Chapter 22. Chapter 22: Climate Change

What actions can we take to respond to a world with a changing climate?

Interactive Study Guide

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Guiding Question 22.5

What actions can we take to respond to a world with a changing climate?

Why You Should Care

Recognizing climate change is just the beginning. Planning for climate change requires looking at all the possible impacts that a warming climate could have on humans and the ecosystems we depend on. Next up is mitigating the effects by planning ahead and investing in infrastructure to offset the impacts and, finally, adapting to the new world that a warmer climate will bring.

It is easy to see that the major anthropogenic forcer is carbon dioxide emissions, and this needs to be the foundation of any plan to respond to climate change. Those changes will require shifts to energy sources that produce less (biofuels) or no (nuclear, solar, wind, etc.) carbon dioxide.

The next step will be dealing with changes to the Earth as warming, shifting precipitation, and natural disasters increase in intensity and in economic costs. A warmer world melts ice everywhere, but all that water flows back to the oceans: Rising sea levels will impact coastlines and a majority of the world’s largest cities. Shifting precipitation means more moisture for some areas and less for others—farming and forestry will have to be able to move to moister soils to maintain food production for a growing world population. Finally, natural disasters like hurricanes, wildfires, and torrential rains are expected to become more common and more intense—how do we set aside money for insurance and rebuilding?

Question 22.1

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999

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Correct.

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Question 22.2

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999

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Question 22.3

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999

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Question 22.4

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Tropical countries with a high biodiversity would require significant efforts to protect existing species and ecosystems. The low-lying regions would be seriously impacted by any sea-level rise, and there would need to be sea walls and other structures to minimize flooding.

Question 22.5

Short-Answer Questions

Currently, the federal government runs the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) to provide insurance for more than 5 million property holders living in flood-prone areas along coasts (these areas are deemed too risky for private insurance companies). Since 1968, when the NFIP began, more than $41 billion has been paid out in claims to insurance holders (with half of the total going to residents of Louisiana, Texas, and Florida). Sea-level rise is perceived as one of the less-severe changes predicted by climate change because the changes are fairly small (climate models predict additional increases of 4 to 40 inches by 2100). According to a 2012 study, if the sea level rose by 40 inches, more than 3.7 million Americans would be living in areas inundated by the ocean. Making matters worse, 89% of those Americans are concentrated in just 5 states: Louisiana, California, Florida, New York, and New Jersey.

Another predicted change is increased storm and hurricane intensity. Recent increases in hurricane intensity have led to the largest set of claims in the history of the program ($17 billion in 2005). The tightening federal budget has led for some to call for an end to the NFIP or privatization of flood insurance (which is not likely as no private insurance companies can afford the claims that come from catastrophes like Hurricane Katrina—$16 billion in 2005). What is the future of the NFIP in the era of climate change?

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1) If sea level rises, then storm surges would make insurance claims skyrocket. As costs rise, there would have to be a breaking point where the program became too expensive to support anymore. Without insurance, no one could get a mortgage in a flood zone and property ownership would plummet—but at the cost of suddenly depressing property values.

2) In low-lying countries such as the Netherlands, seawall construction has been ongoing for decades, and the precautionary principle gave enough time to protect both urban and vacation areas. But in the early decades, construction protected urban areas first, and only later did construction move out to lower-density areas. Other than population, economic value would be easy to calculate—downtown Manhattan has far more importance to the national economy than the Outer Banks in that case, too.

3) The precautionary Principle suggests that we make changes before effects become noticeable. In this case, if we agree that sea-level rise is a very likely event, then moving people and towns out of the potential flooding areas beforehand would save lives and money ahead of time.