Mayor Adams tapped a team of environmental experts Monday to lead his administration’s fight against climate change — but admitted he has not formulated a plan for how to wage key aspects of that battle just yet.
Marking the first environment-related announcement of his administration, Adams said Rohit Aggarwala, a longtime adviser to former Mayor Michael Bloomberg, will be his chief climate officer. The newly created post is meant to streamline the city’s efforts to mitigate the impacts of rising global temperatures.
Aggarwala, who was also appointed commissioner of the Department of Environmental Protection, will work closely with Vincent Sapienza, the DEP’s chief operations officer, and Kizzy Charles-Guzman, executive director of the newly created Mayor’s Office of Climate Change, Adams said.
The trio will be tasked with hashing out plans for fulfilling some of Adams’ campaign promises on climate, like installing power grids capable of generating 100 megawatts of solar energy atop schools, libraries and other public buildings by the end of his four-year term.
The mayor affirmed time is of the essence.
“Climate catastrophe isn’t some far-off threat. It’s here. It’s happening,” said Adams in a live-streamed speech at City Hall.
But in a press conference following the speech, Adams was light on details when asked what he had in mind for upgrading the city’s decades-old sewer systems. The sewers were rapidly overwhelmed on Sept. 1, 2021, when remnants of Hurricane Ida barreled through New York, killing more than a dozen residents.
“Of course, we can’t lay out everything that we’re going to do because we are inundated with problems with our environment and things we’ve done wrongly in the past,” Adams said. “Retrofitting and building on our sewer systems is not a four-year plan, let’s be honest about that. What we need to do is we need to look at whatever projects we’re doing now should not be built for what was in the past. We should be hitting pause right now, do an analysis.”
Improving the resiliency of the city’s infrastructure — from streets and subways to sewers and buildings — has been listed as a top priority by climate change experts and lawmakers since Ida.
Before being elected Brooklyn borough president in November, former Council member Antonio Reynoso argued that aging sewers must be retrofitted quickly, especially as extreme weather events are likely to grow more destructive due to climate change.
“Why is (the Department of Environmental Protection) concerned about money, when, if not handled and taken care of, we have a loss of life for residents and significant long-term structural damage to homes, to businesses and to our local city infrastructure?” Reynoso said at the Sept. 14 hearing.
At Monday’s press conference, Aggarwala said there’s “a variety of things that we’re going to have to do” to address resiliency. But, like Adams, he conceded the pieces aren’t there yet.
“The plan is not exactly there. We’re going to be developing the Adams administration plan on resiliency. It’s going to be extraordinary, and it’s going to be really good because it’s really important,” he said.
By contrast, Adams released a climate policy blueprint during last year’s campaign that struck an urgent note on the importance of resiliency efforts.
“It’s only a matter of time until the next superstorm overwhelms our coastal communities, threatening the homes, businesses, and critical infrastructure of countless NYCers. We need to move boldly on resiliency projects across NYC,” stated the blueprint, released last April.
Beyond resiliency, Adams and Aggarwala both committed to focusing on curbing the impacts of climate change on communities of color, which have historically been subject to higher rates of pollution.
Adams, who’s vegan, said he will also make food part of his agenda on climate change, including by potentially serving less meat in public schools.
“No one wants to talk about that — the global consumption of meat and dairy, how that impacts the environment,” he said. “We are going to dig into this area as well. We are leaving no stone unturned.”
©2022 New York Daily News. Visit nydailynews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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Leave it up to a moron aka: democrat to think he has more power then God and can change the weather.
Climate catastrophe is the Internationalist code word for “I am with you, and with the enemy” but just can’t come out and say it openly. The imaginary climate catastrophe like the imagined COVID catastrophe come from the same heart of American betrayal, and use unjustified divisive fear, to keep the American sheep in their pens, ripe for the shearing. In democrat run cities it is the black sheep who get sheared and the sheep separated from the goats. In the suburbs it is the white sheep that get separated into sheep that get shorn, but kept alive to grow more wealth and warm fuzzy feeling politics, while the goats get consumed like so much Cabrito (baby Goat) on a spit. The best effort to reduce global warming is to rip up all the concrete in New York which raises the temperature of every American city 5-10 degrees higher than the countryside, the real reason why the earth is heating. Concrete and asphalt roads, buildings, and stadiums have a heat life of their own.
