With more visitors came a greater appreciation for urban parks and their effect on our collective health, but also more trash, ecological damage, and strain on staff to keep up. During the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with so few places to gather safely in the City, New Yorkers visited Central Park in droves, trafficking the landscapes in new, creative, and often intense ways. None have felt so complex as those faced in the past few years.
Since the Conservancy’s founding in 1980, staff members have witnessed and adapted to a wide range of challenges here in the Park. “It’s not like the smoke from a wildfire stays where the wildfire is-it travels across the country, putting an even bigger strain on people’s already compromised respiratory health.” And that's no exaggeration: in Central Park this summer, a thick haze from the west coast’s record-setting wildfires could be seen-and felt-right here in New York City. “We are dealing with a global pandemic at the same time as extreme heat and wildfires,” explains Kristin Baja, a Program Director in Climate Resilience for the Urban Sustainability Directors Network (USDN). These “multi-crises” are described as such because they are occurring at once and at every level. The repercussions of a warming planet will ultimately touch each of us-in the Park and around the world-but, as seen through phenomena like the urban heat island effect, they impact lower income and communities of color first. Intensifying heat is exacerbating air pollution and rainfall. Razed forests are leading to habitat loss and mass wildlife extinction.
Rising temperatures are resulting in melting glaciers, reduced snow cover, and coastal flooding.
The bulk of this damage stems from greenhouse gas emissions- sources like electricity, transportation, and agriculture-that raise global temperatures, interfere with the earth’s natural cycles, and lead to volatile, often catastrophic weather events. These initiatives not only improve resident satisfaction, build community, and promote environmental sustainability, but they also lower operating costs such as turnover, vacancy, and utilities.The earth has experienced changes in climate throughout its 4.5-billion-year history, but scientists unanimously agree that since the mid-20th century, humans have caused substantial damage to the environment, expediting global warming in unprecedented ways. In addition, the Funds execute commercialized, effective, and efficient retrofit projects and maintenance policies that target resource consumption reductions of at least 10% to 15% and improve resident comfort. These programs include on-site academic support staffed by resident teachers, on-site health education staffed by resident health professionals, community watch programs organized by resident police officers, and other virtual and in-person forms of resident assistance. The Funds design and deliver needs-based enrichment services that generate targeted and measurable program outcomes. The Turner Multifamily Impact Funds preserve and enrich workforce housing with resident-focused services and environmentally sustainable initiatives that improve residents’ quality of life, reduce negative environmental impact, and enhance property operations.
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