Activists call for climate action in downtown Asheville amid high temps - Citizen Times
Asheville activists call for climate action amid high heats
Activists call for climate action in downtown Asheville amid high temps
Sarah Honosky
ASHEVILLE - Pritchard Park was picked, in part, for its shade: A leafy canopy made more essential as areas grapple with higher-than-usual temperatures, activists say, fueling a call to "climate action" as they gathered there in the heart of downtown.
It was also picked for its proximity to Wells Fargo Bank — though the location they rallied outside of had recently moved, the building still bears the name — as Third Act NC, the state chapter of a national political advocacy group, brought New York City’s Wall Street Summer of Heat to Asheville.
"What are we leaving for my grandchildren?" organizer Cheryl Orengo, 71, asked. With one grandchild only six-years-old and the other a toddler, “What are they going to be dealing with? I can’t even think about it because it worries me so much."
About 40 people, accompanied by radical marching band Brass Your Heart, chanted and hoisted signs at the center of the park July 12, before leading followers on a march around several city blocks.
The protest movement calls for big U.S. banks to "stop using our money to fund fossil fuels," said Karen Willey, an Asheville environmental educator and climate communicator.
Climate activist and author Bill McKibben founded Third Act to rally people over 60 around climate change.
Heat records are being shattered nationwide and the Asheville area, too, is experiencing some abnormally hot and dry weather. While its not the 100-degree heat experienced in other parts of the state, Corey Davis, an assistant state climatologist told the Citizen Times earlier in July, it's still "unusually hot" for Western North Carolina.
The National Weather Service is forecasting a high of 89 degrees in Asheville July 13, topping 91 degrees on July 14, and 93 through the rest of the weekend.
During her 43 years living in Asheville, Orengo said she's never experienced such sustained heat. Those gathered at the rally remembered summers spent without air conditioning, relying only on the cross-breeze from a front porch, sleeping with a light blanket in the summer.
“Climate change is real and I’m seeing it all around. Even in this area, which is one of the best areas in the country to be in for climate change," said Peter Ronman, of Black Mountain. He used to turn on the AC twice a year.
"Now I use it practically every day during the summer," he said.
For people without a way to get cool, or those who work outside, the temperatures are dangerous, Willey said. She thought of people working in landscaping, in construction and of the city's unhoused population. In the winter, she said, on the coldest nights there are code purple emergency shelter beds to rely on. But what about in life-threatening heat?
Buncombe County issued a heat health alert July 9 as the maximum heat index climbed toward 95-degrees. It warned of "dangerous" temperatures for those exposed to heat or who more vulnerable, such as older adults, people with disabilities, outside workers, children, those without AC and pregnant people.
It shouldn't be political, said Orengo, who said she worked for Buncombe County health department before she retired. "This is a public health issue."
In January 2020 Asheville City Council declared a climate emergency, adopting a resolution acknowledging the urgent need to combat climate change and the disproportionate impact of the climate crisis on low-income communities and communities of color.
Asheville has ranked on a list of top U.S. cities most likely to receive an influx of residents due to climate migration, and Willey said she's proof that such moves have already begun.
Before coming to Asheville, Willey said she lived on a bay in southwest Florida and watched the sea level rise outside her door. She sold the house and moved downtown, but knew once she retired, "I've got to get out of here and go to a place where the water isn't rising."
More: Meet Asheville's 1st urban forester. How will the city grow its tree canopy?
More: City of Asheville aims to incorporate climate justice into policies, procedures
Sarah Honosky is the city government reporter for the Asheville Citizen Times, part of the USA TODAY Network. News Tips? Email shonosky@citizentimes.com or message on Twitter at @slhonosky. Please support local, daily journalism with a subscription to the Citizen Times.
Related Knowledge Center: Climate economics
Climate change is now a driver of the world’s economy. The impact is profound:
- Catastrophic weather events — hurricanes, floods, droughts, high temperatures — are more frequent and more extreme. The cost can be measured in both the initial damage caused and the longer-term impact on the economy.
- Vulnerable communities are increasing climate-related investments, hardening infrastructure and taking other protective measures.
- Investment in carbon capture and storage technologies is increasingly rapidly.
- Governments are making investments and crafting regulations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
On top of all of this is the cost of uncertainty. As the Fourth National Climate Assessment, released in 2018 by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, says, “The assumption that current and future climate conditions will resemble the recent past is no longer valid.”