Current:Home > FinanceVideo: In New York’s Empty Streets, Lessons for Climate Change in the Response to Covid-19 -WealthRoots Academy
Video: In New York’s Empty Streets, Lessons for Climate Change in the Response to Covid-19
View
Date:2025-04-24 23:54:27
The world is reeling from yet another week of the coronavirus pandemic, with death counts rising, economies spiraling downward and half the global population under orders to stay at home.
But there are also lessons from the response to Covid-19 that can be applied to the climate crisis, and opportunities for cities to take the policies implemented to deal with the pandemic and apply them to their efforts to slow climate change.
Some of the similarities between the two crises are obvious, such as the benefits of acting early, the consequences of delay and the importance of heeding scientists’ warnings. Others, like the long-term economic impacts of the crises and the ways that infrastructure improvements can make communities more resilient to their impacts, are more nuanced or won’t be clear for some time.
“Climate change has the potential eventually to be an even greater threat to humanity than the coronavirus,” said Michael Gerrard, director of the Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School. “With the virus, you have a very fast moving, devastating impact, and the mortality from it is quite clear, and people are almost overnight changing their behavior to try to cope with it. With climate change, it’s a problem that has been building up for decades and will take even decades more to reach its fullest extent.”
One similarity, Gerrard notes, is the way in which both climate change and Covid-19 disproportionately affect low income and marginalized communities. New York City Councilwoman Carlina Rivera, who serves the Lower East Side community of Manhattan, agreed. “When you think about our historically marginalized, disenfranchised communities,” she said, “I think that you will see how those inequities [have] really been brought to light” by weather events related to climate change and by the Covid-19 pandemic.
In a matter of days, governments, industries and individuals across the country reacted dramatically to the Covid-19 threat, shuttering schools and businesses; turning entire workforces into telecommuters; pivoting industries to the production of ventilators and protective equipment, and protecting themselves with hand sanitizers, face masks and isolation. And some of these practices could also have lasting impacts in the fight against global warming.
Many U.S. cities and states have enacted climate change initiatives, particularly since President Trump decided to pull out of the Paris Agreement in 2017. Perhaps the most ambitious of these plans is in New York City, currently the epicenter of the U.S. Covid-19 outbreak. Amy Turner, a fellow at the Cities Climate Law Initiative at Columbia University, helps cities achieve their climate goals. She sees “an opportunity to marry some of the elements of climate policy and Covid policy, as we think about our response to both crises.” Turner cites increasing bicycle infrastructure, tackling building efficiency and increasing public transportation as some of these opportunities.
Councilwoman Rivera sees possibilities for transportation changes to increase bus ridership, and the opening up of green spaces. “When it comes to climate change, and to how things are changing and affecting us, we know as a coastline community that we’re going to continue to be affected,” she said. “But I really want to see investment in some of these communities to change things once and for all.”
Our journalism is free of charge and available to everyone, thanks to readers like you. In this time of crisis, our fact-based reporting on science, health and the environment is more important than ever. Please support our work by making a donation today. |
veryGood! (4441)
Related
- Stamford Road collision sends motorcyclist flying; driver arrested
- Surreal April 2024 total solar eclipse renews debunked flat Earth conspiracy theories
- King Charles thanks Commonwealth for 'thoughtful good wishes' amid cancer recovery
- Emily Blunt and Ryan Gosling's Hilariously Frosty Oscars Confrontation Reignites Barbenheimer Battle
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- Why Emily Blunt and Florence Pugh's Oscars Dresses Are Stumping Fans
- Maritime corridor for aid to Gaza will take two months to build and 1,000 U.S. forces, Pentagon says
- Sen. Bernie Sanders: No more money to Netanyahu's war machine to kill Palestinian children
- Where will Elmo go? HBO moves away from 'Sesame Street'
- Liza Koshy plays off her Oscars red carpet fall like a champ: 'I've got my ankles insured'
Ranking
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Who has the most Oscars of all time? Academy Awards records that made history
- Emma Stone wins second Oscar for best actress, with a slight wardrobe malfunction: Watch
- Fight between Disney and DeSantis appointees over district control gets a July court hearing
- Whoopi Goldberg is delightfully vile as Miss Hannigan in ‘Annie’ stage return
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Breaking News
- Best dressed at the Oscars 2024: Lupita Nyong'o, America Ferrera, Zendaya, more dazzling fashion looks
- Sen. Bernie Sanders: No more money to Netanyahu's war machine to kill Palestinian children
Recommendation
Paige Bueckers vs. Hannah Hidalgo highlights women's basketball games to watch
Monica Sementilli says she did not help plan the murder of her L.A. beauty exec husband. Will a jury believe her?
Victims of Catholic nuns rely on each other after being overlooked in the clergy sex abuse crisis
Stock market today: Asian shares mostly lower, Japan’s Nikkei 225 falls 2.5%
B.A. Parker is learning the banjo
The Livestock Industry’s Secret Weapons: Expert Academics
Chris Evans and Wife Alba Baptista Make Marvelous Red Carpet Debut at Vanity Fair Oscars Party
What stores are open Easter 2024? See details for Target, Walmart, Home Depot, TJ Maxx