You can’t think of New York City without thinking of Central Park.
People living in large, populated cities experience climate change in very real ways. Those in New York City know about the urban heat effect because they live in an area that is surrounded by cement and asphalt, and the buildings hold on to extreme heat during the summer. “We certainly are living in a warming world,” said Maura Lout, executive director of the Central Park Conservancy Institute. We know this, and we’ve experienced that in very devastating ways in Central Park over the last several years.”
Fifty percent of all New Yorkers report that the only time they spend in a natural environment is in city parks.“Our organization has spent years researching the unique role that natural area parkland in cities – forests, wetlands, and grasslands – can play in mitigating climate change,” said Sarah Charlop-Powers, executive director of the Natural Areas Conservancy. “This project will shine a light on the importance of urban natural areas in addressing the climate crisis.