By Peter Aronson It’s Time is the theme of Climate Week NYC 2024. This name could not be more timely. 2024 appears poised to be the hottest year on record, surpassing 2023, and we experience weekly, if not daily, reminders how global warming impacts us, from hurricane Francine and the wildfires out west to the…
By Peter Aronson The New York League of Conservation Voters Education Fund believes strongly that everyone can make a difference in our collective fight against climate change. These actions can come in small and big ways: For example, in our homes, we can use less energy; in the community, we can walk or ride a…
By Peter Aronson If you are sitting behind a desk, typing on a computer (like I am), then Tianna Kennedy may make you jealous. An NYU grad, Kennedy is among a small but growing group of individuals who are forgoing more traditional work (and in some cases giving up big city life), to enter the…
By Peter Aronson Providing clean drinking water for New York State’s 19 million residents is of paramount concern for New York state officials. It is a complex process, given that 95 percent of all New Yorkers receive their drinking water from almost 9,000 different public water systems in the state. This ranges from the smallest…
NYLCVEF’s weekly Citizen Toolkit writer, Peter Aronson, will return next week. We hope you enjoy this article from our guest author, Hazel Russo Aronson, with an introduction by Peter: [This the first article written by Hazel Russo Aronson, sometimes referred to as Princess Hazel, or, sorry, just plain old Baby, or Baby Girl. She knows…
New York City, like many cities around the country, is preparing to replace lead service lines that deliver drinking water to their constituents, an initiative proposed by the federal Environmental Protection Agency in their revisions to the 1991 Lead and Copper Rule. Understanding the history of how these lead pipes got here in the first place is critical as the New York City Council contemplates a program to remove all lead service lines. A drinking water service line is the pipe that delivers water from the water main in the middle of a street to a property. In New York City, lead service lines were permitted to be used until 1961, and as far back as 1858 until about 1936, the city not only permitted the use of lead pipes, but encouraged or specifically required it.
Like last year, the summer of 2024 has posted day after day of scorching heat, breaking record after record in swift succession. With summer heat waves now imposing on late spring and early autumn, it’s important to understand that the impacts of climate change extend to the classroom.
“Without air conditioning, a 1°F hotter school year reduces that year’s learning by 1 percent,” according to UCLA research, adding that “hot school days disproportionately impact minority students, accounting for roughly 5 percent of the racial achievement gap.”
Although the solution is bigger than any single individual, each one of us can do our part to fight climate change and leave a healthier planet to future generations. With back-to-school right around the corner, we hope parents, guardians and students will take advantage of this new beginning to instill these eco-friendly practices into your school routine.
The greenhouse gasses that we all emit into the air by driving our gas-powered cars, flying to vacations, using non-renewable energy in our homes, etc., etc., is warming the air and water around us and propelling us to the hottest temperatures in recorded history (2024 is shaping up to be the hottest year on record, surpassing 2023), increasing droughts, increasing extreme precipitation and the number of hurricanes (causing increased flooding), and increasing the number of wildfires.
The area encompasses Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and the Great Lakes region and has a population of a little more than 3.5 million people. Our overall environmental goals for the region are to increase renewable energy, decarbonize buildings, clean up toxic waste, provide safe drinking water for all residents, and reduce waste going to landfills.
