Survey: Mayors Concerned About Direct Impacts of Climate Change
A new report from the Boston University Initiative on Cities indicates that most U.S. mayors are concerned about the impacts of climate change on their communities. As Michael Brady writes in Smart Cities Dive, 97 percent of mayors surveyed said climate change was a concern, while over half worry about drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution. Notably, “There was no partisan gap among mayors.”
US Mayors Address the Climate Crisis in New Report from BU’s Initiative on Cities
Nearly all US mayors are worried about the impacts of climate change on their cities, with the effects of drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution topping their list of concerns. And more than half of them believe that “real progress on climate issues” will mean their residents will have to make “real sacrifices” in their lifestyles. Additionally, while mayors are enthusiastic about investing in new green technologies like electric vehicles and the infrastructure to support them, they are less likely to support restrictions on the use of fossil fuels in new private construction.
Mayors want to fight climate change, but fear losing their jobs
Many mayors want to take forceful steps to combat climate change — like banning gas stoves or leaf blowers — but fear such moves would be political poison, a new poll shows. They do favor less controversial steps, like replacing gas-guzzling city vehicles with electric alternatives and supporting solar power, according to the first findings from the 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors, a nationally representative survey of U.S. mayors.
Report: Regardless of party, mayors are united in concern about climate change — and what’s causing it
While opinions about climate change might split along party lines among the general public, mayors are universally clear about what’s driving it and are unanimous in their concern about its detrimental impact on American cities. In a new report published Wednesday by the Boston University Initiative on Cities, nearly all mayors surveyed in the 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors are worried about climate impacts on their cities—only 3% said they’re not concerned.
America’s Mayors See Regulatory Powers As Their Top Climate Action Tools, but Are Reluctant To Limit Resident Choices, According to Survey of U.S. Mayors
The Inflation Reduction Act marks a landmark investment in climate, featuring hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments toward transforming American energy use and emissions reductions. Local leaders are key allies in putting these dollars to work, as frontline communities are centered in its implementation. America’s mayors feel a sense of urgency to act, as their communities face real and immediate climate impacts, including drought, extreme heat, flooding, and air pollution. Just 3% of mayors say they are not concerned about any local effects of climate change.
Report: 2022 Menino Survey of Mayors: Mayors and the Climate Crisis
The Inflation Reduction Act features hundreds of billions of dollars in commitments to reshaping American energy use and reducing emissions. These commitments include tax credits and rebates for solar panels, electric vehicles, and heat pumps. These federal investments represent new opportunities for local governments and local elected officials who have already been addressing climate change or who wish to do so. The latest Menino Survey unpacks mayors’ current views on local climate action, their sense of the tools they have at their disposal, and their enthusiasm for using them.
How Michelle Wu can become a global mayor on climate
Climate Ready Boston is the city’s initiative to get Boston ready for the long-term impacts of climate change. The initiative seeks to prepare for heat, flooding, and social vulnerability. In Michelle Wu’s 2020 Planning for a Boston Green New Deal and Just Recovery campaign proposal, she committed to climate justice and a suite of policies. She said, “Cities have tremendous power to lead the charge to mitigate the threat of climate change, eliminate the violence of poverty and economic inequality, close the racial wealth gap, and dismantle structural racism.”
Tackling Charles River Restoration: Dan Li’s “Urban Climate” class puts arts and sciences into action
In Professor Dan Li’s “Urban Climate” class (EE 512), students solve real-world problems about climate change — like the relationship between perceived and calculated access to green space in Chelsea and East Boston or the implications, successes, and lessons learned from reusing rainwater in China. Li’s course is part of the MetroBridge program, which collaborates and sources projects from cities and community organizations. Working with BU faculty and project partners, BU students get to work on real-world projects and have hands-on experiences on topics like racial equity, sustainability, and civic engagement.
As more cities declare crises around climate and affordability, does change follow?
Hoboken is one of many cities that have enacted declarations in recent years that address ongoing societal, economic and environmental issues. The city council in Evanston, Illinois, recently approved a climate emergency resolution. Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, and New York City passed declarations declaring racism as a public health crisis. Portland, Oregon, and Miami-Dade County, Florida, have announced emergencies around housing and affordability.
Trees and soil at the forest’s edge store more carbon than we thought, studies reveal
‘We think about forests as big landscapes, but really they are chopped up into all these little segments because of the human world,” Hutyra said. In two separate studies, her research group investigated the differences in carbon storage of trees and soils along forest edges versus the interiors of temperate forests in the northeastern United States. Hutyra and her team found that trees on the edge of forest fragments grow faster than those deeper in the interior, and that soil on the edge of urban forests has a greater capacity to store carbon than previously known.