Climate Week in New York City was a whirlwind of dialogue and meetings with leaders from all over the world! Chief Segura was fortunate to meet with some of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Conference of the Parties (COP) Chairs from cities in Africa, Canada, and India. At the convening, organized by Resilience Rising, we provided ideas and input on how to create a more relevant and actionable IPCC report for cities across the globe.
Tragically, New York City – our largest City in the country – flooded last week, with much underwater. These extreme weather events are inextricably linked to fossil fuels and methane emissions, and even the biggest climate deniers can’t deny that extreme weather events are affecting us all. The costs are astronomical for any city, and we just have not budgeted for these kinds of disasters and catastrophes. This is all a huge reminder that we can’t delay our actions!
On September 20, President Biden announced that he was creating the American Climate Corps. It is a green jobs training program that will employ 20,000 young people to plant trees, build solar panels and wind turbines, help restore wetlands, and implement sustainable agricultural solutions. And that’s not all! The State of California already has a California Climate Action Corps, and this week, the Governors of Arizona, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Utah announced that they would be launching their own programs too.