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☆ Why Heat Pumps Are the Future, and How Your Home Could Use One
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-14 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Heat pumps, which both warm and cool buildings and are powered by electricity, have been touted as the answer to curbing greenhouse gas emissions produced by homes, businesses and office buildings, which are responsible for about one-third of the emissions in New York State. Why are heat pumps better for the environment? Heat pumps are all-electric. Even though most electricity still comes from combustion, the United States is slowly transitioning to renewable power like hydro, wind and solar. As this shift occurs, heat pumps will help eliminate greenhouse gases.

Locations: New York State, York, United States

☆ Sanctuaries Can Protect Animals From Abuse, but Not From Climate Change
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-22 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

About 18 months ago, Catskill Animal Sanctuary in Saugerties, N.Y., rescued 42 neglected and ailing sheep. Many were anemic and had foot rot, a contagious bacterial disease that can be life-threatening if left untreated in wet environments. For the animals to recover, they should be in a clean and dry place, said Kathy Stevens, the 150-acre sanctuary’s founder and executive director. But the sheep and their new caretakers faced a rapidly developing problem: soggy pastures and flooding barn stalls. Increased rainfall, among the weather distortions caused by climate change, has finally forced the sanctuary to search for a new home, a predicament shared by a growing number of animal refuges across the United States.

Persons: Kathy Stevens Locations: Catskill, Saugerties, United States

☆ Reading, Writing, Math … and Climate Change?
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-22 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Third graders at Public School 103 in the north Bronx sat on a rug last month while their teacher, Kristy Neumeister, led a book discussion. The book, “Rain School,” is about children who live in a rural region of Chad, a country in central Africa. Every year, their school must be rebuilt because storms wash it away. “And what’s causing all these rains and storms and floods?” asked Ms. Neumeister. “Carbon,” said Aiden, a serious-looking 8-year-old.

Persons: Kristy Neumeister, ”, Neumeister, Aiden Organizations: Public, Rain Locations: Chad, Africa

Tens of thousands of people, young and old, filled the streets of Midtown Manhattan under blazing sunshine on Sunday to demand that world leaders quickly pivot away from fossil fuels dangerously heating the Earth. Their ire was sharply directed at President Biden, who is expected to arrive in New York Sunday night for several fund-raisers this week and to speak before the United Nations General Assembly session that begins Tuesday. “Biden, you should be scared of us,” Emma Buretta, 17, a New York City high school student and an organizer with the Fridays for Future movement, shouted at a rally ahead of the march. “If you want our vote, if you don’t want the blood of our generations to be on your hands, end fossil fuels.”The Biden administration has shepherded through the United States’ most ambitious climate law and is working to transition the country to wind, solar and other renewable energy. But it has also continued to approve permits for new oil and gas drilling.

Persons: Biden, “ Biden, ” Emma Buretta, ” Organizations: United Nations General Assembly, New York City, United Locations: Midtown Manhattan, New York, New, United States

☆ In the Event of a New York City Blackout, Preparation Is Key
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-28 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Let’s say it’s Friday night and you’re beating the 100-degree heat in New York City, watching Netflix while sitting in the direct path of a fan or an air-conditioner, when everything goes dark. The last major blackout in the city happened almost 20 years ago. But these days, as global warming means hotter temperatures, the city’s power grid will be put to the test more and more. “We are witnessing what is fast becoming our new normal — a direct repercussion of climate change,” said Zach Iscol, New York City’s commissioner of emergency management, referring to more frequent extreme weather events, like dangerous heat. In Advance of a BlackoutPreparation is key, Mr. Iscol said: “What have you done so you’re not fumbling around in the dark?”

Persons: ”, Zach Iscol, Iscol Organizations: Netflix Locations: New York City, Zach Iscol , New York

☆ New York Has $1.1 Billion to Fight Flooding. Will It Be Enough?
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-15 | by ( Hilary Howard | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

For Franco Montalto, a flooding expert and engineer, decades of research were suddenly amplified by a real-life emergency in the Adirondacks, where he and his family were on vacation this week. In the middle of the night, they were awakened by forest rangers knocking on the door of their lakeside cabin. The house was surrounded by a foot of water, and they needed to evacuate. “It was profound to experience these conditions firsthand,” he said. Dr. Montalto, a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia who is writing about flooding as a member of the New York City Panel on Climate Change, knows better than most that climate change is producing hard-to-predict and shifting weather patterns that can trigger “cascading events.”Flooding can occur “for different reasons at different times in different places,” he said in a recent interview.

Persons: Franco Montalto, ”, Montalto Organizations: Drexel University, New York Locations: “, Philadelphia

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