NEW YORK—From trying to cut down traffic pollution to planting one million trees in the City, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is trying ever so hard to make the planet a cleaner, greener place for future generations.
His latest initiative is to reduce tropical hardwood consumption by City agencies. The rot-resistant tropical hardwoods, used to make great city benches and boardwalks, also spell disaster for the earth's vital and fast-disappearing rainforests.
"New Yorkers don't live in the rain forest, but we do live in a world that we all share, and we're committed to doing everything we can to protect it for all of our children," said Bloomberg in a published address he gave to the United Nations Monday. "And so let me announce what New York City is now prepared to do to curb tropical deforestation."
At an international climate conference he attended last month in Bali, Indonesia, the Mayor pledged to reduce the City's use of tropical hardwood. New York City is one of the largest consumers of the wood in North America.
In addition to park benches and beach boardwalks, the City purchases more than $1 million in tropical hardwood each year for use on ferry landings and for the walkway on the Brooklyn Bridge. Because structures like the Brooklyn Bridge walkway are designed for tropical hardwood, replacing it is not so easy, Mayor Bloomberg acknowledged.
"As any engineer will tell you, once you've designed a structure for one material, you just can't use a replacement; you've got to go back to the drawing board." But Mayor Bloomberg, who made his billions through his financial news company, is known as a man who gets things done.
"Our City's agencies will immediately reduce their use of tropical hardwoods by 20 percent. They will do that by specifying domestic wood, recycled plastic lumber, and other materials in the design of park benches and other construction projects.
"We are also going to undertake serious, long-term studies of the design of our boardwalks and ferry piers to see what alternatives we can use when these structures have to be replaced. And from now on we will also refrain from designing new boardwalks with tropical hardwoods."
In his United Nations speech, Mayor Bloomberg also drove home the importance of cities as the driving force behind improving the environment and reducing global pollution. He cited the fact that while the U.S. government has yet to approve the Kyoto Protocol, placing restrictions on levels of pollution, more than 700 cities in the United States, representing more than 80 million Americans, have pledged to meet the protocol's goals. He also said that later this year, New York City will convene a two-day conference of representatives from more than 20 major world cities to discuss the environment.
"From the dawn of civilization, [cities] have always been the hub of human industry and the matrix of human invention," the Mayor reflected.
"The scientific curiosity, thirst for discovery, and enterprising spirit fostered so long ago in medieval cities launched the process that today knits our world together into one global community. It was said then that 'city air is freer,' because cities liberated people from the bonds of feudalism. Cities unlocked human creativity and fired human imaginations. Now cities can help make air not only freer, but also healthier, for everyone who inhabits our globe."
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