Tag Archives: frankenstorm

Thanksgiving Feast in Rockaway during Hurricane Sandy Relief

Posted on by

Yesterday, residents and volunteering occupants of Rockaway Park in Queens NYC gathered at hurricane relief hubs to share Thanksgiving dinner with one another. Here’s video of the afternoon feast, the solar arrays powering the event, and some speeches from organizers and residents:

Despite conditions that still feel alien—sand and dust and rubble under the brilliant sun—the community feasted away on turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes at a gathering powered by solar electricity and human determination. Continue reading →

PHOTOS: Bonfire on Rockaway Beach to Celebrate Ongoing Sandy Cleanup

Posted on by

Josh from Greenpeace with Katie from Occupy in front of the original YANA building, which is being completely cleaned out.

Last night after the sun set, residents of Rockaway Park had a small celebration of all the hard work and progress that they have led with assistance from members of Occupy, Greenpeace and numerous dedicated volunteers.

Make no mistake, you will see no “Mission Accomplished” banner hanging above Beach 113th Street anytime soon–there are still many people in need of serious assistance and a massive amount of construction and cleanup needed before Far Rockaway looks anything like it did before Hurricane Sandy tore the area apart. Disturbingly, we’re hearing reports of body bags being quietly pulled from buildings where disabled and elderly folks have been left isolated.

But after two weeks of relentless hard work, there has been undeniable progress. There has been a reliable source of cooked food, water and supplies thanks to the work of rapid responders. For the last week we have seen the establishment of a stable clinic for doctors and medics to administer aid and organize outreach to ill residents stuck in their homes. The clinic is so successful that FEMA is referring residents to it. Continue reading →

You Are Not Alone – PHOTO ESSAY from Hurricane Sandy Relief

Posted on by

Posted on behalf of Luan “Jonathan” Dong, who is attending graduate school at George Washington University and interning for Greenpeace in Washington, DC.

When you tell your family in China that you are going to the United States for a Master’s degree, or tell your friends that you are going to New York City, you would never imagine end up being here.

Here is Rockaway Park, Queens, New York City. Assumed by many people to be full of summer resorts, Rockaway in fact has a significant portion of impoverished or isolated, if not homeless, residents. More shocking is the scene that greeted us: a scene of total devastation.
This is nothing like the New York City that I knew of, nor does it resemble any part of the United States that I have ever been. Rockaway Beach has been mostly destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. And before Rockaway residents could even catch their breath, a Nor’easter was already here to add insult to injury. The storms have left many people dependent on incoming aid for food and provisions.

The Sun Shined Upon Hurricane Relief Work in Rockaway Park Today

Posted on by

HELP WITH SUPERSTORM SANDY RELIEF in ROCKAWAY PARK: www.RockawayHelp.com

I cannot get my nose to stop running…

But in the full context of hurricane Sandy relief efforts here in the Rockaways of Queens, New York City, a runny nose doesn’t matter one bit. This incredible video shows why:

My runny nose indicates a major improvement from yesterday–we’re not caught in a slushy blizzard. All this junk floating in the air was suppressed by yesterday’s rain and snow. I’m allergic to dust, and there’s more dust and debris here than anywhere I’ve ever been. Continue reading →

Resilience from Rockaway Residents as Sandy Relief is Interrupted by Nor’Easter

Posted on by

It’s cold and wet and hectic here in the Rockaway penninsula of Queens, New York City. Disaster relief efforts from hurricane Sandy are being interrupted by a Nor’easter storm that is now rolling in. As I type, the rain is transitioning to snow and word has it that the National Guard and the Red Cross are pulling out.

Snow is starting to collect on the rubble of collapsed buildings in Rockaway, NY.

While much of the country is focused on the outcome of the election, residents of Rockaway NY are buttoning up their coats, grabbing provisions and either buckling down or evacuating. Again.

That is, the folks who are aware that this storm is coming in. Not everybody is aware that an evacuation order is in place, and not everybody is willing or able to leave. Stranded residents are a major concern here right now. When Sandy trashed the area last week, some nursing homes along the beach were ordered not to evacuate, something fellow residents are feeling sore about as they look out for one another.

Enduring Sandy: A United Community Faces Challenges Head On

Despite miserable weather in the disaster zone and an ongoing lack of basic conveniences, I have seen incredible resilience from residents and relief volunteers in the Rockaways. Continue reading →

VIDEO: Romney confronted in Ohio, “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?”

