It’s the largest city in the US, with over 8.62 million inhabitants.
The New York City Council passed the legislation
Wednesday, calling for an immediate response to the global climate crises. The bill referenced several reports on the state of global warming and its impact, imparting that extreme weather events brought about by rising temperatures demonstrates that the planet is “too hot to be a safe environment.”
“The United States of America has disproportionately contributed to the climate emergency and has repeatedly obstructed global efforts to transition toward a green economy, and thus bears an extraordinary responsibility to rapidly address these existential threats,” lawmakers wrote.
Little Known Black History Fact: Samuel J. Battle
Climate emergency declarations typically don’t contain policy measures on how to slow climate change, but function as symbols of municipalities’ commitment to fighting it with future legislation.
More than 670 governments in 15 countries have declared climate emergencies, according to data from Innovation for Cool Earth Forum. But only 18 of those local governments, not including New York, are in the US, such as San Francisco and Hoboken, New Jersey.
