Cars and trucks move along the Cross Bronx Expressway.
A Bronx Doctor’s Prescription: The NY State Assembly Must Act on Climate
The assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels, in the upcoming budget.
When I was a pediatric intern at what is now the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Washington Heights, I took care of children desperately wheezing from asthma attacks almost every night that I was on call. While their anxious parents stood by wringing their hands, we treated these children with inhalants and intravenous medications until they broke asthma’s grip on their ability to breathe. I kept wondering why so many children had asthma.
Now, as a Bronx resident, I know that our county has the highest asthma rates in New York City and among the highest in the United States. I also now know that the scientific literature makes clear that a major cause of asthma in children is air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Major Deegan Expressway, and other major arteries that flow through the Bronx are causing children to develop asthma, forcing them to gasp for air when they have attacks.
This is why the New York State Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include critical climate change legislation in the upcoming budget. Those are the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels. The State Senate has included both bills in their one house budget. But now, with budget negotiations entering the 11th hour, the assembly and governor must act to include them in the final budget.
It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities.
Asthma is not the only health condition caused by greenhouse gasses released into the air we breathe. Studies show that air pollution from burning fossil fuels is a risk factor for adult respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and several more illnesses. We know about the devastating storms, wildfires, and heatwaves that are ever more common thanks to the climate crisis; we also now know that climate change is affecting our lungs, hearts, and brains.
New York State is committed under the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy. But the HEAT and Superfund Acts are designed to help our communities get through the climate crisis and reduce the burden of air pollution with which we in the Bronx contend every day.
The HEAT Act caps utility costs at 6% for low- and middle-income families, helping limit costs as we transition away from dirty fuels. This is a chance for us to pursue environmental justice, to support those communities who have been impacted by the climate crisis first and worse. As a doctor, I have witnessed firsthand how Black and Brown communities here in the Bronx have suffered from this pollution. This bill is a small step to limit the costs for working families as we move forward to a greener future.
The Superfund Act, meanwhile, requires large corporate polluters across the state to pay for the harm they’ve caused. This means paying to equip towns and cities statewide with their climate resilience and adaptation projects. It has the potential to raise up to $3 billion for our state annually, money that will go directly to supporting a quick transition to the livable future we need. After a year of climate crises across our state, with deaths in Western New York from an extreme blizzard, record-breaking heat, and wildfire pollution this summer, and fast, furious rainfall in NYC, we can’t afford our elected officials to sit idly on this bill.
As mentioned, the State Senate has already passed the Superfund and HEAT acts. Governor Hochul has put some aspects of the HEAT Act in her budget proposal. The State Assembly, however, has thus far failed to act on either piece of legislation. It is unconscionable that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whose home district is here in the Bronx, is not willing to follow the leadership of the Senate and pass legislation that will support the health of his own constituents. Governor Hochul must also take a more active role in pushing for the climate justice legislation our communities so desperately need.
The Bronx is overburdened with polluting highways, warehouses, and power plants. Climate change is bringing us devastating storms like Hurricane Ida and making it harder for us to breathe. It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities. We must move both the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Change Superfund Act into law.
Urgent. It's never been this bad.
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission from the outset was simple. To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It’s never been this bad out there. And it’s never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed and doing some of its best and most important work, the threats we face are intensifying. Right now, with just three days to go in our Spring Campaign, we're falling short of our make-or-break goal. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Can you make a gift right now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? There is no backup plan or rainy day fund. There is only you. —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
When I was a pediatric intern at what is now the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Washington Heights, I took care of children desperately wheezing from asthma attacks almost every night that I was on call. While their anxious parents stood by wringing their hands, we treated these children with inhalants and intravenous medications until they broke asthma’s grip on their ability to breathe. I kept wondering why so many children had asthma.
Now, as a Bronx resident, I know that our county has the highest asthma rates in New York City and among the highest in the United States. I also now know that the scientific literature makes clear that a major cause of asthma in children is air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Major Deegan Expressway, and other major arteries that flow through the Bronx are causing children to develop asthma, forcing them to gasp for air when they have attacks.
This is why the New York State Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include critical climate change legislation in the upcoming budget. Those are the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels. The State Senate has included both bills in their one house budget. But now, with budget negotiations entering the 11th hour, the assembly and governor must act to include them in the final budget.
It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities.
Asthma is not the only health condition caused by greenhouse gasses released into the air we breathe. Studies show that air pollution from burning fossil fuels is a risk factor for adult respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and several more illnesses. We know about the devastating storms, wildfires, and heatwaves that are ever more common thanks to the climate crisis; we also now know that climate change is affecting our lungs, hearts, and brains.
New York State is committed under the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy. But the HEAT and Superfund Acts are designed to help our communities get through the climate crisis and reduce the burden of air pollution with which we in the Bronx contend every day.
The HEAT Act caps utility costs at 6% for low- and middle-income families, helping limit costs as we transition away from dirty fuels. This is a chance for us to pursue environmental justice, to support those communities who have been impacted by the climate crisis first and worse. As a doctor, I have witnessed firsthand how Black and Brown communities here in the Bronx have suffered from this pollution. This bill is a small step to limit the costs for working families as we move forward to a greener future.
