The Community vs Climate Change

When people talk about the broader challenges of today’s world, you’re likely to hear one of a few buzzword terms. Perhaps the most apparent of them all is the idea of combatting climate change. Most people tend to consider climate change a long-term problem that can’t be alleviated in the short term, but this isn’t necessarily true. Those living in urban communities have seen the extent to which vast amounts of carbon emissions can impact the entire local climate. Here in Jersey City, for example, we have experienced extremely hot heatwaves this past summer coupled with an extremely dry fall season. In addition to this, our mistreatment of trees coupled with multiple storms has increased flooding damages tremendously. The air quality too has a detriment to human health, increasing levels of asthma among other respiratory ailments. The track we are on in terms of our treatment of this problem is not going to be adequate, especially when one realizes that we only get the full impact of our pollution of the environment many years after the initial pollution. This means that in order for the situation to get better in the future, we must act now.

Contrary to the opinions of many, it is entirely possible to make a sizable difference. That being said, it will take a united community to have tangible impacts. A good avenue for this is carbon sequestration, which is the idea that one can offset carbon emissions into the atmosphere by capturing the same amount (or more) via agriculture, chemical compounds, or dissolution in water. This is especially plausible in rural communities, such as the farming sectors in New Jersey. Sustainable practices could not only help capture carbon from the atmosphere but also ensure that carbon emissions themselves are reduced. In terms of urban communities such as Jersey City, we have to get more creative for decreasing net emissions, whether that be through sequestration or simply mitigating our individual carbon footprints. Currently, most strategies revolve around green infrastructure and the creation of green spaces for sequestration, air filtration, and water control purposes. These efforts rely on volunteer efforts and cannot be accomplished without the help of as many people as possible. All of these efforts would benefit greatly from state or city incentives for more sustainable practices, but it is the duty of the entire community to raise these concerns and help those with the power to help understand the importance of the situation at hand.