The last week of September marks Climate Week, a period of conversations and discussion where local and international institutions reflect on the state of affairs on climate change. While we labor through the last days of one of the hottest summers on record, I hope to make the beginnings of a larger argument on the importance of climate in how we envision and plan our communities, as well as the political context that will happen in.

For me, climate politics is a framing of politics that recognizes both the threat that climate change is having and will continue to have on humanity and how that threat must be mitigated in every major political discourse that exists as we know it. It isn’t just about legislation, but also how we hold perceptions of the wider economy, foreign policy and of our communities that align more closely with a vision that acknowledges the limits of our current consumption habits. The national economy can no longer just be an engine for growth if it means emitting millions of tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year. The damage has been done, so to speak – the world is on track to see temperature increases of 1.5 degrees Celsius by 2050 and conservatively up to 4 degrees Celsius (7 degrees Fahrenheit) on average by the end of the century.

But although we all share key climate realities, what they look like can vary quite greatly in a way that makes the development of consensus around strategy very difficult. Here in New York, there have been a few different legislative packages that have passed at the city and state levels attempting to achieve ambitious goals to reduce carbon emissions. In the state legislature, the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) sets goals to reduce emissions to 40% below 1990 levels by 2030 and then to 85% below 1990 levels by 2050. From the New York City Council, the Climate Mobilization Act makes commitments to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 80% and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Despite the enactment of these ambitious bills, there remain large constituencies hostile to government efforts to mitigate the impacts of climate change through public policy that wield enough power to slow-walk such measures or make them unpopular enough to eventually abandon.

Climate does and will continue to have an impact on Black communities although we aren’t always pointing out the symptoms as they occur. The threat of warmer summers is a threat in neighborhoods without adequate tree cover, inadequate housing and lack of cooling centers where residents can find refuge. If we want to seriously re-orient our communities to tackle climate change, that may take re-assessing our relationship to cars. While many areas have found their trajectories changed for the worse by the construction of major highways through them, many of our neighbors are very hostile to agendas that invest more in infrastructure such as public transit, bike lanes, and road diets. Cars aren’t just a method of travel but a part of the American dream and the aspirational suburban lifestyle that comes with it.So what does the future look like? Even with significant restructuring of our economy away from fossil fuels, warmer temperatures seem to be all but guaranteed into the near future. We have two main paths in front of us. With no major change, many of our communities will increasingly find themselves more vulnerable to natural disasters and having to compete with wealthier and more connected areas for resources to be rebuilt. With more radical change, our communities can find themselves much better situated in a future where those who commit to a green transition early on may reap compounding benefits into the future. By no means would such a choice be easy, but it may be what is needed and residents today and onward deserve a chance at the type of neighborhood stability that has long eluded them..