NYC Borough Queens Launches Operation Urban Sustainability, India & Madagascar Team Up Against Climate Change, Quad Powers Launch Q-Champ, Listeners’ Call To Action!

NYC BOROUGH OF QUEENS LAUNCHES OPERATION URBAN SUSTAINABILITY

Queens Borough President Donovan Richards assembled his own Queens version of the Planeteers recently when he announced the first-ever advisory board focused solely on equipping the borough of Queens for the climate crisis. It’s called, “Operation Urban Sustainability,” a working group of Queens environmentalists, elected officials, policy workers, transportation activists and nonprofit leaders. The group will be tasked with coming up with plans to shore up Queens’ resiliency and sustainability efforts.

It includes members from the Alley Pond Environmental Center, the Waterfront Alliance, Woodside on the Move, Transportation Alternatives, Queens College, Guardians of the Flushing Bay, the Queens County Farm Museum, the Queens Climate Project, the Newtown Creek Alliance, Queens Solid Waste Advisory Board and the Surfrider Foundation NYC, as well as former City Councilmember Costa Constantinides.

Members will serve one-year terms and will be tasked with crafting a yearly report that will inform and guide Borough President Richards’ sustainability and resiliency efforts in topics such as urban agriculture, composting, energy-efficient development, environmental justice, education, nature and ecosystems, flood prevention and resiliency, as well as transportation and walkability.

“Superstorm Sandy and Hurricane Ida were two of the most severe and deadly examples of extreme weather Queens has ever experienced, but what’s just as dangerous is the reluctance to see sustainability in a holistic manner. With Operation Urban Sustainability, we are committed to developing a wide-ranging roadmap toward a more livable, resilient borough for all our families,” said Borough President Richards. “From expanding urban agriculture to promoting more open streets to transforming Rikers Island into a renewable energy hub and beyond, I look forward to the critical work this group will perform in the months ahead.” 

DEEPER DIVE: Borough of Queens

INDIA AND MADAGASCAR TEAM UP TO FIGHT CLIMATE CHANGE

Madagascar, the fourth-largest island in the world, is one the lowest emitters of carbon dioxide. Nevertheless, Madagascar is experiencing the cataclysmic effects of climate change firsthand. After years of extreme drought, more than 1.5 million Malagasy citizens are currently facing the world’s “first climate-induced famine,” according to the United Nations World Food Program. While famine continues to worsen in the island’s south, other areas of the island nation are still reeling from the effects of five tropical cyclones that have made landfall so far this year, killing at least 300 people, destroying more than 45,000 homes, and displacing nearly half a million residents. 

That’s why Madagascar decided to join the India-led Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI). CDRI consists of 29 nations. The group aims to help island nations develop resilience to deal with the adverse impacts of climate change.” 

According to the organizations’ most recent annual report.”CDRI supports the achievement of goals and targets enshrined in the Sustainable Development Goals, Paris Agreement on Climate Change, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction and the UN Agenda 2030 principles of leaving no one, no place and no ecosystem behind.” 

Some strategies expected to develop under the coalition in Madagascar are: “restricting deforestation, leveraging solar technology, and using trees and rice paddies to help absorb the shock of storm surges.” Why does this new alliance matter to the rest of us? Although Madagascar is one of the lowest emitters of Carbon dioxide, it takes  the concept of global cooperation to combat climate change seriously. This small nation has now shown it’s willing to put in the work. Now, how about the rest of us?

DEEPER DIVE: DeviDiscourse, MSN

QUAD POWERS LAUNCH Q-CHAMP

Last month, the “Quad” leaders, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese of Australia, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan, and President Joe Biden of the United States – recognizing the urgent need to address climate change, Quad leaders here on Tuesday launched the ”Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP)” with ”mitigation” and ”adaptation” as its two themes.

A joint statement by the four leaders said that they have decided to individually and collectively further strengthen their cooperation to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, which poses especially serious challenges for the Indo-Pacific region. According to the joint statement, “Recognizing the urgent need to address climate change as emphasized in the latest Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, we will steadfastly implement the Paris Agreement and deliver on the outcomes of COP26,”

They also vowed to accelerate their efforts to raise global ambition, including reaching out to key stakeholders in the Indo-Pacific region and supporting, strengthening, and enhancing climate actions by partners in the region including through mobilizing climate finance, both public and private, and facilitating the research, development, and deployment of innovative technology.

“Today, we launch the ”Quad Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Package (Q-CHAMP)” with ”mitigation” and ”adaptation” as its two themes,” the statement said. Q-CHAMP includes ongoing activities under the Quad Climate Working Group on: green shipping and ports aiming for a shared green corridor framework building on each Quad country’s input; clean energy cooperation in clean hydrogen and methane emissions from the natural gas sector.

It also includes strengthening clean energy supply chains, welcoming the contribution of the Sydney Energy Forum; climate information services for developing an engagement strategy with Pacific island countries; and disaster risk reduction, including disaster and climate resilient infrastructure such as the efforts through the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI).

DEEPER DIVE: Whitehouse.gov, DeviDiscourse

THE CLIMATE DAILY LISTENER CALL OUT CHALLENGE

Recently, one of our listeners shared her story of how listening to the climate daily helped her deal so well with her climate change overwhelm, that she got out and started working with the local community based group. Then she challenged us to ask you all to share any stories you might have of how listening to the climate daily might have inspired you into action, so we can share them with the world.

Remember, we’re all about sharing stories of people taking positive action to combat climate change. And that’s you listeners. You can hit us up on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at #wetheclimate or Jeffrey at The Climate dot org or Maude at The Climate dot org, also.