The Town of North Hempstead released a survey June 28 that found 84% of the nearly 500 respondents felt climate change is an urgent problem.

“It is always important to check in with residents to ensure that their priorities match ours,” North Hempstead Supervisor Jennifer DeSena said. “Results from the survey confirm that our residents are worried about the impacts of climate change and want to get involved with actions the Town is planning to reduce emissions and help us adapt and thrive in a changing environment.”

Town Councilwoman Mariann Dalimonte added: “It is clear that this is an urgent, time-sensitive issue that the community recognizes. The Town will be embarking on new initiatives to help our environment and participating in climate actions and projects to help us become a Climate Smart Community.”

We don’t expect North Hempstead to solve the problem of climate change by itself and we applaud the town for undertaking the survey in the first place as well as its plans to increase efforts to respond.

But messaging is important and we are disappointed that town officials don’t appear to share the urgency expressed by its residents.

The town said in the press release that the survey was distributed in June 2022 – a full year before its results were posted. Why the delay?

And why exactly is it “always important,” as DeSena said, to check with residents before taking action on what Dalimonte called “an urgent, time-sensitive issue.”

Fire departments don’t usually take a poll before putting out a raging blaze at a home.

Climate change is an urgent problem.

All you needed to do to prove it was to look outside your window on June 7 – three weeks before the town issued its press release – to see an orange sky that made New York appear to be located on the surface of Mars.

That was the result of wildfires in Canada stoked by climate change that produced smoke that would eventually cover the Northeastern and Midwestern United States.

At different times, both New York City and Washington, D.C., had the worst air quality in the world as a result of the smoke and people were advised to stay inside their homes. We don’t think this is the last time this will occur.

The day the town’s press release was issued a dome of high pressure had trapped hot air that was forecast to drive the heat index to 120 degrees from Missouri to Florida.

The headline in the Washington Post last Thursday read “Why a sudden surge of broken heat records is scaring scientists.”

“On Monday, the Post reported, “came Earth’s hottest day in at least 125,000 years. Tuesday was hotter.” And Wednesday and Thursday were even hotter than that.

Phoenix is now on track to break its record of 18 consecutive days with temperatures above 110.

The Town of North Hempstead is certainly not alone in lacking the urgency we would like to see in responding to climate change. In fact, there has been resistance to even acknowledging the problem – funded by the fossil fuel industry – for decades.

So the town may be better than most places.

But then again the threat of climate change is also higher here.

Long Island ranks fourth among major American population centers for exposure to the physical and economic risks posed by climate only behind only San Francisco, Cape Coral, Fla., and New York City, according to a report released in February by Moody’s Analytics.

“With sea level rise, Long Island is a lot more exposed than the rest of the country for obvious reasons,” said Adam Kamins, a senior director at Moody’s Analytics and the author of the report.

“Combined with the acute physical risk associated with hurricanes, which are expected — especially if climate change goes largely unmitigated — to grow stronger, more frequent and to make their way north, probably with a little bit more force than they have historically. That puts Long Island in a vulnerable position,” he continued

Adrienne Esposito, executive director of the Farmingdale-based Citizens Campaign for the Environment, was quoted by Newsday as saying: “This report should be seen as a call to action. And it’s not just environmentalists saying this anymore. It’s every scientist around America who has identified these vulnerable areas with Long Island being No. 4.”

The report from Moody’s suggests three possibilities for addressing these issues nationally that would have a great impact on Long Island.

First, there could be near-immediate mandates that would likely drive the nation away from fossil fuels. Second, leaders could wait nearly another decade to take serious regulatory action and potentially trigger a recession. Third, pursuing the existing scenario, which assumes no major climate change policies, minimizing economic disruptions but increasing physical risks

“This spells trouble for the usual vulnerable coastal states like Florida and New York, along with steep losses for island territories,” the 14-page report concludes. “For any state or metro area with an especially pessimistic outlook, a straight line can generally be drawn from physical risk scores to the forecasts.

North Hempstead officials have taken steps in recent months to address climate change with things like charging stations for electric vehicles but, in truth, their ability to make major changes is very limited.

Nassau County, which well knows the impact of climate change after its experience with Superstorm Sandy,  joined the state’s Climate Smart Communities Program in January 2020 under then-County Executive Laura Curran.

We’d like to hear more from her successor, Bruce Blakeman.

Statewide, a climate plan approved in December paves the way for New York State to enact a “cap and invest” program similar to California’s long-established cap-and-trade system that would limit emissions and require polluters to purchase allowances to spew greenhouse gasses.

It calls for electrifying nearly everything — from buildings to vehicles with a mix of mandates and incentives.

But many of the policies will now rely on action by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the Democratic-controlled Legislature.

Lawmakers have been slow to act on climate policies, and Hochul entering her first full term has to face the political risks of embracing higher energy costs and well-funded opposition from the fossil fuel industry that has stymied clean energy for decades.

The federal government took a major step forward last August when it approved President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which was expected to invest $370 billion in spending and tax credits for low-emission forms of energy to fight climate change.

The legislation, whose cost has grown by an unexpectedly strong response from those who see the financial opportunities offered by clean energy, is the largest investment in the environment in the nation’s history even at its original projected cost.

But Donald Trump won the presidency in 2016 by promising to roll back President Obama’s climate change plans, promote oil and gas drilling on federal lands, and promote the construction of oil and gas pipelines.

And whoever is the Republican nominee for president is not likely to be as aggressive in countering climate change.

So the next presidential election may well determine the fate of environmental initiatives nationwide.

Esposito encouraged New York policymakers to support offshore wind initiatives, to shore up coastlines with re-established wetlands and bulkheads, elevate more homes and ensure that the region’s aquifer system is sustainable long term.

“For those people who are not concerned about [the effect of climate change on] drinking water, they should be concerned about the economic vulnerabilities of Long Island due to climate change,” she told Newsday.

The best news in North Hempstead’s survey came from its respondents.

Some 83% said they want to be part of the solution in a wide wide variety of actions. These included “reducing waste and increasing recycling/composting, sustainable landscaping, tree protection and planting, renewable energy, creating a walkable/bikable transit-oriented community, electric vehicles, green infrastructure, and resiliency measures.”

It appears the residents of North Hempstead have heard the message of climate change loud and clear.

What is now needed are elected officials who help make that happen. Sooner rather than later.