‘Acknowledging the inequitable distribution of climate changes damage is an important step, but we must do better. The wealthy should not be liable for the majority of the damage that is caused by climate change. Climate attribution systems are the step forward.’
Jarrett Murphy
After Hurricane Ida, trucks flooded the Major Deegan Expressway at 234th Street in Bronx.
The Build Back Better legislation could have had the potential to dramatically reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the United States and strengthen our fight against climate changes. But now that the legislation is dead, Sen. Manchin has ensured that the U.S. will remain one of the largest contributors to global warming. In the meantime, Finally, the COP26 was acknowledgedClimate change made extreme weather more extreme earlier this year. And the damages caused by climate changes are inequitable.
Accountability must be established for those who contribute most to climate change. However, we first need to establish systems that allow transparency to the inequitable causes and the resulting damages.
2021 was one of the hottest ever recorded years, with extreme weather and natural catastrophes. We apologise to John Steinbeck as well as William Shakespeare, but it was the summer we were discontent. The most affected by climate change are those with the least resources to recover from and be resilient. This is true even in the richest nation on the planet.
The remnants of Hurricane Ida brought heavy rain to New York City. It caught many people off guard and unnecessarily claimed 16 lives. The victims were not wealthy white residents. They were mainly people of colour living in low-income communities in basement and garden apartments. This summer in New York saw the continuation of the devastating trends that have grown due to climate change: extreme heat. HitsBlack and brown neighborhoods are most affected, as well low-income communities of color. Higher levels of pollution.
We see a variety of climate racism in every American city. These are microcosms of the inequitable and devastating effects of climate changes. Flooding in developing countries such as Nicaragua and Bangladesh is caused not by their carbon emissions, but rather by the huge amounts of carbon emitted each year by the U.S.
Recognizing the inequitable distributions of climate change damage is an important step. But we must do more. The burden of the damage caused primarily by the wealthy should not fall on those with the least resources. Climate attribution systems represent a step in the right direction.
We must invest in climate change technology attribution technology. This technology can measure how bad extreme weather events were made by human consumption fossil fuels. Stony Brook Universitys Climate Extremes Modeling GroupThis team is one of many that is already capable of quantifying how climate change is affecting extreme weather events in near real-time.
This method can be used to determine the portion of extreme weather events. Losses and damageClimate change is responsible for many of these changes, which can be used to show the inequalities in climate change. This technology can be used to show how bad extreme weather can make in Bangladesh, for example, flooding that has occurred in Bangladesh due to climate change. Then, wealthy countries that contribute most to climate change will be able pay the recovery costs.
On a smaller scale, we need to develop similar technology in order to show how wealthy, carbon intensive Americans contribute to climate changes at a faster rate and lessen its destruction. This type of technology is what Stony Brook University plans to develop at our proposed campus. Governors Island Climate Center. With the Climate Extremes Modeling Group, local communities, and government, we can develop policies and methodologies that ensure transparency about carbon emissions in New York City and the rest of the country.
A major need exists for better early warning systems. Extreme weather should not be an accident. It is negligence when lives are lost due to storms that can’t be predicted in advance. The government has a responsibility to protect those most at risk. Not only must extreme weather events be predicted, but also plans must be made in advance to minimize or avoid suffering when they do occur.
There is a lack of understanding and common language around climate risks and solutions. It is important to bring people together to solve these problems. Transparency is key to achieving this goal. We will experience more discontent every year if we don’t invest in technology that will allow us take more meaningful action to limit the escalation in climate change and its inequitable consequences.
Kevin Reed is associate professor and associate vice president for research at Stony Brook Universitys School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences. Michael Wehner is a senior scientist at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.