Grant Makers Need to Work on Resiliency to Climate Change
Robert Searle and Karim Al-Khafaji for The Chronicle of Philanthropy:
Just a few days after Sandy barreled through the region, Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York tacitly fingered climate change as a culprit and warned of the need to prepare for more of the same.
“It is not prudent to sit here ... and say, it’s not going to happen again,” said Governor Cuomo. “Once you have that recognition, then what are you doing about it, and what design changes, what construction changes, are you making to deal with it?”
Philanthropists who focus on all kinds of causes—not just the environment—need to think about these issues. After all, the poor and elderly are among those most likely to be hurt by catastrophes caused by climate change.
But what can philanthropy do to help deal with the inevitable?