Extreme weather becoming a dangerous new norm

By Caroline Grass

September 30, 2023

Signs that Ithacans took to New York City for the March to End Fossil Fuels on September 17, 2023. (Photo by Caroline Grass)

In the last 36 hours, New York City saw record rainfall that flooded roads and highways, shut down portions of the subway and canceled and delayed flights. According to city officials, more than 7 inches of rain fell in areas of Brooklyn by yesterday evening and even though no deaths or major injuries were reported from the rain, the event was reminiscent of flooding two years ago from remnants of Hurricane Ida. Over 50 people from six states were killed from the rainfall and the New York City Housing Authority estimated the cost of damage to be over $150 million.

Climate change is creating a warmer and wetter environment across the globe and storms and extreme rainfall are becoming more common. Extreme weather events are seen more frequently and it’s hard to continue to see these events as freak storms or common or unprecedented. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the temperature of the earth has risen about 2° Fahrenheit since 1880. This may not seem like that big of a change, yet the increased heat has immense impacts on extreme temperatures, snow and ice cover, and is changing the range of habitat area for many plants and animals.

I often find myself frustrated by the slow pace of change in the fight against the climate crisis we are facing. Smoke from forest fires, raging in Canada (far larger in number and erupting very early in the forest fire season), blanketed portions of the Northeast, Midwest, and Mid-Atlantic this summer. In my hometown of Burke, Virginia, my brother’s summer swim team canceled practices on bad air quality days, leaving countless kids confused as to why they couldn’t meet their friends at the pool to exercise and prepare for swim meets.

My mom and I kept our walks with my family’s three dogs short and we didn’t let them play in the yard very long. I didn’t realize how much I relied on my ability to go outside and play, exercise, and truly just live my life until it wasn’t safe to be outdoors. The air quality in Virginia and Washington, D.C. was bad, but New York saw worse. My aunt, talking with my mom on the phone during their weekly call to catch up about life, detailed how her eyes had been stinging all day even though she hadn’t gone outside. Her area of the state had registered above 200 on the Air Quality Index. I couldn’t imagine what the air and heat must be like for residents and firefighters in Canada working to contain the blazes.

As we see the effects of climate change impact our daily lives more each day it’s crucial we keep fighting for change. On September 17, 2023, thousands of activists and hundreds of scientists protested in the March to End Fossil Fuels in NYC. Over 50 Ithacans took a bus to march in the protest and I’m working on a story highlighting why this issue is so important to people in the area.

I’m honored to have been able to talk with these activists and as they left for the protest that Sunday morning, I was left feeling inspired to continue my environmental reporting which I feel is a small part that I can do to educate and inform about climate change.