Transcripts For CSPAN Climate Change Report 20140510

Signaling the need for urgent action so that we can combat the s we face inrisk this country. President obama has long recognized the urgency of this challenge. , in a speech at Georgetown University on a sweltering hot day, the president launched his Climate Action land. Cutting Carbon Pollution in, preparing our communities for changes in climate that are already ongoing and leading International Efforts to address the challenge. One year later, a lot has happened in executing on the commitments made in the Climate Action plan. The president has directed the Environmental Protection agency and the department of transportation to develop fuel economy standards for heavyduty vehicles. The department of interior has announced its permitting of the 50th Renewable Energy project on federal lands during this administration, and the department of energy has issued multiple, new Energy Efficiency standards. The department of agriculture has announced seven new hubs to adapt operations to a change in climate, and the administration launched in this room and not very long ago a Climate Data Initiative, bringing together open data and design competitions with strong commitments from the private and philanthropic communities in order to develop datadriven planning and resilience tools for communities, and i should say the Climate Data Initiative and the results of this extraordinary study are coming together, and all of the information that the study has developed will be available on the web, again, in userfriendly, accessible forms, to provide people with the information they will need to reduce their vulnerability. Of course, as you all well know, the president has instructed the Environmental Protection agency to develop standards both for new power plants, which have already been put out there, and soon, there will be standards proposed for discussion on existing power plants and heat trapping gases, so this is a lot of progress. We also announced a few months ago a new study to reduce methane emissions which involves quantifying the emissions, committing to new steps to cut the emissions of that potent Greenhouse Gas, and outlining a set of actions Going Forward to improve the measurements so we can tell exactly how well we are doing. That, i would say, is what progress is supposed to look like, and todays events around this extraordinary assessment are another big step. As i think probably everybody in the room knows, a critical piece of the president s Climate Action plan is assuring we continue our steady pace to strengthen the science that informs and underpins the actions that we take to address the threat of Climate Change and ensuring as we do that that we pursue the insights and information that are most relevant and useful to the people who need that information. We are talking about the folks who in some sense are on the frontlines of Climate Change. The Coastal Property owners, the farmers, the city planners, the water resource managers, and others whose livelihoods and his daytoday decisions and who is longerterm planning needs to be informed i the best data available, knowledge about what is happening today in Climate Change and what is likely to come down the road, and what can likely be done to reduce vulnerability, and this assessment that we are releasing today, as you might imagine, from its extraordinary links, 839 pages, i think, on the web, is a virtual encyclopedia of that essential information. The report was four plus years in the making and produced under the auspices of the u. S. Global change program with 13 federal agencies and departments involved in that, and leadership came from nooa. And the Team Included some 300 individuals, and i would not even care to count the number of reviewers in one of the most transparent processes in the history of government. And that effort, that extraordinary effort, which included people from all levels, academia, nonprofits, it has really produced this accounting of what Climate Change is already doing in every geographic region in the United States and the most effective sectors of our economy. The single most important bottom line that shines through all of these hundreds of pages is that Climate Change is not a distant threat. It is something that is happening now and is affecting the American People now in important ways. Summers on the whole are longer and hotter with longer periods of heat, and wildfires continue into the fall, and rain is coming down in many areas of the country with heavier downpours, and people are experiencing more seasonal allergies, and there are effects of Water Resources that have been growing. Again, of course, the key insight of this report is it is not the same everywhere. Climate change is having different impacts in different parts of the country, and that is why it is so important that this study based on advancing science over the last five years has been able to disaggregate the ongoing and expected impacts regionally. When president obama launched his Climate Action plan, he made clear that the information in this new Climate Assessment would be used, and it will be used, to inform the effort of the federal, state, and local levels to increase preparedness for and resilience against the impacts of Climate Change which can no longer be avoided, and this report is not just a bad news story about all of the impacts that are happening. It is a good news story about the many opportunities to take costeffective actions to reduce the damages. I want to acknowledge a number of folks, including the stakeholders in this room, who have gathered to hear about this, and who will be crucial actors going out and promoting, propagating, and implementing the findings of this