The Superfund Act, meanwhile, requires large corporate polluters across the state to pay for the harm they’ve caused. This means paying to equip towns and cities statewide with their climate resilience and adaptation projects. It has the potential to raise up to $3 billion for our state annually, money that will go directly to supporting a quick transition to the livable future we need. After a year of climate crises across our state, with deaths in Western New York from an extreme blizzard, record-breaking heat, and wildfire pollution this summer, and fast, furious rainfall in NYC, we can’t afford our elected officials to sit idly on this bill.
As mentioned, the State Senate has already passed the Superfund and HEAT acts. Governor Hochul has put some aspects of the HEAT Act in her budget proposal. The State Assembly, however, has thus far failed to act on either piece of legislation. It is unconscionable that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whose home district is here in the Bronx, is not willing to follow the leadership of the Senate and pass legislation that will support the health of his own constituents. Governor Hochul must also take a more active role in pushing for the climate justice legislation our communities so desperately need.
The Bronx is overburdened with polluting highways, warehouses, and power plants. Climate change is bringing us devastating storms like Hurricane Ida and making it harder for us to breathe. It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities. We must move both the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Change Superfund Act into law.
- 'Landmark Victory': New York Passes Nation's First Legislation Restricting Bee-Killing Pesticides ›
- 'Massive Win for the Environment': New York State Bans Single-Use Plastic Bags ›
- 'Big Win': New York to Build Publicly Owned Clean Energy, Electrify New Buildings ›
- 'Unconscionable': Hochul Backs Proposal to Gut New York's Landmark Climate Law ›
- Opinion | Et Tu, Hochul? | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | New Yorkers Can’t Afford for Gov Hochul to Keep Delaying Climate Action | Common Dreams ›
When I was a pediatric intern at what is now the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital in Washington Heights, I took care of children desperately wheezing from asthma attacks almost every night that I was on call. While their anxious parents stood by wringing their hands, we treated these children with inhalants and intravenous medications until they broke asthma’s grip on their ability to breathe. I kept wondering why so many children had asthma.
Now, as a Bronx resident, I know that our county has the highest asthma rates in New York City and among the highest in the United States. I also now know that the scientific literature makes clear that a major cause of asthma in children is air pollution caused by burning fossil fuels. Traffic on the Cross Bronx Expressway, the Major Deegan Expressway, and other major arteries that flow through the Bronx are causing children to develop asthma, forcing them to gasp for air when they have attacks.
This is why the New York State Assembly and Gov. Kathy Hochul must include critical climate change legislation in the upcoming budget. Those are the NY HEAT and Climate Change Superfund Acts, two bills that would help wean our state off polluting fossil fuels. The State Senate has included both bills in their one house budget. But now, with budget negotiations entering the 11th hour, the assembly and governor must act to include them in the final budget.
It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities.
Asthma is not the only health condition caused by greenhouse gasses released into the air we breathe. Studies show that air pollution from burning fossil fuels is a risk factor for adult respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, dementia, and several more illnesses. We know about the devastating storms, wildfires, and heatwaves that are ever more common thanks to the climate crisis; we also now know that climate change is affecting our lungs, hearts, and brains.
New York State is committed under the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) to transition away from fossil fuels and toward sustainable energy. But the HEAT and Superfund Acts are designed to help our communities get through the climate crisis and reduce the burden of air pollution with which we in the Bronx contend every day.
The HEAT Act caps utility costs at 6% for low- and middle-income families, helping limit costs as we transition away from dirty fuels. This is a chance for us to pursue environmental justice, to support those communities who have been impacted by the climate crisis first and worse. As a doctor, I have witnessed firsthand how Black and Brown communities here in the Bronx have suffered from this pollution. This bill is a small step to limit the costs for working families as we move forward to a greener future.
The Superfund Act, meanwhile, requires large corporate polluters across the state to pay for the harm they’ve caused. This means paying to equip towns and cities statewide with their climate resilience and adaptation projects. It has the potential to raise up to $3 billion for our state annually, money that will go directly to supporting a quick transition to the livable future we need. After a year of climate crises across our state, with deaths in Western New York from an extreme blizzard, record-breaking heat, and wildfire pollution this summer, and fast, furious rainfall in NYC, we can’t afford our elected officials to sit idly on this bill.
As mentioned, the State Senate has already passed the Superfund and HEAT acts. Governor Hochul has put some aspects of the HEAT Act in her budget proposal. The State Assembly, however, has thus far failed to act on either piece of legislation. It is unconscionable that Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, whose home district is here in the Bronx, is not willing to follow the leadership of the Senate and pass legislation that will support the health of his own constituents. Governor Hochul must also take a more active role in pushing for the climate justice legislation our communities so desperately need.
The Bronx is overburdened with polluting highways, warehouses, and power plants. Climate change is bringing us devastating storms like Hurricane Ida and making it harder for us to breathe. It is time for our leaders to respond to the demands of their communities. We must move both the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Change Superfund Act into law.
- 'Landmark Victory': New York Passes Nation's First Legislation Restricting Bee-Killing Pesticides ›
- 'Massive Win for the Environment': New York State Bans Single-Use Plastic Bags ›
- 'Big Win': New York to Build Publicly Owned Clean Energy, Electrify New Buildings ›
- 'Unconscionable': Hochul Backs Proposal to Gut New York's Landmark Climate Law ›
- Opinion | Et Tu, Hochul? | Common Dreams ›
- Opinion | New Yorkers Can’t Afford for Gov Hochul to Keep Delaying Climate Action | Common Dreams ›