Living throughout Northern Brooklyn my entire life, I have already witnessed how seemingly distant environmental issues have already impacted everyday life. Hurricanes have become stronger, and more frequent; Irene, Sandy, and Ida all come to mind when I think of the powerful storms that have, at times, crippled our city’s public infrastructure. Flooding from Hurricane Ida has kept my own local YMCA, over on Humboldt Street, closed for the last three years. I work as an educational programmer at the Prospect Park Zoo and our offices were fully flooded after Tropical Storm Ophelia last September and they have yet to reopen. I approach each hurricane season with a new trepidation.