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- Investment into coastal area infrastructure is pointless. Sea level rising is inevitable.
- Trying to build upgrade/help coastal infrastructure is a lost cause.
- Only relocation solves.
- Relocation is the only option that solves sea level rise
- Miscellaneous
- Plan creates more environmental research to help non-military lands in Alaska
Relocation CPText: The United States Federal Government should relocate vulnerable transportation infrastructure away from coastal areas.Relocation of TI and economic centers away from coastal/vulnerable areas is key to preventing further damageNational Research Council of The National Academies, 8 (NRC, Online Pubs, “Potential Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Transportation”, 7/18/8, http://onlinepubs.trb.org/onlinepubs/sr/sr290.pdf) One of the most effective strategies for reducing the risks of climate change¶ is to avoid placing people and infrastructure in vulnerable locations, such¶ as coastal areas. Chapter 3 described the continuing development pressures¶ on coastal counties despite the increased risk of flooding and damage from¶ storm surge and wave action accompanying projected rising sea levels.¶ Many areas along the Atlantic, Gulf, and Pacific coasts will be affected. Once¶ in place, settlement patterns and supporting infrastructure are difficult to¶ change. In New York City, for example, a major concern of emergency¶ planners is handling the evacuation of some 2.3 million New Yorkers from¶ flood-prone areas in the event of a Category 3 or greater hurricane (New¶ York City Transit 2007). Continued development of such vulnerable areas will only place more communities and businesses at risk and increase the difficulty of evacuation in the event of a major storm Investment into coastal area infrastructure is pointless. Sea level rising is inevitable.Gillis, 12 (Justin Gillis, NY Times, “Rising Sea Levels Seen as Threat to Coastal U.S.”, 3/13/12, http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/14/science/earth/study-rising-sea-levels-a-risk-to-coastal-states.html?_r=1) Insurance companies got out of the business of writing flood insurance decades ago, so much of the risk from sea level rise is expected to fall on the financially troubled National Flood Insurance Program, set up by Congress, or on state insurance pools. Federal taxpayers also heavily subsidize coastal development when the government pays to rebuild infrastructure destroyed in storm surges and picks up much of the bill for private losses not covered by insurance.¶ For decades, coastal scientists have argued that these policies are foolhardy, and that the nation must begin planning an orderly retreat from large portions of its coasts, but few politicians have been willing to embrace that message or to warn the public of the rising risks.¶ Organizations like Mr. Ebell’s, even as they express skepticism about climate science, have sided with the coastal researchers on one issue. They argue that Congress should stop subsidizing coastal development, regarding it as a waste of taxpayers’ money regardless of what the ocean might do in the future.¶ “If people want to build an expensive beach house on the Florida or Carolina coast, they should take their own risk and pay for their own insurance,” Mr. Ebell said.¶ The new research calculates the size of the population living within one meter, or 3.3 feet, of the mean high tide level, as estimated in a new tidal data set from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the lower 48 states, that zone contains 3.7 million people today, the papers estimate, a figure exceeding 1 percent of the nation’s population.¶ Under current coastal policies, the population and the value of property at risk in that zone are expected to continue rising.¶ The land below the 3.3-foot line is expected to be permanently inundated someday, possibly as early as 2100, except in places where extensive fortifications are built to hold back the sea. One of the new papers calculates that long before inundation occurs, life will become more difficult in the low-lying zone because the rising sea will make big storm surges more likely. Ext: Aff solvency dTrying to build upgrade/help coastal infrastructure is a lost cause.Posse Incitatus, 9 (Posse Incitatus, Political blogger, “Think Twice Before Building, 9/1/9, http://posseincitatus.typepad.com/posse_incitatus/2009/09/think-twice-before-building.html) In short, there are too many people living in places they ought not to be living. And the surprising thing is, I thought California was full of liberals who despised development that scars the landscape and disrupts natural habitat for all God's creatures. But I've been out to the Golden State a couple of times, and was amazed and incredulous at the precarious locations of homes on steep, high mountains, propped up by what looked like stilts on one side. The roads leading to and from these homes are often winding and treacherous. Beautiful scenery, yes, but practical? Heck no!¶ Incredibly, in New Orleans, four years after Katrina ravaged that city, there are still people who want to use taxpayer money to rebuild neighborhoods in flood plains that are BELOW SEA LEVEL. How freakin' STUPID can you get? I don't give a damn how much culture or how many good memories people have of those communities. We cannot repeat the same idiotic mistakes of years past.