Research and Discussion | 2014 Is Climate Change even a thing? - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

Research and Discussion | 2014

Is Climate Change even a thing?

National Climate Assessment 2014 “Global climate is changing and this change is apparent across a wide range of observations. The global warming of the past 50 years is primarily due to human activities.” Quadrennial Defense Review 2014 “The impacts of climate change may increase the frequency, scale, and complexity of future missions, including defense support to civil authorities, while at the same time undermining the capacity of our domestic installations to support training activities.” The pressures caused by climate change will influence resource competition while placing additional burdens on economies, societies, and governance institutions around the world. These effects are threat multipliers that will aggravate stressors abroad such as poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and social tensions – conditions that can enable terrorist activity and other forms of violence.” National Academy of Science, America’s Climate Change Choices 2014 “Climate change is underway and poses serious risks for both human societies and natural systems”

What are the facts?

Threats

• Urban:
• Infrastructure will be

increasingly compromised

• Rural:
• Highly dependent upon

natural resources that are being impacted

• Health:
• Impacts from extreme

weather events, wildfire, air quality, and illnesses transmitted by food, water, and insects

• Transportation:
• Sea level rise, storm surge,

and extreme weather affect reliability and capacity

• Agriculture:
• Declines in crops and

livestock due to weeds, diseases, and insects FACTS

• Temperature Trends are getting

warmer

• Heavy downpours are increasing
• More extreme weather
• More frequent and more intense

hurricanes

• The sea level is rising
• Temperatures are reducing ice

cover

• Oceans are becoming acidic due

to carbon dioxide

Charts available on the National Climate Assessment 2014

Are the facts actionable?

• Get educated

REPORTS

• The National Climate Assessment (2014)
• The Quadrennial Defense Review (2014)
• The Progress Report of the Interagency

Climate Change Adaption Task Force (2010)

• America’s Climate Choices Series (2014)
• Climate Change Evidence & Causes from

the Royal Society and U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2013) Web Sites

• GlobalChange.gov
• ClimatePath.org
• EPA.gov/ClimateChange
• TheGuardian.com/environment/climate-change
• WRI.org (the World Resource Institute)
• NCDC.NOAA.gov

Actions

• Get educated
• Revisit your hazard assessment

Take a close look at the last 10 years…

• List you activations/responses
• How many of each hazard did you respond

to:

• Snow
• Hurricane
• Heat waves
• Floods
• Fires
• Tornados

Actions

• Get educated
• Revisit your hazard assessment
• Do a plan review
• Are your plans documented?
• Do your plans speak to your responses?
• Do you have everything you need ?
• Equipment?
• Resources?
• Are your people familiar with your

plans?

Actions

• Get educated
• Revisit your hazard assessment
• Do a plan review
• Review your budget
• Are you constantly going over budget?
• Do you find you have to buy things that

were not budgeted?

• Are you buying things with a long shelf-

life?

• Will this be the right equipment in 5

years? In 10 years?

Actions

• Get educated
• Revisit your hazard assessment
• Do a plan review
• Review your budget
• Develop your people
• Do they have the training they need?
• Do you have the right people on staff?
• Do they understand the evolving hazards?

Actions

• Get educated
• Revisit your hazard assessment
• Do a plan review
• Review your budget
• Develop your people
• Be open to information

Actions

How do I get involved? Email: Rob Dale, PEM, rdale@skywatch.org http://www.iaem.com/climate-change-and-weather

• “Climate Change Doomed the

Ancients”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/28/opini

• n/climate-change-doomed-the-

ancients.html?_r=0

• “World Carbon Dioxide Emissions

Data by Country”

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablo g/2011/jan/31/world-carbon-dioxide- emissions-country-data-co2

• New Mexico Politics & Climate

Change

http://www.truth-

• ut.org/news/item/23928-truthout-

interviews-dahr-jamail-on-new-mexico- politics-and-climate-change

• DOD Official: Climate Change is

Critical to Homeland Security

http://www.gsnmagazine.com/node/41290? c=infrastructure_protection

• The National Climate Assessment

(2014)

• The Quadrennial Defense Review

(2014)

• The Progress Report of the

Interagency Climate Change Adaption Task Force (2010)

• America’s Climate Choices Series

(2014)

• Climate Change Evidence &

Causes from the Royal Society and U.S. National Academy of Sciences (2013)

• GlobalChange.gov
• ClimatePath.org
• EPA.gov/ClimateChange
• TheGuardian.com/environment/climate-change
• WRI.org (the World Resource Institute)
• NCDC.NOAA.gov

Thanks