Fragrant Jasmine wove around the doorway of my parents’ home in Sierra Leone when my mom was pregnant with me. The striking greenery, star-shaped flowers, and sweet scent are where I got my name and it feels fitting that 30-something years later I’m working to preserve the environment.
Read MoreI’m excited to kick off this spotlight series on youth activists that I’ll be releasing every other month this year. Beginning alphabetically, this month’s youth activists hail from Africa, the continent warming faster than the rest of the world as detailed in the recent Sixth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
Read MoreTorrential rains flooded parts of the East Coast as Hurricane Ida swept up the country. Along with it came flooding that experts had warned about and that cities were not able to handle. It highlighted the perfect storm that is bearing down on this country: aging water infrastructure and climate change threaten already failing and fragile water systems. As we wait to see what the fate of the $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure deal will be, it’s clear that we need to dedicate a large swath of money to overhaul water infrastructure and to address how urban areas mitigate the impacts of climate change. According to CNN, $55 billion is being proposed to “upgrade water infrastructure” and another $50 billion would be dedicated to “making the system more resilient -- protecting it from drought, floods and cyber attacks.” Will this be enough?
Read MoreOn Sundays, sometimes I like to head down to the Upper West Side and grab a bagel and an iced coffee before strolling over to Central Park to find a bench to park on with a book. One of the first outdoor activities I did once it warmed up this year was to visit the cherry blossoms by the Jackie Onassis Reservoir after enjoying a sticky bun on a park bench and watching all of the cute dogs pass me by.
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