Case Study – The New Agriculture: Fields of SiliconThe Past Is Future
Case Study – Resilience: Responses to Climate ChangeCase Study – Gastronomy and Hospitality

While in the past Americans moved from north to south, in search of better weather, better working conditions, better opportunities, concerns now arise, given the evolving climate outlook, for what lies ahead in our futures. That demographic shift southward may have made sense many decades ago, but it is highly likely, in fact, to become a reverse demographic shift of remarkable proportion, from the South back to the North.

As Abrahm Lustgarten presents in his book On the Move, climate studies offer cautionary tales…

Take a step back and view the American landscape from outer space, and the effect of all these policies becomes more apparent. Tens of millions of Americans have congregated in the most unsustainable places on the continent because of the blunted risks. Nine of the ten fastest-growing regions in the country are on the front lines of the nation’s most severe and fast-changing climate conditions: the very hot and dry or flood-prone regions that the Rhodium Group’s climate data and maps tell us will be the most difficult to live in.

…

In many other parts of the world, populations shift in response to climate and economic crises in order to avoid the risk. Americans, though, have remained unpredictable in this regard. U.S. Census data shows that Americans move toward heat, toward coastlines, and toward drought regardless of evidence of increasing storms and flooding and other disasters.

On the Move / Lustgarten / pp 110-111

and highlight the need for resilience in planning for that future.

Upstate in its geographic diversity is not immune to climate change.  From west to east, from Buffalo to the agricultural center to the high peaks of the Adirondacks, Upstate is at risk…but preparing.  Lake-effect snowstorms blowing off Lake Erie and blanketing Buffalo, sudden rainstorms swelling streams and producing unusual and unexpected flooding in the center and farther to the east, warmer temperatures enabling opportunistic organisms to infect old-growth and new-growth forests in the north, all demand attention, preparedness and mitigation where possible.

There is, however, a more positive aspect to all of this.  Temperatures overall are milder.  The Fingers Lakes vineyards that formerly grew only cold-hardy grapes that failed to make great wine now sustain California varietals that win awards.  Awareness of flooding risks has yielded successful climate hardening initiatives, managing rivers and streams, where they flow and overflow, avoiding calamity.  The forests with warmer temperatures sustain greater growth and can offer increased recreational activities throughout the year.  In a word, Upstate as a region becomes more, not less, livable under climate change.

In Binghamton. industry of many stripes settled into that confluence of rivers, from cigars – Hull-Grummond Cigar Company, a name lost to time – to shoes – Endicott Johnson Shoe Company, not quite as unknown – to computers – the International Business Machines company.  IBM, founded there during the Second World War, was soon joined by other defense-related technology industries, including Ansco (long gone, long forgotten) and General Electric (moved, expanded, over-expanded and now a shadow of its greatest incarnation), contributing to the region’s success.

The rivers that converged in Binghamton favored commerce long ago but also brought repeated flooding.  A dramatic and comprehensive re-engineering effort was directed at the course of those rivers.  The strategy involved removal and relocation of structures, the creation of safe flood plains and finally river bank redesign.  The project achieved definitive climate hardening.(long before that became a common term and resilience a necessary regional response to climate change) and resulted in the creation of extensive urban park lands.

Combing recreation, nature and environmental protection brings to mind the landscape architecture designs that Frederic Law Olmsted introduced three quarters of a century before, in Buffalo, Utica, New York of course…but none back then in Binghamton.  His principles are honored, though, in this re-imagination and protection of the city.

At the same time, the city has been rebuilding its economy, weaning it from the industries that had moved away or closed down.  It has adapted to current needs, regional and state-wide, looking to healthcare, STEM and high technology (aerospace, defense-related electronics, battery storage technology) as the new economic drivers.  The SUNY Binghamton campus was fortunate for its expansion to have well-constructed manufacturing and office space, massive buildings, waiting for a next life, the life of the information economy.  The major spaces available, largely former shoe manufacturing facilities, have taken on new life and purpose, as classrooms, laboratory spaces, clinical spaces and as student housing.  Those extensive unused spaces near and around downtown invited re-use, not destruction.

The most noteworthy educational innovation is a state-of-the-art nursing program in an advanced simulation and practice center.  Students are introduced into an immersive learning environment that includes all types and ranges of care, from outpatient to inpatient to intensive care to rehabilitation, all in expansive spaces on multiple floors of one former shoe facility.

Qualified students are able to complete their requirements in only one year, given the range and depth of clinical exposure enhanced by the most advanced technology.  This strongly encourages local talent to stay local, be educated and become healthcare providers for their communities.  Recycling of facilities enables retention of talent.  Binghamton and the entire region benefit.

Resiliency and preparation for the future have long included alternative or green energy projects all across the state.  The obvious initial considerations involved solar and wind where their presence was optimal and best deployment could be achieved at least cost.

Land-based options have long been ready at hand, easier to deploy, easier to start up and fund.  The placement of windmills near end-users obviates costly grid enhancements, the benefits immediate.  Roughly 30 wind farms have been deployed across Upstate, producing nearly 2,000 megawatts, projected with new permitted projects to double within 4 years.  While yielding only 3% of the state’s needs overall, the farms yield highly cost-efficient power wherever they have been planted.  The majority have been along the southern border of the Southern Tier, with a few inland from Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, profiting from lake wind effects.