On Wednesday New York City (and her neighbors) received another blow to the belly. Hurricane Ida came suddenly, and seemingly out of nowhere with a force of rain we have never seen. More than 3 inches in an hour. Cars became rafts, subways flooded like a river, buses stalled and lives were lost. The images on our screens looked like the final scene of a science fiction movie. This was a terrible climate event, brought on by seasonal climate activity exacerbated by our reckless actions and general abuse over the past century. Unfortunately, this event didn’t only affect the morons who don’t believe in science and the fact that climate change is real. This particular havoc doesn’t discriminate. The following day, I saw visible signs of the carnage. Stranded cars, downed trees, parking lots that were lakes, and flooded basements. In 2017, I read Michael Bloomberg’s and Carl Hope’s book “Climate of Hope” where they clearly warned us of these future disasters and gave us a roadmap of how to act in order to prevent future devastation. The optimist inside of me was hopeful that we would someday have the leadership who have the skill and take the initiative to execute some of these smart changes. Nothing yet, but I still hold out for that hope. All we see is the West Coast burning, the South flooding, and the local NYC weatherman scratching her head when we get surprised by a new record rain/wind/tornado event. There is an abundance of politics, finger-pointing, shouting, and ignorance. Not nearly enough listening and acting.
What has amazed me most about the past 48 hours though, was how fast the cleanup happened. There were numerous small scenes that played out in people’s homes and on the streets of our city. Neighbors lending a hand and cleaning up. Building staff stepping in. Every day people doing what seems to be becoming a more frequent and common global experience. Being human.
New York showed us her spirit again this week. We responded swiftly and cleaned up the mess. I am hopeful that soon our educated leaders will get on the same page and do their part before the next storm arrives.
I Love New York.
Let’s do this!
-Shaun