It’s a little (very) concerning when reading about the effects of climate change to see the vast number of effects that I hadn’t even considered previously. The list of health effects for people living in cities is almost innumerable and it really brought the issue into my literal backyard. It’s really interesting how there will be such a difference in environmental changes felt between urban and suburban dwellers. Cities are inherently warmer environments which already make them more susceptible to climate-caused health issues but on top of that, New York sits in a water-dominated region, making it susceptible to flooding on top of that. From the previous reading in this text I learned how coastal flooding is a much more socially and politically charged issue than I had known prior. Displacement is a major financial burden on a family or individual and the ability to move is directly tied to the amount of assets the family has access to when a move-making event occurs. Natural disasters will be heightened and made more frequent due to climate irregularities, deepening the likelihood of displacement-causing events. It’s heartbreaking to think about the effects this will have on children, not only socially – from the trauma of flooding, to the challenge of relocation and assimilation – but also physically. Flooding contaminates water supply, weakens infrastructure, provides new breeding grounds for malaria-carrying mosquitos, etc. As far off as all of this seems it’s all applicable to New York City. If the L train is unreliable and always closed now, I can’t even imagine what transportation will be like when New York is struggling to deal with a rising sea level.
