Extreme Weather Is a Public Health Crisis and New York Must Act

This guest essay reflects the views of Dr. Charles E. Moon III, co-chair of the public policy and advocacy committee at the New York State American Academy of Pediatrics, and Ella McGrail, New York policy coordinator at Save the Sound.

Long Island is no stranger to extreme weather events — wildfires igniting more easily and affecting our air quality, dangerous flooding crippling communities and overwhelming our inadequate wastewater infrastructure, and our shoreline erosion continuing at a rapid pace.

Children born today will face two to seven times more extreme weather events than those born in 1960. These events, driven by the greenhouse gases that cause climate change, increase other types of air pollution from extreme heat and wildfires that compromise our clean air and water. Doctors and health experts are sounding the alarm: This is a public health emergency.

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But New York has a powerful tool to fight back and reduce all pollution sources that are compromising our air and water: the Cap-and-Invest program. Cap-and-Invest makes polluters pay for the harmful greenhouse gases they produce, the funding from which will go directly to efforts to reduce planet-warming emissions — from improving our public transit to transitioning to clean heating for our homes and schools — all while helping families cover rising energy costs. By placing a cap on emissions, the program will also help combat climate change-fueled extreme weather that directly results in pollution in the Sound and our other waterways. Over time, Cap-and-Invest will reduce New Yorkers' exposure to rising levels of ozone from extreme heat events and particulate matter and other hazardous air pollutants that are produced by wildfires.

This program is ready to start improving the lives of New Yorkers — except it’s stuck waiting for the state to release the regulations needed to implement it. Two out of three key regulations still haven’t been made public, despite earlier commitments to move forward.

Read the full piece here.