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Whether you love or hate President Donald Trump’s dramatic alterations to foreign and domestic policies, you have to admit that they’re mind-boggling. In contrast, the predictable coming of spring this year is reassuring: No matter what’s happening in D.C., here come the snowdrops and robins.

Nature, at least, is consistent, right?

These days, not so much. Recently, millions of Americans to the south and west were living in climate emergency zone under a barrage of tornadoes, fires, and floods. This is happening because the air is hotter so it holds more moisture and makes weather more violent and dangerous.

In view of these climate changes, New York in 2019 passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act, which will gradually replace fossil fuel energy with clean, renewable energy. Two years were devoted to drawing up policies to get New York off fossil fuel combustion. Now the cap and invest plan and the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, among many other initiatives, are ready to be implemented.

But the president’s infatuation with fossil fuels must be contagious because Gov. Kathy Hochul and our legislators are dragging their feet to get gas and oil out of our energy system. As next year’s budget is being determined in Albany, it is up to us citizens to call and write our legislators and urge them to enact the measures we need to keep the planet livable.

Published April 7, 2025

In mid-March, some 100 million Americans were in an “extreme weather” zone, living under threat of wildfires, dust storms, and tornadoes (“At least 26 dead in massive U.S. storm sparking tornadoes, highway pileup,” March 16).

It’s easy to feel that events are beyond our control, but this is exactly what the people profiting from climate chaos want us to feel.

If the public believes that spewing heat and moisture-trapping emissions into the air is necessary and that President Donald Trump’s blatant efforts to support fossil fuel interests in what surely is a deal for campaign contributions are politics as usual, extreme weather is going to become normal weather.

Yet, in 2019, New York passed the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act that gave the state a plan to slow the greenhouse gas emissions that are causing the kind of weather we are now witnessing.

Unfortunately, legislators seem to be running out of steam when it comes to implementing the mandates of this plan. Why should they stick their necks out if we don’t seem to care? The public’s perceived indifference explains Gov. Kathy Hochul’s backsliding on cap and invest and Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie’s inability to get the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act passed by the Assembly.

Now, as the budget is being determined in Albany, New Yorkers have a last-ditch chance to register support for these climate-saving initiatives. We need to create a tornado of calls and emails that will focus legislators’ minds on the climate emergency.

Published April 7, 2025

Embracing innovative recycling solutions should be top of mind as lawmakers in Albany deliberate proposals to reduce waste, including differing iterations of a policy known as Extended Producer Responsibility ("The truth about plastics is that much of it can't be recycled," March 9). By ensuring infinite recycling technologies are a key part of the equation, we can turn plastic waste into the materials we need to safely and affordably package necessary products over and over, instead of letting them sit in landfills forever.

Waste from New York City is shipped to locations upstate where our landfills are running out of space. As these sites reach capacity, the need for sustainable solutions is becoming more urgent. Bringing innovative recycling facilities to upstate New York wouldn’t just help solve our waste problem, it would help revive struggling economies. A recent study indicates that accelerating the transition to a circular economy – wherein plastics are repurposed rather than disposed – would create over 40,000 jobs by 2040, and reduce waste by 6.5 million metric tons annually. Material-to-material recycling will ensure we can reach ambitious sustainability goals by ensuring enough repurposed material is available.

As the state Legislature considers policies to handle waste from plastics, textiles, and electronics, they need to champion innovative solutions. A functioning Extended Producer Responsibility program should be focused on moving toward a circular economy by incorporating the latest innovations. New York and the United States have always been leaders in technology. Why should recycling be any different?

The writer is the Executive Director of Upstate United.

Published March 31, 2025

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New York has been the state that spawned the emergence of, and the leadership for, what has been successful bipartisan efforts to protect and conserve the environment and natural resources of not just the state but also the country.

Think Theodore Roosevelt, Bob Marshall, and the Rockefeller family. Think of the Adirondack and Catskill parks. Think of the state’s clean lakes and rivers, of a clean New York harbor, and of clean air.

Protecting New York’s environment did not come easily. It took the engagement of its citizens as well as accountable elected officials and civil servants. And it should be remembered that all of it was achieved while the economy thrived.

Now, however, we face a dispiriting fact. We are witnessing a New Yorker, Lee Zeldin, go to Washington to lead a rollback and gutting of the Republican-created Environmental Protection Agency. This is the institution that successfully managed the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Air Act, and the Ocean Waters Protection Act, not to mention climate change, hazardous waste and Superfund laws.

