September kicked off a very busy season in New York City with events at every level from international meetings (the United Nations General Assembly and Climate Week) to national and statewide elections to community panel discussions.
Climate Week NYC 2024 is the largest climate event of its kind. It is an annual gathering held at multiple locations throughout New York City (including spaces like the United Nations Headquarters, the Jacob Javits Centers and numerous invitation-only corporate gatherings). This year, it brought over 10,000 people from around the world together over one week (September 22-29). In nearly 1,000 sessions including panels featuring speakers from countries as diverse as Brazil and Japan, Climate Week brought a wealth of knowledge about what cities, societies and countries are doing to adapt and mitigate climate change seen in higher temperatures, groundwater scarcity, and extreme precipitation. It reached tens of thousands of global citizens, and leaders from business, government, influencers and campaigners discussed current policies and further positive changes that could be enacted.
On a national scale, we heard two vastly opposing views of climate change from the presidential candidates. In 2012, Trump repeatedly called global warming a “hoax” and said it “was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” His views have not changed since; when asked about his presidency, Trump replied “[the US] had the cleanest air and the cleanest water.” During his time as President, Trump rolled back over 70 environmental regulations, increasing emissions from power plants, factories and pollutants flowing into public waterways. Given his position on climate change, many environmentalists believe that legislation will be repealed, including Biden administration measures. During Trump’s campaign, he said he would repeal all of Biden’s regulations intended to reduce emissions and shift away from fossil fuels. Trump has also called for Biden’s signature environment bill, the Inflation Reduction Act, to be repealed.
At a local level, a panel held at the Ethical Culture Society Great Hall, at West 64th Street and Central Park West, in September discussed the language of climate action in the 2024 Election. Participants talked about the issue of climate buzzwords in media and conversations. Moderated by Genevieve Guenther, author of Language of Climate Politics, the panelists included prominent climate advocates author Bill McKibben; reporter Kendra Pierre-Louis and reporter and podcast host Amy Westervelt. The discussion centered around how citizens consciously or unconsciously believe certain “facts” about climate change. These “facts” can lead some to believe that combating climate change will have negative economic impacts, while others are led to believe we are already working to mitigate climate change and things are going smoothly. Despite these differences in opinions, the reason they are so widespread is the same: there are “buzzwords” causing us to lean towards these trains of thought. The language the media uses, including terms such as “innovation” and “greening” or blaming emissions on faraway countries, severely limits the scope of addressing the catastrophe of climate change.
Language can make us believe what we are doing is enough. We need to question what we read. By limiting our vocabulary to the terms featured prominently in the media, we risk losing a broader picture of the worldwide climate crisis.
According to Ecotricity, a company selling clean energy sources, climate change will be irreversible by 2030–it knows no boundaries in impact. Around half of global carbon emissions are released by the richest 10% of countries; these effects are seen in international frequent and intense weather events (more hurricanes, flash flooding and wildfires). The impact on humans will be especially felt in developing countries without the resources to combat it. It will exacerbate the refugee crisis, potentially displacing up to 200 million people by 2050.
Expanding our vocabulary and knowledge base to receive a more worldwide picture of climate change, its impacts and its implications is crucial. Whether through listening to panels discussing potential impacts, enacting legislation, attending climate events held in our city or upholding our international climate promises, we must ensure that as citizens of the world, we are properly equipped with both the vocabulary and knowledge to talk about and combat climate change.
