Why I'm Running
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Climate change isn’t coming – it’s here. Systems were built with 100-year storms in mind. The term 100-year storm refers to a storm with a certain intensity and duration that has a 1% likelihood of occurring within a year. That standard is a phenomenon of the past because the likelihood of intense rainfall in a short duration has jumped significantly. That’s why the agency managing stormwater must rise to meet this new reality.
This is not just some abstract idea – we are feeling the shift. Sarah lives in an apartment building, and last year during a rainstorm, the rain came through the top of one of her walls. Not through the window, through the wall. The maintenance person came and said that it was to be expected because storms are stronger now.
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BOTH MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION
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The need for adaptation is not some fuzzy concept in the future. We need to address climate change with a double-pronged approach of both mitigation and adaptation NOW. We need to ask – How can we reduce our climate impact, and how can we buttress our communities who are already experiencing the impact of climate change?
We need to protect our water from pollutants. Our waste contains phosphorus and nitrogen, which can impact the aquatic environment. The trash that people throw down the sewers can clog pipes. Microplastics or per- or polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAs) are of rising concern. We can protect the water by filtering what we can and by monitoring and analyzing what we cannot and sharing that data publicly.
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We must protect our residents from basement and street flooding. We should prioritize flood mitigation in the communities that have been left behind, often Black, Brown, immigrant, and working-class neighborhoods. We can reduce flooding by expanding green space that holds rainwater where it falls and also provides other social and economic co-benefits.
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LOCAL, SCALABLE RESILIENCE​
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Climate resilience can help with mitigation and adaptation. We should meet the moment with local, scalable, nature-based solutions designed in collaboration with communities and grounded in their expressed needs. Green infrastructure could include permeable pavement, green roofs, rain gardens, vertical green walls, bioswales and other green spaces. In addition to stormwater management, green spaces also support air quality and biodiversity and reduce the urban heat island effect and soil erosion. These are practical, scalable ways to make our neighborhoods healthier and more flood-resilient — while creating local jobs and improving quality of life. Done right, green infrastructure is a win-win for climate resilience and neighborhood livability.
To do all these things, we need the right tools. We need an accessible, transparent and accountable government. We need to put significant efforts into public education around the climate crisis and our local water infrastructure. Last but not least, we need good union jobs where the work is safe, the opportunities are fair, and the wages are prevailing.
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