Most Georgetown students—and for that matter, many District residents—recognized Earth Day two weeks ago as little more than a chance to snag a free cone at Ben and Jerry’s. But a few hundred miles north of us, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has taken a major step towards making New York environmentally friendly by unveiling a set of new policies that could cut the city’s greenhouse gas emissions by up to 30 percent. Mayor Adrian Fenty should follow his example and develop a concrete long-term plan for reducing D.C.’s negative impact on the environment.
New York is not alone in the environmental challenges it faces: last week, the Washington Post announced that carbon dioxide emissions have increased in the metro area by 13.4 percent in the last four years alone. As the nation’s capital, the District has a unique obligation to set an example for the rest of the country by working to reduce the inevitable onslaught of global climate change. Some residents are doubtless making voluntary sacrifices to minimize their contribution to the impending climate crisis. As valuable as these contributions are, the severity of the problem posed by global warming necessitates a plan from Fenty mandating serious change.
The most widely publicized aspect of Bloomberg’s 127-point plan is the decision to create an $8 congestion charge for people who drive their cars into Manhattan below 86th Street between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. in order to reduce vehicle greenhouse gas emissions and raise funds for public transportation. The District could certainly implement a similar plan, charging a fee for all drivers who cross the Beltway. This is just one among many proposals in Bloomberg’s plan that Fenty might be able to successfully apply to the District.
There’s no use talking about fighting climate change if we don’t adjust our daily lives in order to do something about it. Bloomberg said his plan would make New York ‘’the first environmentally sustainable 21st-century city,’’ according to the New York Times. It’s time for Fenty to step up with a plan to make District the second.