report. We are grateful for all of your engagement, but i do want to thank four key individuals, without whom this report would never have come to fruition, and Kathy Sullivan, the administrator of the undersecretary of commerce, who you will hear from later in the program for noaa, and her predecessor, who regrets she could not be here, but i spoke with her last evening, and she handed the reins over to Kathy Sullivan from jaynes earlier involvement in this extraordinary effort, and, again, without noaas partnership, and, needless to say, money, this study would not have been completed. The chair of the national Climate Assessment Development Advisory committee, affectionately called the nac a dac fac. You will hear from jerry in a moment, as well. Kathy jacobs, who was the First Executive director of the assessment, whose vision and dedication really made this the most transparent Climate Assessment ever and who kept the trains running on time for more than two years. She was a great contributor, and then her successor, who seamlessly picked up the ball and saw this report over the finish line with dedication, focus, and competence. I think to these folks and to the entire national Climate Assessment team, the 300 authors, the even more numerous reviewers, i think we owe them a big vote of thanks, and i want to lead to that. [applause] and to the rest of you who are here today, partners and institutions standing ready to disseminate and communicate the findings of this report and this message that we need to take action, and we can take action. I ask each of you here to absorb the energy and enthusiasm and carry it back, share it with your constituencies, share it with your communities, and this is, in a sense, a new beginning of this effort to reach out all across the country and incentivize and organize the kinds of actions that we need. We asked people to visit globalchange. Gov to see with the climate is doing in the regions where they live and work, ask them to share those further, and invite them to share stories about what their communities are doing by using the act onclimate. Now, i will wrap up and strap on my master of ceremonies hat and proceed to the introduction of the next speaker, who is none other than dr. Jerry, surprised to say, given the enormous amount of work that he had to put in to help bring this study over the finish line, actually has a day job. He is a distinguished scientist and director emeritus at the Marine Biological laboratory, and he also just about a week ago received the distinction of being elected to the u. S. National academy of sciences, so, jerry, please accept my thanks and my congratulations, and please accept the podium. [applause] first, let me thank you all for being here. This is a longawaited day for many of the members, authors, and all of our partners. It has been a team effort, and we really appreciate all that you have done over, i think it has been four years, not just two, said thank you very much. And i wanted to repeat this. Climate change, once thought of as a problem for the future, has moved firmly into the present. The take on this is that it is happening now, and we need to Pay Attention. It is affecting us in our pocket books and on our land, in every region of the United States. It is changing the lives of farmers, mayors, engineers, town planners, truckers, and forresters. This national Climate Assessment looks exclusively at the United States, breaking it down as mentioned into eight distinct regions. In contrast to the global assessments that look at north america as a single region. The national Climate Assessment digs deeper than global and National Averages to reveal specific regional impacts that matter to people every day. This report is about what is happening to people in this country. With five more years of observed data since the last assessment, and, by the way, a few of us, tom and others and i have been with this assessment process since the beginning, and we have tracked its progress. This new report reveals specific climaterelated changes and cumulative impacts already occurring in every region and in economics that are such as health, agriculture, energy, water, and transportation. The report also reveals linkages among the impacts in cross sectors, and this is something new in this report. For example, reduced water availability in already arid regions can increase competition for Water Resources among uses such as your addition, electricity production, and the needs of the ecosystem to sustain us, and this effort of beginning to think about connections across sectors is something that we hope will continue, because it is absolutely a critical area for study. This assessment is the result of a remarkably Inclusive National process, as john mentioned, a lot of that thanks to kathy. The teams were made up of top experts from around the country and elsewhere. We had one australian member on our team, as a matter of fact. Thousands of people were involved, participating in listening sessions, providing technical inputs, and producing and reviewing the report, including reviews by the National Academy of sciences and other scholars, federal agencies, and the public area the multiyear process, as john mentioned, was guided by an independent federal Advisory Committee that included experts from universities, federal, state, and local government agencies, and industry, including monsanto, chevron, conoco phillips, and zurich insurance. This committee reached unanimous agreement on the reports contents after very serious consideration. All americans will find things that matter to them in this report, from impacts in their own regions to those elsewhere that affect the air we breathe and our food, water, and energy supplies. We are all