This rollback makes no sense. It is an affront to the American people and their steadfast support of protecting health and the environment. Public health and a high-quality environment are necessary precedents to a healthy economy. Zeldin does not understand this essential need.

We need to ask Zeldin: does he prefer to live in a polluted environment or does he avoid it simply because he can afford to? Does he live in a place that is degraded and threatens his mental and physical health, or does he simply want and tolerate others to live in such conditions?

Zeldin should be shamed and should look to the history of his state. He needs to be implementing the nation’s laws to protect health and the environment. If he will not or cannot, he should do the honorable thing and resign.

The writer is a former commissioner for the state Department of Environmental Conservation.

Published March 31, 2025

Gov. Kathy Hochul has nominated Amanda Lefton to be the new commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation. In the governor’s press release, Lefton is quoted as saying, “I am committed to bringing meaningful results to the health and safety of communities all across the state...."

I hope she will bring fresh eyes to issues plaguing environmental justice communities. As one of the leaders of the Rensselaer Environmental Coalition, I am particularly concerned about recent developments regarding the decision to approve a three-year permit for the Dunn construction and demolition debris landfill next to the 1,000-plus student public school in Rensselaer.

We recently provided research and news clips to DEC concerning the discovery that the burning of gases at landfills releases PFAS chemicals into the air that are much stronger than what is shown in the leachate (liquid accumulation) tests at the landfill. This applies to all landfills that burn gases.

Let’s hope that the new commissioner does not allow “paralysis by analysis” as the agency tries to determine next steps for all landfills. There appears to be a clear and present danger to the vulnerable children at the school. Action rather than months or years of rules and regulation development is needed here.

Published March 24, 2025

"We have a lot of people that aren't doing their job," said President Donald Trump, explaining the deep cuts his administration is making in the federal workforce ("Stage set for large-scale federal worker layoffs," Feb. 27).
I suspect that the president is actually trying to eliminate federal workers who do do their jobs. They might call him out for his failure to do his job, which is, first and foremost, to protect us.
The projected cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency prove that the president's agenda is to keep the world safe for polluters by making it perilous for us. The EPA supports national efforts to reduce environmental risks. In New York, we are particularly aware of its importance through its work on cleaning up contaminated lands and toxic sites. The EPA's obligation to review chemicals in the marketplace for safety has become particularly important as Albany County has temporarily banned the sale of biosolids for fertilizer, awaiting the agency's findings.
The president's abrogation of his responsibility to protect us makes it even more important that New York carry out the mandates of its 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act. Two crucial steps for Gov. Kathy Hochul to take are to get the Home Energy Affordable Transition Act passed and cap and invest effectively implemented.
There are limits to how much New York can accomplish on its own, but we can demonstrate to other states how to address climate change despite the federal government's determination to ignore it.

Published March 24, 2025

The 21 attorneys general challenging New York state’s Climate Change Superfund Act claim they are defending the Constitution while, in truth, they are defending the enormously wealthy companies that refine and process fossil fuels ("21 states sue to block N.Y. Superfund Act," Feb. 21).

Though the AGs warn that “New York radicals” and their “left wing policies” are targeting these companies “for destruction," it is fossil fuels that are doing the destruction. These companies are making tremendous profits as they saturate the atmosphere with carbon dioxide and methane emissions that cause havoc with the climate.

The plaintiffs say that the “culprit” in the climate crisis is the consumer. This charge ignores the vast sums that these companies have spent marketing their product and lobbying to ensure its government subsidies.

While it is true that implementation of the Superfund will be complicated, getting it into the budget at all was a great accomplishment and Gov. Kathy Hochul deserves credit for out-facing the objections of the Business Council of New York State to sign it. Now forces from across the country are attempting to undo the will of New Yorkers.

Other states should be emulating rather than obstructing New York and Vermont as they struggle to pay for the ravages of climate change. The Superfund is essential for repairing and maintaining an infrastructure walloped by floods, fires, droughts and storms.

Published March 24, 2025

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Pete Lopez and Alex Wolf in their commentary "When we protect wetlands, we protect lives and the economy," Feb. 11, do a service in reminding us of the importance of wetlands in mitigating potential damage from storms and flooding.

The importance of protecting wetlands at the state level gained urgency following the decision of the Supreme Court to ignore input from scientists and rule that the Clean Water Act only applies to bodies of water that maintain a continuous surface connection to federal waters (Sackett v. EPA, May 2023). This removed protections that previously not only helped mitigate flooding, as Lopez and Wolf describe, but also prevented polluters from contaminating wetlands or other bodies of water that connect to federal waters.

