Secondly, Graham does an excellent job of laying out the political errors of the Bush administration prior to and in the aftermath of Katrina.

“Taking a Call for Climate Change to the Streets” by Lisa Foderaro lacks any real substance. The writer emphasizes the the size of the march via analogies and estimates made by a mathematician but she fails to present any scientific data or the demands of the marchers’.

It definitely warms my heart knowing that so many people from all over the world would make the effort to be present in such event. Yes, they are expressing their opinion about the way politicians have dealt with the global warming issue, however, no one can guarantee any sort of result after protesting. But, it definitely did leave a mark on many people’s lives and they were also very successful at getting their message out because the media, such as The New York Times, wrote and article about them.

Although actions by the governments have been taken, there’s a lot more we, the citizens, can do about this issue. I simply do wonder what else has to happen—in terms of geological disasters—so that people become conscientious enough about their actions and change so many destructive habits they have. For instance, reducing the amount of water used while taking a shower, and taking a shower instead of a bath; while brushing their teeth turning the water off helps, people continue to do otherwise, however. And the list goes on…

Question: What small action do we do at home to help the planet ourselves?

I found this week’s readings to be particularly interesting and especially salient, as climate change becomes the object of the largest scientific consensus since the theory of evolution. And, it is ubiquitous – the entirety of the planet is threatened by climate change; it transcends class, race, and border. As a participant in the People’s Climate March, it was heartwarming to read about the movement that I felt very lucky to be a part of. I really think such collective action in one of the largest cities in the world (and in other cities across the globe) goes to show that citizens care about climate change, and that it cannot be ignored in favor of selectively beneficial politics, ie, our oil obsession. I was shocked to read about the depth of Bush’s failure at handling Katrina. It is downright shameful that money was diverted from basic city maintenance in order to fund largely fossil fuel motivated “wars on terror,” to supposedly protect highly vulnerable urban areas. Meanwhile, natural disasters are far more likely and more damaging than acts of terror. The article by Graham is a must-read for people studying Katrina, and even politics more generally. It sheds invaluable light on what was really going on behind the scenes pre and post Katrina.