On Sunday, April 22nd, New York City’s mayor, Michael Bloomberg will announce PlaNYC 2030 - one of the more advanced 25-year climate action plans put forth to date. After six months of work, the NYC team put together a plan that will reduce the city’s total emissions 30 percent by 2030. Earlier this week, Bloomberg’s office released a study that shows that NYC contributes 1% of the nation’s greenhouse gases.
The team at itsgettinghotinhere.org urge you to write Bloomberg and other city mayor’s to support this progressive initiative. The mayor is set to announce the comprehensive plan on Sunday at 1:00 PM. The plan and the mayor’s speech will be available on the PlaNYC website and will address:
- Energy supply issues
- Energy efficiency
- Traffic reduction
- A growth in mass transit capacity
- Renewable energy investments
- Building code upgrades
- More walkable and bike-friendly streets
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PROGRESSIVE INITIATIVE? What? This makes me suspect that the ‘team at itsgettinghotinhere.org’ are really PR lackey for Exxon! A thirty percent reduction over twenty years is not even close to what is needed to stem the tide. Yes, do write Bloomberg! And tell him that we’re all absolutely screwed if we can’t hit a 80-90% reduction by 2030. Even with a 90% reduction by 2050, we very well may NOT keep the global temperature increase under 2 degrees Celsius. I’ve yet to see a global heating reduction scenario that calls for such a soft reduction. This is beyond pathetic. Bloomberg had better not get any good press for this bullshit. In fact, if people hail him an eco-hero or visionary, we’ll likely see other leaders adopt this same position, one that will commit the United States to a reduction that is only ONE-THIRD of what is necessary.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
Ms. Oakes -
Wow. I just noticed this is your site. You, of all people, should know better than to support this initiative. We can’t afford to settle for shit like this. You know this. Please, advise people to call Bloomberg and whip his punk ass into shape. We can’t afford to let people like him, or like the Feinstein and the rest of the Dems who are proposing weak legislation, off the hook. I know damned well that you’ve done the reading, the research: This initiative just isn’t enough.
The “better than nothing” or “we have to make baby steps” lines are for those who don’t want to believe how bad things really are. This isn’t about making friends or currying favor - it’s about getting things done, by hook or by crook.
Please, call BULLSHIT on this. Have you read Monbiot’s “Heat” or the studies associated with it?
Bloomberg is probably in a bind. To get high reductions, he will need carbon sequestration as well as Indian Point. Despite all the claims of energy savings just lying around, NYC already uses a lot of public transport and their economy is more service oriented rather than manufacturing. Certainly renewables will help too, but his conundrum is real.
R -
Agreed. Have you read anything that suggests Bloomberg is SERIOUS about high reductions? Such words may well be out there, but I haven’t seen them. I’ve seen some rhetoric and offers of (in my opinion) gutless legislation offered by Democrat leaders (1. This is not a partisan issue. 2. There are some Dem elected officials who understand the severity but are not among party leadership), but nothing strong. Worse, both Obama and Hillary have zero education/intention to make real progress in the environmental arena. While ‘eco’ is a big buzz word these days, it still doesn’t poll as a top five concern (again, there may be data that counterindicates this statement, but I’ve yet to see it) meaning that we preach to the choir a lot and in so doing we tend to believe our progress is larger than it is. A lot of high-fiving and backslapping in the eco-sphere as the world continues to burn.
T -
Well, not to defend Mr. Bloomberg directly, but it is quite a high expectation for any politician to stand up and propose an effort on the scale of the industrial revolution while most of the public is not up in arms on the subject. Yes, the polls show that the majority believe climate change is happening and is human caused, but they are not concerned enough to force action.
Since you also brought up the eco-sphere of the world, these are momentous times: China and India are growing economically and using huge amounts of energy. I am still scratching my head on how you can get them developed while converting over to non-carbon energy sources. We have never faced such a global squeeze before.
Look, we all just spent a hell of a lot of effort getting behind 80% by 2050. Thats my line in the sand. No less than that will get my support, so while I might compromise some around when exactly some of these reductions might come from I think we need at least 20% by 2020 and definitely 80% by 2050.
Also, I greatly appreciate having Summer as a writer on the site. However, neither she nor anyone else, including me, can speak for the entire itsgettinghotinhere.org team. It’s a community media project.