Above Ground

A haiku and note about the effects of climate change in the city

Subways fill with tears,

Mother reigns lamentably

watching our mean ways

Author’s Note: On the August 29th,15th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we witnessed another hurricane, Ida, batter the gulf and particularly Louisiana. On September 1st, the New York metropolitan area’s felt the effects of now weakened tropical storm Ida. The flooding in the NYC subway in Ida’s wake was the third this summer, and as hurricane season lasts well into November, it may not be the last before year's end. Yet, some on social media decry these storms and their effects as not human-driven.

We know it is disproportionately lower-income families that live in relatively cheaper basement apartments. Four out of five of the apartments where people drowned were illegal basement conversions.

We know that it is disproportionately lower-wage workers who use the subway or travel during storms. Yet people still order food delivery from the safety of their homes, knowing their gentrified neighborhood is waist-deep in water and that they won’t tip. These are failures in our drive to protect others. These are failures to empathize.

However we may think about the science and the reality of human-driven climate change, we must at least remember our responsibilities to our fellow humans.

If we can’t be helpful, at least cause no harm, but if you can be helpful, please do that. We cannot control the weather, but we can mitigate its worst effects.

I’ve recently written about climate change here:

and here: