As temperatures ratchet up into another New York August, it can sometimes be hard to believe that the city can be a pleasant place to be. The garbage stinks if you’re unlucky enough to pass it before pick up and, while we haven’t yet hit the tarmac-softening highs I’ve seen in previous years, the oppressive air in the subway seems too unhealthy and heavy to breathe.

At times like this, it’s good to remember the initiatives that the city is taking in response to climate change and conservation in general. PlaNYC is a multi-pronged initiative to improve the city environment in multiple ways. Just last week the mayor unveiled a plan to increase energy efficiency (reduce electricity usage and carbon emissions, the aim for the latter is a reduction of 4,900 tons per year) in public housing in The Bronx.

A more literal oasis of green is the High Line. The High Line is an elevated train line that once ran freight into downtown Manhattan. Trains haven’t run on it since 1980, when the last train brought a car load of frozen turkeys into Chelsea. With the initial support and advocacy of friends of the High line and, in recent years, the city, these train tracks recently reopened as a sort of “park in the sky”. It stretches from Gansevoort to 20th Street, but will eventually run further north and has a nifty “track-like” design that makes use of the river views and the way the tracks tunnel through buildings. The plants look to me to be native New Yorkers- grasses, sumac, horsetails.

This is just a really amazing and innovative reinvention of a rusting skeleton from a different age as a cool oasis.