{"id":108832,"date":"2019-08-29T11:47:32","date_gmt":"2019-08-29T15:47:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=108832"},"modified":"2019-08-29T11:47:32","modified_gmt":"2019-08-29T15:47:32","slug":"stirpe-our-planets-future-depends-on-our-actions-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/?p=108832","title":{"rendered":"Stirpe: Our planet\u2019s future depends on our actions now"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Assemblyman Al Stirpe<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

You don\u2019t have to look very far to see the impact of climate\nchange and its relation to public policy. Just look at the flooding throughout\nthe Great Lakes, including our own Lake Ontario, where shoreside communities\nhave suffered so much flooding that the governor declared a state of\nemergency.[1] Or ask the boaters on Seneca Lake, who for some weeks in recent\nseasons could not fit under bridges because of higher water levels than in past\nyears.[2] The heavy rainfall we\u2019ve seen this summer and over the past few years\nhas caused water levels to rise everywhere, posing a serious threat to our\nregion. This flooding can cause shoreline erosion and property damage, putting\nthe 30 million people who live within the Great Lakes basin at risk.[3]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can argue about local decisions that may be impacting\nwater levels, but there is no doubt that climate change is a major contributor.\nThat\u2019s why it\u2019s imperative that we come together and take action at every\nlevel.  This year, I fought for legislation\nthat will reduce our carbon footprint and put us on a path toward a more\nsustainable future. While there\u2019s still much to do, the major steps we took\nduring the last legislative session will go a long way toward protecting\nCentral New York families and hopefully inspire more conservation efforts\nnationwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To put New York State at the forefront in the fight against\nclimate change, I helped pass the Climate Leadership and Community Protection\nAct (Ch. 106 of 2019). The law sets several goals to protect our planet\u2019s\nfuture, including reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 85% by 2050, requiring\nthat 70% of electricity be produced by renewable energy systems by 2030 and\nrequiring 100% of the state\u2019s electricity to be produced without emissions by\n2040. It also invests in clean energy projects and promotes environmental\njustice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are these goals lofty? Absolutely. But we will need bold\nsolutions to overcome this challenge. Some also complain that we are just one state,\nand that the problem is bigger than us. That is true. Climate change is a\nglobal challenge, but we must do our part. We have a responsibility to show the\nrest of the country and the world that the goals of the Climate Leadership and\nCommunity Protection Act are possible. The consequences of avoiding these\nactions over unwarranted economic fears are too grim to imagine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This groundbreaking law capped off our many environmental\nvictories this past year, including a statewide ban on most single-use plastic\nbags to clean up our neighborhoods and waterways (Ch. 58 of 2019). And to\nprotect our marine life and keep New York\u2019s waters clean, we banned offshore\noil and gas drilling in our state\u2019s coastal waters (Ch. 29 of 2019). These laws\nshow that New York State is not backing away from its commitment to\nsafeguarding our natural resources and protecting public health.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, I helped pass measures to combat the dangers\nthat harmful chemicals pose to our families and the environment. I passed\nlegislation that ensures mercury-added lightbulbs don\u2019t contain excessive\namounts of mercury (A.2501-A) and also co-sponsored a measure establishing a\npost-consumer paint collection program so we can easily dispose of unwanted\npaint in an environmentally friendly manner (A.6373). These measures passed\nboth the Assembly and Senate, and I\u2019m hopeful that the governor will sign them\ninto law soon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can\u2019t bury our heads in the sand and ignore the effects\nof climate change \u2013 they\u2019re happening right now all around us and are only\ngoing to get worse if we don\u2019t act. And although we\u2019ve made great strides,\nthere\u2019s still so much more that needs to be done to protect our planet now and\nfor future generations. I\u2019ll continue working to ensure our environment is a\nclean and healthy place for Central New Yorkers to call home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As always, my door is open. If you have questions or\nconcerns about this or any other community issue, please don\u2019t hesitate to\nreach out to my office at 315-452-1115 or StirpeA@nyassembly.gov<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

[1]<\/sup><\/a> scientificamerican.com\/article\/climate-change-sends-great-lakes-water-levels-seesawing<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[2]<\/sup><\/a> fltimes.com\/news\/concerns-raised-over-water-level-of-seneca-lake\/article_518a9cc1-f5ab-50d0-bf73-da0dbdc1816c.html<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

[3]<\/sup><\/a> scientificamerican.com\/article\/climate-change-sends-great-lakes-water-levels-seesawing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You don\u2019t have to look very far to see the impact of climate change and its relation to public policy. Just look at the flooding throughout the Great Lakes, including our own Lake Ontario, where shoreside communities have suffered so much flooding that the governor declared a state of emergency.[1] Or ask the boaters on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43068,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[23810,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108832","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wellbeing","category-top-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/madisoncountycourier.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/Al-Stirpe.jpg?fit=226%2C222&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p43meu-sjm","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108832","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108832"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108832\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/43068"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108832"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108832"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/madisoncountycourier.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108832"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}