Last week Governor Kathy Hochul was in Rome, for Pope Francis’s three day climate change summit, 'From Climate Crisis to Climate Resilience.'
Hundreds of world leaders and scientists met in the Vatican City. They were there to talk about climate change impacts and climate change resilience, or how humanity can adapt and change to survive in our shifting environment.
At the summit, Pope Francis said that the destruction of the environment is, quote, “an offense to God.” He asked political leaders whether they were working towards “a culture of life or for a culture of death.”
Governor Kathy Hochul w spoke about the way climate change has ‘battered’ New York state since she took office.
"I had two hurricanes my first week on the job, more than Florida had that year. Tornadoes, a 1000 year flooding event, [with] our lakes and streams upstate where people have drowned, flooded in their homes," said Hochul.
"And I'm only on the job two years. So think about the scale of those cataclysmic events, of what it has done to our communities.
Hochul said that the $4.2 billion dollar Environmental Bond Act that voters passed in 2022 was just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to New York’s climate action.
At the forum, Governor Hochul announced another $300 million dollars for climate change resiliency initiatives. Two thirds of the funding is for water quality improvement projects that address flood resiliency or protect a drinking source.
The Governor referenced the words of Pope Francis several times, especially when it came to the impacts of climate change on disadvantaged communities.
"Listen to the words of the Pope," said Hochul, "about our responsibility to Earth, but also [towards] taking care of the poor. They are one and the same."
"Woe have people in our own state, children growing up in areas where asthma rates are too high. We are focused on helping those underserved communities. Disadvantaged communities should not be any worse environmentally than any other affluent community, because that is an injustice. That is an injustice."
Pope Francis also highlighted how up to 3.5 billion people might be displaced from their homes due to climate change.
Governor Hochul acknowledged that many climate change refugees are finding their way to New York.
She said the state is a ‘magnet’ for migrants looking for a better life, and that climate change refugees deserve help in their home countries and when they come to the US.
"Those who are the climate refugees - local circumstances, environmental challenges are driving people from their homes because they can no longer sustain themselves in the agricultural jobs that were once there for them. That's not their fault. We have to help them," said Hochul.
Hochul has been scrutinized for her handling of an influx of migrants in the state over the last two years, with many Republican lawmakers calling on Hochul to take harsher measures.
Several North Country counties - including St. Lawrence, Warren, Franklin, and Herkimer - have taken pre-emptive measures to block migrants from coming to their counties.
But Hochul said at the conference that she is ‘optimistic’ about the future and New York’s climate goals. She also said current leaders and residents have a 'moral responsibility' to future New Yorkers to make change now.