¶ The fiasco aftermath of Katrina was far more the fault of New Orleans' inept Mayor, Ray Nagin, than it was of FEMA, Michael Brown, and George Bush, but try telling that to the brain-dead mainstream media. First, Nagin had no evacuation plan, and he and Louisiana's governor waited WAY too long to order people out of the city. It was also outrageous to send them to the Superdome, knowing that once power went out (only a matter of hours), the stadium would become a hellish sauna bath with conditions deteriorating rapidly. ¶ Emergency management is first and foremost a LOCAL issue, then the state steps in. FEMA is not intended to be a first responder. But bashing Bush was fully in vogue by 2005, so the press piled on despite being ignorant of what they were reporting on. (Does that surprise anyone?)¶ Anyway, we could be facing some more hurricanes in the coming weeks. The federal government needs to stop providing flood insurance to fools who continuously place themselves, their families, and property in peril by building in flood-prone hurricane zones.¶ And Californians ought to wake up and realize that steep mountains may be beautiful, but they are dangerous locations for homes.¶ Yes, I know. Too late for many people. But perhaps some out there will avoid setting themselves up for disaster. Ext: cp solvencyOnly relocation solves.USGCRP, No Date (United States Global Change Research Program, “Integrating federal research on global change and climate change”, last updated 7/16/12, http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts/climate-change-impacts-by-sector/society) Cities also have considerable potential to adapt to climate change through technological, institutional, structural, and behavioral changes. For example, a number of cities have warning programs in place to reduce heat-related illness and death (see Human Health sector). Relocating development away from low-lying areas, building new infrastructure with future sea-level rise in mind, and promoting water conservation are examples of structural and institutional strategies. Choosing road materials that can handle higher temperatures is an adaptation option that relies on new technology (see Transportation sector). Cities can reduce heat loads by increasing reflective surfaces and green spaces. Some actions have multiple benefits. For example, increased planting of trees and other vegetation in cities has been shown to be associated with a reduction in crime,338 in addition to reducing local temperatures, and thus energy demand for air conditioning. Human well-being is influenced by economic conditions, natural resources and amenities, public health and safety, infrastructure, government, and social and cultural resources. Climate change will influence all of these, but an understanding of the many interacting impacts, as well as the ways society can adapt to them, remains in its infancy. Relocation is the only option that solves sea level riseWorld Ocean Review, No Date (World Ocean Review, “The million dollar question: how bad will it be?”, last updated 7/16/12, http://worldoceanreview.com/en/coasts/living-in-coastal-areas/”) During the same timeframe the coastal megacities will continue to grow. New cities will be built, particularly in Asia. In Europe an estimated 13 million people would be threatened by a sea-level rise of 1 metre. One of the implications would be high costs for coastal protection measures. In extreme cases relocation may be the only solution. A total of a billion people worldwide now live within 20 metres of mean sea level on land measuring about 8 million square kilometres. This is roughly equivalent to the area of Brazil. These figures alone illustrate how disastrous the loss of the coastal areas would be. The Coastal Zone Management Subgroup of the IPCC bases its evaluation of the vulnerability of coastal regions, and its comparison of the threat to individual nations on other features too:¶ the economic value (gross domestic product, GDP) of the flood-prone area;¶ the extent of urban settlements;¶ the extent of agricultural land;¶ the number of jobs;¶ the area/extent of coastal wetlands which could act as a flood buffer. Relocation is keyKrajick et al, 8 (Kevin Krajick, Kyu Lee, Kim Martineu, all journalists, “Climate Change Will Hit Transport Systems Hard, Says Government Panel”, The Earth Institute Columbia University, 3/12/8, http://www.earth.columbia.edu/articles/view/2138) Preparing for projected climate changes will be costly, says the report. Needed measures range from retrofitting infrastructure to making major additions, to constructing entirely new infrastructure. The committee noted a need for trading off “the costs of making the infrastructure more robust against the economic costs of failure." Some areas may need drastic measures. With rising sea level, roads, rail lines and airport runways in low-lying coastal areas may have to protected with expensive sea walls or levees; some facilities may require total relocation.