On October 22nd, an elongated area of low pressure emerged in the Western Caribbean begetting storms and churning the seas. By Oct 24 what started as a tropical wave had morphed into a hurricane, crossing Jamaica, battering Haiti, then the Bahamas. 2 days after that Sandy was sucking up the warm waters of the Gulf Stream sending fear up the spines of coastal residents who had been gearing up for Halloween and/or the presidential election. And on oct 29th, this “freak” megastorm made that infamous hard left turn and came ashore in NJ and NY bringing with it record setting storms surges. All in all 286 people were killed in 7 countries.
Superstorm Sandy forever changed the way that NYC thinks about climate change and itself.
Well, not exactly. And that’s the confusing part.
No retreat = No future?
NYC has no future. That’s really the only way to read SIRR report. The future is just an extension of the present, THIS present shaped by the needs of capital intensive growth: finance, tourism, hi tech. The consequences of this model: increasing economic inequality and vulnerability to rising sea levels.
It’s not that the Bloomberg administration denies climate change (their position on economic inequality will be addressed in a subsequent post). Indeed, back in 2007 they released PLAN NYC which created a blueprint for the city to reduce its carbon emissions--“mitigation” in the climate change parlance--and become more sustainable in ten areas: Housing and Neighborhoods; Parks and Public Spaces; Brownfields; Waterways; Water Supply; Transportation; Energy; Air Quality; Solid Waste; and Climate Change. transportation, energy use, water use, housing and public buildings. It’s pretty good. (Again, bracketing for the moment the extraneous issues of inequality, and well, democracy.)
The SIRR plan, however, is about adaptation. Because we didn’t reduce emissions quick enough, we have to adapt because the climate has already changed. When the climate has already changed so much that’s it’s smacking our infrastructure in ways that shock the core of our system, then we don’t just adapt, we gotta be “resilient.” We’ve got to bounce back and upgrade while doing it. So in 6 years we’ve gone from the feel good sustainability of Plan NYC to the urgent reconstruction of “A More Resilient NY” (what will the plan look like in 2018!?)
One of the scariest aspects of the plan, the second most disturbing (we discussed the first last post), is that it doesn’t give up an inch of real estate. “We will not retreat from the waterfront.” The mayor has said this over and over. That property is just too valuable. (For whom?) Instead, we (who??) will show the world (again, who: New Orleans? Bangladesh) how to dwell on the coast. How to be resilient as the seas rise. SIRR doesn’t give up an inch. It’s incredible. Couldn’t we make a small donation somewhere in acknowledgement that sea levels are already rising? Some small slice of lower Manhattan, an island in Jamaica bay? Maybe a dune in Coney Island?
What about the ecological virtue of humility: giving way, making space and acknowledging the power and interests of nonhuman others?
No. Instead we will build back even better. Build what? Luxury condo’s with Duane’s Reade’s on the bottom floor but 6 feet higher to accommodate the surf? Look at the details of the plan--there are lots of details. Indeed, Bloomberg is so committed to the reclaiming of the waterfront that union pension funds have been tapped to help Related and Co. build--what exactly we don’t know--in Zone A. (A deal brokered by John Liu BTW, see my post from March 19th, 2013) And for all those homeowners who want to stay in Zone A (I know it’s been renamed, more on that later) but can’t afford the new insurance premiums the city will use public funds to help them stay! (see the SIRR report.)
From the Skyline to the Shoreline
For many NYC is and has been defined by its skyline. Can we imagine NYC without finance capital pouring into the waterfront? What would NYC politics look like with the real estate sector dominating it? Bloomberg says “No retreat” because the SIRR can’t break the spell of finance capital and real estate: SIRR literally can’t see the future so there is none, there’s only the present. And what is “present” is the configuration of forces that made the skyline. But the future of NYC is tied to a different line. It’s called the SHORE line. And it’s receding, that is, sinking into the past. As the tide changes, what politics will emerge? That’s what wednesday’s march is all about: articulating the topography of democratic resilience.
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