Sustainability
New York City is undergoing a transformation to become a more “sustainable” place for all residents. Sustainability is a term that represents a more environmentally and socially responsible way of living, from transportation choices to energy usage to food choices.
SRWA is committed to engaging the community to live in a more sustainable way. We are committed to a greener community.
4 ways in which SRWA hopes to contribute to this debate are the following:
Transportation Alternatives
Transportation alternatives are ways to get around the city that do not involve personal automobiles. One way to encourage transportation is to encourage clean, green ways of getting around. Since updating or improving the subway system is an expensive and time-consuming activity, SRWA recommends the following transportation improvements particularly for Bay Ridge and Sunset Park residents who commute into Manhattan: restoring ferry service to the 69th Street Ferry Terminal in Bay Ridge and increasing the number of express buses during peak commuting hours.
Clean Waterways
SRWA believes that part of the reason that ferry service has been reduced is because New Yorkers have grown to avoid the polluted NYC waterways. While the problems, such as the issue of Combined Sewer Overflow, are city-wide and will not be easy to fix, a comprehensive plan to clean the waterways and improve access to NYC waterways will further encourage the use of the waterways as a method of transportation. The benefits will be multiple — from decreasing automobile traffic in the city to re-establishing the connection between New Yorkers and New York’s unique urban environment.
Healthy New York City
Airborne pollution is a major factor in the quality of life and general health of all New Yorkers. With the advent of the NYC highway system and the near-exponential rise in the use of heavy trucks to bring in goods and materials, NYC has become the asthma capitol of the United States of America. In addition to causing asthma, air pollution is a key factor in the proliferation many other respiratory and cardiac illnesses from cancer to heart ailments to premature death.
Climate Change
By now, the theory that human-induced greenhouse gas emissions are warming the Earth is an almost universally-accepted fact. While there are some individuals who disbelieve this theory, the scientific community is in near-unanimity that climate change or “global warming” is occurring as we speak. The consensus view is that this is happening primarily due to human activity. The major source of one of the most harmful greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide, is the byproduct of burning petroleum gasoline and petroleum diesel fuel in our cars, trucks, and buses. A major step forward in reducing climate change-inducing emissions in the near-term is to change the way we look at transportation and reduce the amount of carbon-emitting vehicles from the road. While there are no “magic bullets” that will end carbon emissions overnight, we can and must move towards greener methods of transportation as rapidly as possible.
