As nurses who routinely see the negative health impacts of “dirty” transportation on our patients with asthma, other respiratory diseases and heart disease, we know we are in “code red” when it comes to the impacts that burning fossil fuels have on human health.
Dangerous local air pollutants that result from burning gasoline and diesel are already responsible for more than 2,000 hospital admissions for heart and lung problems and 6,000 emergency room visits for asthma per year in New York City alone.
For decades New York State has been an environmental leader. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s new plan to get the state to 100 percent clean power by 2040 is thus an important milestone. But today, the largest source of climate pollution in our state is from transportation: cars, trucks and buses are responsible for 42 percent of the state’s carbon emissions.