In essence, the ruling thus allows pollution of federal waters as long as it occurs through transient or seasonal connection with another polluted water source. Wetlands also often provide critical wildlife habitat. As of May 2024, 24 states relied entirely on federal law to protect their wetlands.

Published March 3, 2025

Even President Donald Trump’s supporters might be taken aback by some of his recent moves including his withdrawal from the Paris climate accord.
(“Mr. Trump’s global retreat,” Jan. 24). Yet dramatic actions, giving the appearance of energy and resolution, are part of the playbook that makes Trump a successful politician.

It's too bad our governor doesn’t have a copy of that playbook because she better understands how true prosperity relies on limiting the runaway fossil fuel emissions that are playing havoc with our climate. Proving her commitment to battle emissions, she included $1 billion to address the climate crisis in the 2025 state budget.

In 2023, the governor outlined a market-based program, cap and invest, that would sell allowances to the largest, most polluting companies if they exceed pollution limits and would then use the money collected for climate resilience and renewable energy development. Fossil fuel interests, of course, are exerting their considerable power against cap and invest and are baying at the governor’s heels with dire predictions of increased consumer costs. Apparently, in response, she is now putting off the implementation of this program.

Cap and invest is vital for any meaningful reduction of emissions, and we need the governor to implement it quickly and effectively. It is time
for her to prove that, though she may lack political showmanship, she does not lack political courage.

Published Feb. 24, 2025

Even dystopian novels like “1984” did not envision a zealot who sought to simultaneously institutionalize plutocracy, autocracy, kleptocracy and kakistocracy. There is never a good time to unleash such a destructive rampage against all our democratic institutions as is happening now. But there is an existential reason why this is arguably the worst time.

Scientists have warned for years we must make major changes quickly in our energy sources if we are to preserve the habitability of our planet. The accumulation of evidence of how drastically our climate is changing is stark and accelerating. Weekly, we see more global examples of what is in store for us. Every year sets new records for warming and catastrophic events.

We have run out of time to prevent more climate chaos. It is happening and our only current choice is to try to slow its explosive growth and prepare for tougher times. Yet we have inaugurated a would-be despot who denies the science and insists on exacerbating the problem just to bolster the short-term profits of a mind-bogglingly greedy fossil fuel industry.

Noam Chomsky observed, “I don’t know what word in the English language — I can’t find one — applies to people who are willing to sacrifice the literal existence of organized human life so they can put a few more dollars into highly stuffed pockets. The word ‘evil’ doesn’t even begin to approach it.” I would suggest that “Trumpism” comes close.

Published Feb. 10, 2025

Americans have always disagreed about policy issues. Free and open debate is the essence of a democracy. But the one thing that Americans of all different points of view have agreed on is that when natural disasters afflict one part of our country, regardless of political leanings, we rally support without qualification. Tornadoes, hurricanes, floods and, yes, wildfires. Politics ends with our communal obligation to one another. It is our social compact. It is the fabric that binds us as a nation.

California has suffered one of the worst calamities in our nation’s history. The wildfires caused by dry weather has turned forests into kindling wood. And winds that have approached hurricane levels have fueled an inferno never before seen or imagined.

It is unthinkable that any American president would try to leverage this tragedy for some political policy gain. But that is exactly what President Donald Trump is doing. He says no federal aid for Californians who have lost homes and lives unless their state changes election laws to his liking.

How dare he. Trump is fiddling with partisan politics while California burns. He is America’s Nero.

Published Feb. 10, 2025

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Regarding the editorial "A Solar tug-of-war," Jan. 30, we really need a national and statewide priority for land-efficient placement of solar panels.

They should first go over existing parking lots then balconies on high-rise residential buildings then big box retail and warehouse roofs. Rural land should only be used if it's un-forested and only when said laid has in place an agricultural use plan such as vegetable production, grazing or pollinator habitat.

Power grids will need to be hardened to support this. We have to prepare for the impact of fire, flood and storm damage, which will increase in the future.

Ultimately, climate change is a problem that contains a solution within it. Increasingly violent weather will destroy power grids and refineries and make agricultural production impossible. The subsequent sharp decline in human populations will accomplish involuntarily what our capitalist masters choose to not do voluntarily, a drop in fossil fuel use.

Published Feb. 10, 2025

Since her call to make New York “healthier, cleaner,........

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