Happy summer in New York City, where an Old Testament God seems to be orchestrating this season’s succession of calamities.

From Legionnaire’s disease to the diarrhea-inducing cyclosporiasis parasite, wildfire smoke to flash floods to heat domes, tick-borne illness to tornadoes, New York City has been beset with a biblical torrent of plagues this summer. Experts say the common denominator in the rise of these public health threats is climate change.

“New Yorkers are not just experiencing one kind of weather at a time anymore,” Louise Yeung, the city’s chief climate officer, told Gothamist. “We are in a new kind of climate that is hotter and wetter, and we are seeing a lot more of these climate threats happening at the same time.”

Mayor Mamdani is trying to ensure that when the floods come, we have a bit more protection than an ark. On Friday, Mamdani announced that the city will spend $43.2 million to bolster the Bureau of Coastal Resilience, a division of the Department of Environmental Protection that oversees coastal flood protection, including raising the staff count from six full-time employees to around 75.

The infusion will also help fund further mitigation projects like the flood walls currently being built in Red Hook and Lower Manhattan and the East Side Coastal Resiliency Project, which aims to protect Manhattan’s Lower East Side through raised parkland, floodwalls and flood gates. “Expanding the Bureau of Coastal Resilience strengthens our ability to safeguard our shoreline, prepare for climate impacts and protect the communities, businesses and critical facilities that power our city,” Lisa Garcia, the commissioner of the city’s Department of Environmental Protection, said in a statement.

However, according to Rebuild by Design, a non-profit in partnership with New York University's Institute for Public Knowledge, the city still has a long way to go. A report released earlier this week suggests that $519 billion will be required to build, upgrade and adapt climate resilience infrastructure throughout the city, at a public cost of $26,000 per New Yorker.

And that’s to say nothing of the lettuce-washing programs we need to keep cyclosporiasis out of our food and ourselves out of the bathroom.

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in a rut while cooped up all day at a nine-to-five job, or just felt stressed about work, school or life in general, you’re not alone. Hearing “just go outside” might sound like trivial advice, but researchers have been investigating a new, unconventional strategy to boost mental health: Seeking the company of wild birds.

You’ve probably heard them singing or noticed them flitting through the canopy, but if you’re not deliberately paying attention to their presence, they can fade into the background. A growing body of research suggests that keeping a watchful eye or attentive ear out for birds can help people from all walks of life feel more calm, present and refreshed.

Birding, the practice of observing birds in their natural habitat and also known as bird-watching, has experienced a renaissance in recent years.

Read on to learn more.

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