Saturday, November 3, 2012

New York City Elders try to cope with Superstorm Sandy


Dear GAA Friend,

Greetings from New York where the City is trying to recover from the Sandy Superstorm. 

Everywhere we go—to the post office, the grocery, the farm food stalls, the thrift store, the exercise club—Hurricane Sandy is on everyone’s lips.  We hear inspiring stories of how people are helping each other:  the receptionist at a local business transformed her two story house into a dormitory for neighbors who have neither electricity nor water. Others are hosting family members in their small city apartments.

But others have more difficulty.  A clerk at the local dry cleaners told me that he was bereft of heat and water in his New Jersey apartment since Tuesday.  On the positive side, mail service has returned to our neighborhood. 

While the numbers are still elusive, it appears that older citizens have faced the biggest challenges coping with the cold and lack of food, heat and shelter.  Clearly, most of us New Yorkers and our government were unprepared for this emergency. Nevertheless, many experts explain that emergencies like this will continue and become more intense as global warming progresses. 

What is happening in your location, in your country?  Do you think it is possible to slow global warming?  What are your national leaders saying?  And how are you responding to the challenge of climate change?  Please comment.

Susanne Paul for Global Action on Aging                                    November 3, 2012

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