Posted on by

At a campaign event today in Etna, Ohio, Governor Romney was asked, “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?” Romney responded, “I never imagined such a thing is funny,” despite using rising sea levels as a punchline in his speech to the Republican National Convention.

Woman: “Do you still think the rising of the seas is funny?”

Romney: “I never imagined such a thing is funny.”

Man: “Is climate change still a joke to you?”

Romney: “As a matter of fact, if you’d like to – I know you’re filming – if you’d like to see my view on global warming, I wrote a book, and there’s a chapter on global warming and you’ll see what I think we can do to deal with it.” Continue reading →

Romney Wants to Play Dodge Ball in a Hurricane

Posted on by

 

For the second time today, Mitt Romney dodged a question about Hurricane Sandy and climate change.

After standing by as his supporters drowned out a question about climate change with chants of “USA! USA!”, Mitt Romney was confronted again at a rally today in Virginia about his climate silence. An audience member on the rope line asked Mitt Romney “Given Hurricane Sandy, how would you address climate change as president?”

The opportunity to connect the dots was there for the second time today, but once again Romney dodged. Continue reading →

President Obama saw what global warming looks like firsthand in Atlantic City today

Posted on by

Greenpeace's solar truck the Rolling Sunlight is traveling through New York and New Jersey providing electricity for folks without power

I’m en route with Greenpeace’s Rolling Sunlight, our solar panel topped truck, to New York City to help provide electricity for cell phone charging there to New Yorkers who have lost power in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

On our way, we stopped in Atlantic City, New Jersey, where President Obama visited today to tour damage from this Frankenstorm. We wanted to ask President Obama about his plans to address the global warming that’s fueling extreme weather events like Sandy, and stopped our solar truck outside the airport with a banner reading, “Obama! Romney! Global Warming = Sandy What Now?”

We couldn’t get any closer than that to Air Force One before having to leave to make it to New York tonight, but we and others will keep working to get the message to President Obama and Governor Romney in the next few days before the election and beyond. Our next president will have to set policies so that we’re ready as these extreme weather events continue, and so that we can prevent this new reality from getting much worse by dealing with the global warming behind it. Continue reading →

Global warming = Sandy. Which politicians get it, which don’t

Posted on by

Meet Hurricane Sandy, brought to you by global warming.

Aerial views of damage caused by Hurricane Sandy along the New Jersey coast on October 30, 2012.

 

That’s a tough message to swallow right now. It means that the devastating scenes we are seeing from the Northeast are not a freak coincidence, but a reflection of our new reality on a hotter, less stable planet, and a reality that will get much worse if we don’t do something about it.

Fortunately there are things we can do, both to better prepare ourselves for more extreme weather events like Sandy, and to slow down the global warming at their root.

But whatever we do won’t matter until our politicians start getting honest about the problem.

Some are doing so. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo connected the dots in his briefing this morning:

“There has been a series of extreme weather incidents. That is not a political statement. That is a factual statement. Anyone who says there’s not a dramatic change in weather patterns, I think is denying reality … I said to the president kiddingly the other day we have a 100-year flood every two years now.”

Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm sees the obvious too:

“There’s a clear link to climate change. And, yet, for the first time in over a quarter century, climate change was not brought up even once at the presidential debates.”

President Clinton may have drawn the sharpest, clearest connection so far, in a critique of Gov. Romney earlier today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Wlq6NWHnBTo

Clinton gets the facts slightly wrong in his scathing take-down of Gov. Romney (he made his “rising seas” joke at the RNC, not in a debate) but his point stands that Romney’s campaign has completely ignored the looming thread of climate change, and even flirted with denying it. Perhaps even worse than Romney’s joke that Clinton mentioned – one that is likely to become infamous in the post-Sandy world – is the fact that Romney’s budget proposal would cut FEMA funding by 40 %. That’s not exactly a smart resilience policy for a hotter planet with more extreme weather events.

Despite President Clinton’s praise, President Obama has also been mostly silent on the climate discussion for some time. While Obama has made strides on clean energy in his presidency, he has run a campaign almost entirely devoid of any mentions of climate change, instead trying to out-embrace Gov. Romney for who could better endear himself to the fossil fuel industry responsible for the problem in the first place.

It may feel funny to talk about politicians right now, but if we are serious about steeling ourselves for the next disaster and slowing down the global warming that’s putting these hurricanes on steroids, then part of picking up the pieces means finding out which politicians we can trust to be honest about what’s exacerbating these disasters.

That starts with the next president. Pres. Obama and Gov. Romney will likely both be talking about Sandy this week: it’s a good chance for them to show they’ll be one of the politicians who gets it.