¶ The report calls for the federal government to take a strong role in implementing some recommendations. These include creation of a clearinghouse for information on transportation and climate change; establishment of a research program to re-evaluate existing design standards; and updating flood insurance maps with climate change in mind. MiscellaneousSolving Permafrost thawing key to DoD and Air Force in AlaskaSERDP, 7/12/2012, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Department of Defense, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Army Alaska with Decision Support Tools Developed through Field Work and Modeling (RC-2110)” Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, We harness the latest science and technology to develop and demonstrate innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions. These innovations improve DoD's environmental performance, reduce costs, and enhance mission capabilities. The Department of Defense (DoD) manages 1.5 million acres of training land in three main areas within the Tanana River basin of Interior Alaska--Donnelly Training Area, the Yukon Training Area, and the Tanana Flats Training Area. Geographically, this region extends from Fairbanks south to the Alaska Range and east and west across the Tanana River basin. These lands are managed by the Army but are also used by the Air Force. Due to increased training pressures at other major installations in the U.S. the Alaska training areas have seen increased interest in training, usage, and infrastructure development over the past ten years. This increased training land usage and management is expected to continue. Future climate scenarios predict an approximately 5°C increase in mean annual air temperatures for this region over the next 80 years. This warming is expected to degrade permafrost in many areas of Alaska, which will dramatically affect surface hydrology, soil, and vegetation. Some locations are expected to become wetter, which would affect wetlands status, vegetation, and species diversity. This would likely present potential access and mobility issues for the Army or other land users. Other locations are expected to become drier with climate warming. This could lead to increased wildfire frequency and vegetation shifts. The potential ecosystem responses to climate warming and to non-climatic anthropogenic stressors could have severe ramifications for how, where, and when the DoD can train in Alaska. Other land users in Interior Alaska are facing a similar challenge. Plan creates more environmental research to help non-military lands in AlaskaSERDP, 7/12/2012, Strategic Environmental Research and Development Program Department of Defense, “Addressing the Impacts of Climate Change on U.S. Army Alaska with Decision Support Tools Developed through Field Work and Modeling (RC-2110)” Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, We harness the latest science and technology to develop and demonstrate innovative, cost-effective, and sustainable solutions. These innovations improve DoD's environmental performance, reduce costs, and enhance mission capabilities. The objective of this project is to develop a geographic information systems (GIS) based decision support system using spatially explicit ecosystem response data on climate and non-climate related anthropogenic stressors. We will use a combination of field work and modeling to make predictions on how climate warming is most likely to affect surface hydrology, soils, and vegetation in Interior Alaska. The results will be synthesized into a decision support system to provide U.S. Army Alaska land and facility managers with information to help make decisions regarding development of future training and installation management plans. Our GIS-based approach will combine user input and critical landscape-change analyses, field surveys, and coupled hydrologic thermal modeling based on projected climate change outcomes to generate ecosystem response parameters to the year 2100. This type of research effort has never been done in Interior Alaska. We will work with other land managers, research collaborators, and other land users to ensure our results provide input to planning on non-Department of Defense lands in Interior Alaska as well. We anticipate the results from our climate and thermal modeling will have application to other locations where seasonally frozen (and thawed) soils are present. Though the project objectives are mostly applied research we plan to identify and address basic research gaps in our understanding of permafrost hydrology, climate modeling, and ecosystem responses to change. Directory: files files -> Answer True False 2 points Question 2 files -> Integer programming and game theory files -> 4 Integer Programming files -> Bpa vehicle Window Repair Scenario #1 task: Procure vehicle window relacement. Objective files -> Pop Warner History files -> North Carolina Inclusion Initiative Mapping Where Children with ieps are Being Served Purpose files -> Fall 2013 Spring 2014 Program Data: Standard 1 Exhibit 4d files -> Hanban – asia society confucius classrooms network 2010 request for proposal files -> Northern England’s set-jetting locations Download 0.93 Mb. Share with your friends:
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