This situation demands action on the part of elected officials and local leaders who need to cut pollution and shore up these communities to withstand the worsening heat, storms and flooding.
The roots of this crisis date back to the first Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South to escape segregation, indentured servitude and lynching and went north in search of jobs and stable housing.
As the effects of global warming have intensified, Southern states have been slow to upgrade and weatherize their power grids and have paid the price — for instance, when hundreds of people died during Texas’ 2021 winter storm blackout.
In Texas, that includes significantly slowing down housing growth in flood plains and, most important, reversing investment in fossil fuel energy sources that contribute to global warming and can fail during hurricanes and winter storms.
As Florida invests in building infrastructure to adapt to rising seas, new and old residents told me they also want the state to prioritize conserving undeveloped land, which will help store carbon and buffer neighborhoods from storms and flooding.
In North Carolina and Georgia, leaders can reform zoning laws to encourage cities to build walkable neighborhoods with green infrastructure that helps with storm water management and cooling streets.
The original article contains 1,112 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
This is the best summary I could come up with:
This situation demands action on the part of elected officials and local leaders who need to cut pollution and shore up these communities to withstand the worsening heat, storms and flooding.
The roots of this crisis date back to the first Great Migration, when millions of Black people left the South to escape segregation, indentured servitude and lynching and went north in search of jobs and stable housing.
As the effects of global warming have intensified, Southern states have been slow to upgrade and weatherize their power grids and have paid the price — for instance, when hundreds of people died during Texas’ 2021 winter storm blackout.
In Texas, that includes significantly slowing down housing growth in flood plains and, most important, reversing investment in fossil fuel energy sources that contribute to global warming and can fail during hurricanes and winter storms.
As Florida invests in building infrastructure to adapt to rising seas, new and old residents told me they also want the state to prioritize conserving undeveloped land, which will help store carbon and buffer neighborhoods from storms and flooding.
In North Carolina and Georgia, leaders can reform zoning laws to encourage cities to build walkable neighborhoods with green infrastructure that helps with storm water management and cooling streets.
The original article contains 1,112 words, the summary contains 210 words. Saved 81%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!