When newly elected mayors of Major Democrat cities start blathering about impacts of climate change on communities of color, which historically have been subject to higher rates of pollution, maybe he should understand it is for the same reason they are subject to higher murder rates. It’s not the weather, it’s the party leadership that is the same-colored weak thread that is causing the American coat of many colors to unravel.
More and more, i wonder, IS THERE ANY sanity left, in the entire state of NY???? Cause it certainly seems that the answer is a resounding “HELL NO”
I think we can pretty much tell how climate change has affected us, I mean look at the Statue of Liberty, the water is up to her knees.
“Creating Office of Climate & Environmental Justice”
“Climate & Environmental Justice”—what the hell is that?? Are they embarking on holding God accountable for storm damage? These people are so far over the edge that achieving insanity would be a worthy ambition. No wonder Liberal cities are in the mess they are in. They can’t do anything about crime, but they are beyond competent at manipulating the climate.
Here’s your sign: STUPID
No, they mean to hold WHITE PEOPLE accountable for “climate change”…. yeah, you and me, whitey…
YOU Can bet, only whites will get blamed.. LIKE ALWAYS when it comes to demon-rats.
How about an Office of Law & Order and an Office of getting rid of States Attorneys that do NOT enforce the laws on the books anymore.
You can’t fix stupid!
IMO the only fix, is removing them from the gene pool, permanently.
Are people totally insane because they are Democrat Party supporters?
OR
Are they Democrat Party supporters because they are insane?
Democrat party supporters operate strictly on emotion, with very little rational thought and who simply do not understand reality or basic economics. Democrats are willing to destroy themselves and everyone around them before they will agree to compromise the failed policies and destructive fabricated lies and beliefs of their Democrat Party masters.
I lean to the “they are dems, because they are insane”…
new york city must have so much extra money laying around that they need to find new ways to flush it down the toilet.
The newly created post is meant to streamline the city’s efforts to mitigate the impacts of rising global temperatures.
You can not mitigate God’s Will.
More “Chicken Little” bullcrap…
No MORE BS, imagine that we are that cranky old woman who pulled the mask off that shoplifter, and demand that they GET OUT!!! Where is the catastrophe??? WHERE???? “No details” Of course you don’t have any details, ENOUGH!!! Pull the masks off!! They are stealing your family’s future with their theft!!
Oh my. This numbskull is not going to be any better than his predecessor. I was hoping for better from this guy but it seems he is a dumb as he appears. IMHO, the biggest long term threat to our society are the nut bags who actually believe the climate change movement is about the climate. In reality it is the wet dream of the one world collectivist globalists. It is a much bigger threat than China, Covid or any other of the current crisis subjects, and these idiot public figures like Adams who don’t have a clue about climate are keeping the scam alive.
Expecting better from a commucrat, is like expecting a hungry lion, to NOT want to eat you.
I think one of his brothers said a few years back that if too many people were allowed on the Island it would “Flip Over”. You can’t make this stuff up, but you can leave it to a democrat if you want pure stupidity.
Pity we can’t put that too the test, and SEND ALL libtards like him, TO GUAM.. And see if it DID flip over..
Whatever plan they make is going to cost a bunch of money and since the dude is vegan, he will impose his beliefs on everyone in the city, because animals, especially tasty cattle contribute to climate change. He and his group won’t accomplish anything to change the climate, except create misery for everybody else. Where do egotistical morons get the idea they can control the earth’s climate? They do not have the power of God as was previously stated. Only in science fiction with domes over cities or devises that use some type of “power” to control the environment is the only examples I know of.
Typical dummycrat. Blame all of New York’s problems on the weather.
There’s days i’ve wanted the events of “Day after tomorrow” TO REALLY HAPPEN to NY!!!
What pray tell does this moron know about climate change? NNNOOOOTTTTHHHIIINNNGGGG. He’s a gubment “worker” and therefore knows shoot.