Do you think climate change is impacting Philly?

Text

Other than the normal - like I said the normal changes in the environment, or in climate, and the changes in utilities and things of that nature, which has a big impact. I don't know, I'm trying to figure out what they could do to be more efficient in terms of providing clean energy to us, because I think it's too high. I think electricity is entirely too high. I think the water bill is entirely too high. I think gas, everything is just too high and I don't know-- at one time I thought that because our area is rich in coal, it's some kind of way they could've made the coal more environmentally friendly since we have so much of it, to help people maintain their homes and their environment. 

It would just be some sort of solution, I think. They can go to the moon -- seems like they can make some better solutions to peoples' being able to stay in their property. Because not only the cost of housing and everything is rising so rapidly, and then they're reassessing property values and stuff. Things is getting much higher. Utilities and stuff are not going down and as far as income disparity, especially for certain people in the community, their income is not going up. So it's very hard for some people to maintain. 

You know, it's just hard. Especially if you're on a fixed income. Seniors and stuff, you know, when change is coming, you're home and you don't have your husband, you don't have the kind of income, you're no longer working. You have to lose what you worked for all your life, which is sad, but that's what's going on in our environment. 

If you're a homeowner, as I said, if everything is skyrocketing, especially becoming seniors and stuff and you can't afford to keep up, some people are losing their homes.

License

Creative Commons Licence

Creator(s)

Created Date

March 12, 2021 - 5:00pm

Contributors

Contributed date

March 12, 2021 - 4:51pm

Critical Commentary

The excerpt is taken from an open-ended interview conducted with Rita Watson, a 69-year old African American woman who had lived in Philadelphia for more than sixty years. Ms. Watson attend the 2019 Climate Ready Philly workshop and signed up to participate in the interview project. 

The interview touched on the local impacts of climate change, housing infrastructure, gentrification, domestic flooding, and the costs of energy.

Source

Kenner, Ali. "Interview with Rita Watson." Climate Ready Philly. July 2019. https://disaster-sts-network.org/content/climate-ready-philly-0/essay

Language

English

Cite as

Ali Kenner, 12 March 2021, "Do you think climate change is impacting Philly?", contributed by Alison Kenner, The Energy Rights Project, Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography, last modified 12 March 2021, accessed 19 April 2024. https://energyrights.info/content/do-you-think-climate-change-impacting-philly