bearing the cost of the increases in extreme heat, heavy downpours, and higher coastal storm surges. For decades, we have been collecting the dots. Now, we have connected those dots. The picture is clear, and it is stark. Climate change is bringing serious challenges to our way of life, but that is only the beginning of the story. As john mentioned, there are opportunities, and there is a lot that can be done about it. Across the country, americans are already taking action. The good news is that many of the actions taken to reduce Climate Change and its impacts have a variety of additional benefits for our health and for our economy. It is not till late to change our emissions path and reduce future Climate Change and its impact. The choices we make or do not make today will shape our future, climate, and the sustainability of our way of life. Now, i want to spend several minutes highlighting a few examples of what is new in the 2014 national Climate Assessment. This is a question we have been asked a lot by our friends in the press. The latest scientific analysis using satellite data since the early 1990s shows that Sea Level Rise has accelerated in some areas of the globe, including the coast north of cape hatteras. With so many of our cities line on low lying coastlines, this matter is of tremendous importance. For example, in 2012, the one foot Sea Level Rise in new york city, which they already experienced, meant that the floodwaters from sandy surged further inland and did more damage than they otherwise would have. Coastal flooding is also affecting many other east coast cities on a regular basis. Occasional flooding has become frequent in some of the cities, and in others, frequent flooding. Responses to chronic flooding can be expensive. For example, miami beach is planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to reengineer storm drains in parts of the city to carry away seawater that backs up in the drains and floods the streets of that city. The link between Climate Change and Sea Level Rise are clear. Heat trapping gases continuing to build up in our atmosphere, the oceans are absorbing more than 90 of the extra heat trapped in the climate system. This causes ocean waters to expand, and in addition, mountain glaciers are rapidly retreating, which adds water to the oceans. The sleeping giant, however, in the Sea Level Rise equation has been ice in the major ice regions of greenland and antarctica. The latest science, again using satellite data, shows us that the giant is no longer asleep. Both of these ice sheets are now losing mass. How quickly they melt over the coming decades will determine whether we have an additional one foot of Sea Level Rise or up to four feet and perhaps even more. Another major change in our climate rot about by humaninduced warming is the increase in heavy downpours. This is clearly an area in which recent observations have been borne out our previous projections. Our Scientific Understanding told us that a warmer atmosphere would hold more moisture, and we measured that, and, indeed, it is happening. We also predicted that the increase in water vapor would mean that more of the rain would come down in heavy events, and now we have seen that happen. Some regions, like the northeast and midwest, have seen very large increases in the amounts of rain falling and the heaviest events. In the future, even areas that are projected to see decreases in total amounts of annual rainfall are expected to see significant increases in the proportion of that rain coming in very heavy events. Another thing we have seen is that the areas that have had big increases in precipitation have also had increases in flooding. River flooding over the last 90 years have decreased from the southwest and increased in the great plains, parts of the midwest, and from the northern appalachians into new england. We are also seeing increased flooding. The map on the screen shows increasing trends in floods in green and decreasing trends of floods in brown. The magnitude of the floods is related to the size of the triangles. Of course, Global Warming also means that our nation has gotten hotter on average. Some areas seeing bigger changes than others, that it is not the average that we noticed so much but rather the extremes. In recent decades, we have had fewer really cold days and more really hot ones, and that has had many important impacts. One of these impacts has been on the amount of energy we use for heating and cooling. First, the good news. We needed less energy for heating. But now, for the bad news. We have needed a lot more energy for cooling. Heating energy comes from natural gas, heating oil, wood, electricity, and other sources. The cooling is all electricity. That means some of the new peaks in demand for electricity for air conditioning in the future are going to present serious challenges for our electric utilities. The new information in the assessment advances our understanding of the challenges that Climate Change presents for the American People. The assessment provides americans with firm scientific foundations upon which to build wise responses for themselves, their communities, and the nation. Thank you. [applause] at this time, we are going to begin our panel, and we have the moderator of the panel for him wesleyan university. He has been called away sooner than we thought, so i would like to ask gary and the panel to join us up here on the podium, and we will begin with a short set of statements by each of the panelists, and then we will take some questions from our stakeholders. So, gary, i am going to turn this over to you. Thank you, jerry. Thank you all for coming. Our first panel talks to specific findings in the Third National Climate Assessment, and i think what