On March 15, kids across New York skipped school for an extremely important cause: their future. They rallied and marched, chanting and carrying colorful signs, to demand bold action to battle climate change. They had to do so because our elected officials, including Governor Cuomo, aren’t taking the steps necessary to prevent catastrophe.
That day, my 11-year son Zach was the first speaker at a press conference at City Hall. He joined elected officials, including our Assembly Member Felix Ortiz, Council Speaker Corey Johnson, and Comptroller Scott Stringer, in calling on Governor Cuomo to stop the Williams Pipeline, which would transport fracked gas under New York Harbor, threatening ocean ecology and worsening climate change.
In his remarks, Zach talked about how much he loved swimming and eating fish. He noted a Pacific island whose families were forced to evacuate because of rising sea levels. And he fearfully wondered when New York City would be underwater.
The scars of Superstorm Sandy, more than five years later, are all around us. Zach sees them during our regular strolls through Red Hook and when we visit our cousins in the Rockaways. The devastation of climate change has taken its toll on our city, and there’s worse to come if we don’t move off fossil fuels.
But the clock is ticking. Cuomo has until May to deny the permits for the Williams pipeline, which would run along Staten Island, Coney Island, and the Rockaways. It would deepen our reliance on fossil fuels while endangering the safety of communities hard-hit by Sandy.
We owe it to our children to protect the neighborhoods we love from climate catastrophe. There are safer alternatives to fracked gas, but there’s no replacing Brooklyn if we don’t stem the rising tide of climate chaos. There are no places like Red Hook or Coney Island, and an unnecessary fracked gas pipeline isn’t worth risking their fate.
New York can lead the nation in transitioning to 100 percent renewable energy. Efficiency measures can reduce the amount of energy we waste, and wind, solar, geothermal, and other renewable energy technologies can power our economy and communities. We can have a real Green New Deal that generates thousands of good jobs while cleaning our air, protecting our water, and preserving our climate.
Governor Cuomo has the authority to stop the Williams pipeline, as well as other fossil fuel projects across New York. He can and should establish a goal of moving New York off fossil fuels to 100 percent renewable energy by 2030. The science is clear: We can do this, and we must.
As we left City Hall, I was struck by how hopeful the kids seemed, swept up in the power of their movement. Zach particularly liked a sign that read, “There’s no planet B”. And, indeed, there is good reason for optimism. We just need elected officials like Governor Cuomo to be bold enough to act.
Eric Weltman is a Brooklyn-based organizer with Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit environmental organization.
