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More traffic and diseases: Government publishes alarming reports on climate crisis

2021-10-10T17:30:38.191Z


The 23 federal agencies examined how the climate emergency is increasingly affecting almost every aspect of our lives, from where we live to what we eat to how we get to work. They also offer solutions.


By Lauren Egan -

NBC News

Nearly two dozen federal agencies released reports on Thursday identifying the top threats the climate crisis poses to their departments and how they plan to respond to them, underscoring the enormous

political challenges the United States faces as the planet continues to warm. .

The reports, which President Joe Biden asked each agency to draft into an executive order in January, detail how the climate emergency will reach every corner of everyday life,

from where we live to what we eat and how we are doing. to work.

Twenty-three agencies published climate adaptation plans, including the departments of Agriculture, Defense, Homeland Security, Education and Transportation.

Each report offers frank descriptions of how the climate crisis is already affecting the federal government's work and what threats the country faces as climate change worsens.

The reports outline solutions, such as

investing in more resilient infrastructure,

ensuring that new buildings and facilities are green, and educating employees about climate change.

A person fishes in Lake Oroville while water levels remain low due to the continuing drought in Oroville, California.Ethan Swope / AP

Temperature changes, increased floods and droughts, increased pests and diseases will affect America's food supply, according to the Department of Agriculture, while the Department of Housing and Urban Development warned that housing affordable "are increasingly at risk from both extreme weather events and rising sea levels."

[Are you under 40 years old?

An “unprecedented” future of extreme heat waves, droughts and floods awaits you]

The Department of Health and Human Services noted that not only are

more people exposed to deadly heat

and

flooding

due to climate change, but

exposure to certain infections

also increases

as the life cycles of ticks and mosquitoes change.

Severe weather disasters contribute to anxiety, depression and other mental health effects, they added.

The reports constitute one of the government's first analyzes of the impact of the climate crisis since the administration of former President Barack Obama, when the federal government carried out a similar review.

Government investigations into the climate emergency largely came to a halt under former President Donald Trump,

who publicly questioned the reality of human-caused global warming.

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The United States is recovering from its hottest summer on record this year, and the United Nations released an alarming report in August warning that

the global community has an incredibly short window of time to slash

fossil fuel

emissions

or will face catastrophic consequences.

Biden took office promising to make the climate crisis a top priority, but some Democrats and activists say he hasn't responded urgently enough.

As Biden negotiates his infrastructure and social spending bills with lawmakers in Congress, advocates have raised concerns that climate initiatives may be watered down or removed from final plans.

[Biden approves federal disaster declaration for California after devastating fire season]

School closings, more traffic, more migration

In its report, the Department of Education said that more than a million students, in California alone, were affected by

school closings due to wildfires

during the 2018-19 school year and that, following Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico, students missed an average of 78 days of school.

A 2016 flood in West Virginia cost $ 130 million in damage to nearby schools, and more than 6,300 schools nationwide serve 4 million students located in floodplains who are at risk.

The Department of Transportation warned that

asphalt roads degrade

as temperatures rise, leading to more traffic.

Higher temperatures also limit the distance that planes can travel and how much they can carry.

Worsening major weather events could lead to widespread cancellation of flights "for long periods of time."

The pipeline where the spill occurred in California may have been damaged for a year

Oct. 9, 202100: 23

In the introduction to his agency's report, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin wrote that, worldwide, the climate emergency is a

"destabilizing force"

and that, only in recent years, weather-related events, including wildfires and floods, they have forced the evacuation of US military bases.

Severe droughts and storms, especially in Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, could “

increase population movements, both legal and illegal

, across the United States border,” according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Higher

temperatures

, the report warns, can also change disease patterns, putting the public and plant and animal health at greater risk of disease.

[Biden to Restore Trump Removed National Monuments Protections]

All agencies emphasized the need to prioritize

vulnerable populations

most at risk from this global crisis, reflecting the Biden Administration's expressed commitment to racial equity.

The Department of Transportation, for example, included a section on

“climate equity”

in its report

that lists goals such as “alleviating the impacts of heat, poor air quality, vector-borne diseases, and other impacts of climate change when to locate and design projects ”.

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Biden is scheduled to travel to Glasgow, Scotland, next month to attend the annual United Nations Climate Change Conference, where world leaders are supposed to provide an update on the targets they set in 2015 when the Paris climate agreement was signed.

Biden has pledged to cut America's greenhouse gas emissions by at least half by 2030 as part of America's new commitment to the landmark pact.

Source: telemundo

All news articles on 2021-10-10

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