US Lags On Plans For Climate Change - Boston Globe

[hatrack]

Shocking! Who knew?

Countries and cities around the world are beginning to use a new strategy to confront climate change: preparing for its consequences.

Toronto has installed an emergency system that will alert public health officials 60 hours before the start of potentially lethal heat waves, which are expected to increase as the world warms. New Zealand is pairing engineers with local governments to strengthen infrastructure such as city drainage systems to withstand more intense rainstorms. Tiny Burkina Faso in Western Africa is researching new drought-resistant millet and sorghum to grow as rainfall decreases.

But the United States is lagging well behind. Only a handful of cities or states have begun projects or adopted regulations to accommodate higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, sea level rise, and longer growing seasons. If fairly conservative climate projections hold true for Boston, global warming will raise sea levels enough by the end of the century that Boston Harbor will flood parts of East Boston and the downtown Financial District during a typical winter northeaster. South Boston, Back Bay, and Cambridge would also probably flood during a category 2 hurricane, according to simulations produced for the Globe by a computer modeling consultant. Yet, the region has no plan to deal with flooding of that magnitude.

"We don't hear too much about adaptation, and we need to," said Paul Kirshen, a Tufts University research professor of engineering who recently outfitted his house with extra large gutters to handle more intense rain storms. He said cities and states should include the expected impact of climate change in environmental reviews of new construction and building codes. "It's a lot less expensive to deal with adaptation now," he said.

EDIT

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/05/us_lags_on_plans_for_climate_change/