New York Takes on Climate Change

by Peter Lehner @ NRDC

A year after Superstorm Sandy crashed into the heart of the Northeast, two things are clear. One, climate change is here, its costs are already high, and they are likely to climb higher soon. Two, political leaders in the region have shown that there is an alternative to head-in-the-sand denialism—namely, taking forward-looking steps to reduce risk and prepare for climate change, as well as addressing many of the other threats to our air, our water and our health.

In fact, with New York City’s high population density, extensive demands for energy, water and other resources, intensive coastline development threatened by rising sea levels, and pressure to cope with, and reduce, vast waste streams, the metropolitan region has become the epicenter of the American environmental challenge.

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