you will take away from this is that this panel confirms the specific inclusions of the Third National Climate Assessment, that, indeed, every american will find things that matter to him or her in this report. With that, i will ask each of the panelists to introduce him or herself, and you have three minutes. Thank you, gary. I am a professor at the university of illinois home a and i was involved in the assessment in a number of different ways, including heading and collating the chapter on the Climate Science causing our changing climate. What i am going to do is talk little bit about the climate that is changing and why we see human activities as being the primary cause of that change. First of all, there are many indicators that the climate is changing. Each of the last three decades, it has been successfully successively warmer, and overall, a world has seen an increase of about 1. 5 degrees fahrenheit increase since the late 1800s. The u. S. Has seen a similar temperature increase over this period. Most of this increase has occurred since 1970. The most recent decade was the hottest on record both nationally and worldwide, and 2012 was the hottest year on record in the continental United States. All u. S. Regions have experienced warming in the decades, but to that extent, warming has not been uniform. In general, temperatures are rising more quickly in the north, meanwhile, average precipitation across the u. S. Has increased, although there are important regional differences. Episodes of extreme weather have increased, and temperatures have increased at several locations. Heavy downpours are increasing nationally, especially in the northeast, midwest, and great plains. Some regions have seen an increase in droughts, while some such as the northeast and west have seen more floods. Natural drivers of climate cannot explain these changes. These changes are not due to the sun. They are not caused by natural cycles. The majority of the warming of the global scale over the last 50 years can only be explained by the effects of human influences, especially the effects of burning of fossil fuels and deforestation. This conclusion that human influences are the primary driver of recent Climate Changes based on independent evidence. One is a fundamental understanding of how certain gases trap heat, how the climate system response to increases in these gases, and how other human and natural factors influence climate. Another reason comes from reconstruction of past climates, using evidence such as tree rings and corals. It shows temperatures over the past several decades are clearly unusual. The last decade warmer than anytime in the last 1300 years and perhaps much longer. Another line of evidence comes from using models to simulate the climate of the past century. Natural factors like the sun and volcanic activity would have slightly cooled the earth in the last 50 years, and other natural aberrations are too small to explain the amount of warming. Only when the human influences are included to we represent in the models the increases we have seen over this period. Thank you. Thank you, gary, and dom. I am the director of the National Climate data center at noaa, and i also chair a Global Research program. Today, i am going to try to paint a picture of you of the expected changes in climate based on the present path of global Greenhouse Gas emissions. Much of this information we will talk about, not all, but much is based on improved climate models, with higher resolution, more processes represented, so let me just highlight a few aspects of future climate expected by the end of this century. First, for temperature, it is going to be hotter. On average, about eight degrees fahrenheit warmer. Compare that to the warmth of the increasing warming temperatures we have seen, with the order of 1. 5 degrees since the turn of the 20th century, and temperature changes up 215 degrees warmer in alaska. There will be fewer cold extremes and many more hot extremes. There will be fewer frost days, with the frost preseason increasing between 30 to 70 days depending on location. For precipitation, the moist areas will get wetter in an order of 10 to 30 . The arid areas will get drier in the order of 20 10 to 20 . As a result, soil moisture will be reduced in much of the country, particularly in the southwest and the central u. S. Due to hotter temperatures increasing evaporation rates. To go along with this, a number of consecutive dry days are expected to increase while at the same time the frequency and intensity of extreme precipitation events is expected to increase across much of the continental u. S. , up to every 4 times more than what we see at the present and as much as six times greater in alaska. The environment for severe thunderstorms is expected to become more favorable in the future. The most intense hurricanes are expected to become stronger and more frequent, with rainfall rates increasing in an order of 20 near the center of the storms. The global Sea Level Rise is expected to increase in an order of one to four feet, with even greater rises where land is subsiding. For the summer sea ice, summer is expected to some is expected to disappear by 2050 of this century. The bottom line, the path we are on results in a climate far different than anything civilization has experienced. Thanks. Thanks, tom. My name is radley horton, and i am happy to speak to you about the findings of the northeast region, one of the eight regions covered by this report. In the northeast, we have seen Sea Level Rise of about a foot in the past century and it also seen temperatures increase by almost two degrees fahrenheit over the past century, and these heavy downpours that we have heard about are now producing on the average of 70 more