March highlights fight against climate change
As the 5th anniversary of Hurricane Sandy was marked, SUNY New Paltz student rallied to fight climate change.
As the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Sandy is marked, students from SUNY New Paltz, environmental organizations and community members rallied Saturday to fight climate change.
They held up signs and marched from the SUNY New Paltz campus to the nearby regional office of the state Department of Environmental Conservation.
The marchers heard from a number of speakers, including students and faculty.
Nicholas Leone, a Long Island resident and junior at the college, said the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy inspired him to join the fight against climate change.
“I experienced Hurricane Sandy firsthand,” he said. “Besides losing power, which was minuscule compared to what everyone else lost, I witnessed my friends losing their homes. I felt like I had no choice but to get involved, because, if you’re apathetic, you’re on the side of the oppressor. These so-called ‘natural disasters’ don’t seem natural anymore.”
Matthew Nash, a student at SUNY New Paltz who organized this event and is interning for the New York Public Interest Research Group, released a statement on how the issue of climate change is becoming increasingly obvious.
“More Category 5 hurricanes have made landfall than ever this year,” he said. “The impact of the climate changing is becoming more apparent, and the time to take action is now.”
Brian Obach, a sociology professor and director of environmental studies at SUNY New Paltz, concurred and criticized the Trump administration for its position on climate change.
“It almost seems absurd that we have to come together to demand that this issue be addressed,” he said. “The science is in; the debate is clearly over now. We have seen what is happening, yet our leaders deny that it is happening.”
At the state level, Assemblyman Kevin Cahill, DKingston, has introduced bills geared towards alleviating the effects of climate change in New York, said Cahill’s legislative director and counsel Laurie Wheelock.
“In New York state, we should be proud of everything we are trying to do, especially with everything going on in the federal level,” she said. “Assemblyman Cahill used to be the chair of the Energy Committee and he continues to work hard on environmental legislation.”