Climate Change

From Buffalo to Brooklyn, lawmakers want less driving.

New York should spend billions on transit, bikes, and paths instead of more highway.

Cities are setting ambitious goals to reduce the impact of climate change. But most are hoping electric cars save the day. They won't. They're still cars.

Between them, Cuomo and de Blasio have the power to dramatically accelerate New York City's progress on climate goals. But doing so will require making policy choices that the governor and mayor have shirked or avoided so far.

“Climate change is a reality… for us to sit here today and say this is a once-in-a-generation, and it’s not going to happen again, I think would be short-sighted… I’m hopeful that not only will we rebuild this city and metropolitan area but use this as an opportunity to build it back smarter.”

Though New York is the least car-dependent state in the country, the state DOT isn't known for championing for the state's millions of non-drivers. In some corners of the large and decentralized agency, however, progressive ideas have taken root and new programs are being developed. At yesterday's Rudin Center conference on livability, two DOT officials embraced the state's extremely ambitious climate plan and outlined a course to expand the state's much-praised GreenLITES certification system. The challenge for new DOT commissioner Joan McDonald will be to embrace the good thinking already coming from within the department and turn it into statewide policy.

The Municipal Art Society came out with a report yesterday urging New York State to start analyzing greenhouse gas emissions in its environmental review process (SEQRA). MAS argues that the policy could be adopted without changing existing laws, which raises an interesting question to ponder on this Earth Day afternoon: Would the State Senate's latest MTA funding plan pass muster if it were subject to an EIS that factors in climate change?