rainfall than they were just half a century or so ago. These Climate Changes are already leading to impact throughout the northeast and beyond, when we think about the impacts of Sea Level Rise, the central part of that, the Central Range of that projection that time just mentioned, two to three feet, it would more than triple the frequency of coastal flooding throughout the northeast and beyond, even if storms do not become any stronger. For some places like new york city, what may have been a one in 100 year event, it would become something you would expect during the life of the typical mortgage, even if storms do not become stronger. Within the northeast, we have Critical Infrastructure right along our dense coastline. Anything from our iconic transportation networks, interstate 95, amtrak, Commuter Rail networks, the electric grid, substations along the coast, Wastewater Treatment plants along the coast, all increasingly vulnerable as the sea levels rise. It jeopardizes commerce, human safety, and as we heard, leads to expensive repairs, as well. As we saw during hurricane sandy, all of these Infrastructure Networks are connected. If one part of that system goes down if we have electrical grid failures, it cascades into other systems. It is harder to pump water out, for example, when the electric grid goes down. Another important risk to highlight is the danger associated with more frequent heat waves as temperatures rise. We know that the very young, the elderly, and some of our disadvantaged populations are most vulnerable, and as temperatures rise, cities have unique vulnerabilities. Air quality is often poor winter mergers are really hot, and there is a greater risk of power going out as we see increased demand for airconditioning, but it is not just the cities that are going to be vulnerable, because as temperatures rise, some of the Northern Areas in the past who have not needed airconditioning as much will be increasingly relying on it. Quickly also, intense precipitation events pose some unique hazards for some of our inland and rural regions. We look at some of the mountain regions in the northeast. A lot of the human populations, transportation, agriculture is concentrated in valleys. With more of those heavy rain events, there is a risk of more flooding. In general, more overflow events, more failure of sewer systems, and a public hazard throughout the northeast and beyond. But it is important to highlight we have opportunities, as well. Cities and states have shown leadership in thinking about these climate risks, and we have seen ambitious efforts to begin to reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions, and we have seen steps to adapt to these Climate Changes as well. In general though, implementation is at early stages. Fortunately, this report offers a range of strategies to help close those gaps. Thank you. Thank you. It is a pleasure and honor to be with all of you today and my colleagues here. I was one of the authors on the human health chapter, and i just want to say when we talk about human health, Climate Change becomes very personal. We have always thought of Climate Change as something that happens to someone else, but now we know it is happening to us, right now, and there are a few ways that Climate Change is fueling some of the most important kinds of extreme weather events that really affect Peoples Health. My colleagues have mentioned extreme rainfall events, those big delusions that send lots and lots of rain. In fact, in the northeast, where i live, where i am from, there has been a 71 increase in the amount of rainfall that comes down in the most extreme rainfall events. In the last 50 years, the hospital that i was born in in upstate new york in bennington binghamton, it was flooded after torrential rains, and those kind of rainfall events are projected to increase fivefold in the future. Radley mentioned heat waves, and those are a big concern, being fueled by lima change again, and extreme heat also causes drought risk and wired fire risk. It is not just an inconvenience. It can be lethal. It can send thousands of people to emergency rooms, as it has done in the past. Another dimension of this, there are millions of people in our country who are more vulnerable to the effects of heat and climate effects, and that in includes millions of 60people 60 five and older, and we are all getting older, as nature has it, our youngest americans, People Living in economic disadvantage, some communities of color, people who already have breathing and heart and lung problems, so people already struggling to stay healthy are going to find that more of a struggle as Climate Change continues. As an example, today is world absent today. Today is world asthma day. There are 26 Million People that have asthma. It can trigger asthma attacks, pollen, and it is even increasing the amount of time plants produce the pollen longer, and already since 1995, there is been a two to three week increase in the ragweed pollen production in a swap of states in the central u. S. And canada, and that matters to people who have asthma, but we have huge opportunities, as my colleagues have said, to make improvements that affect us all, and the assessment report really focuses on those opportunities. As an example, if we reduce the amount of fossil fuels we use to get energy, we stand 2, 1, reduce air pollution that we generate from that activity right now. That is a win for health today. Two, we get a double benefit because we can reduce heat trapping gases, and that is a win for our children for the future, and if we step back from taking every short trip to school, to work, to business in cars and substitute iteam, walking paths, more public transit, we get a chance for more physical activity. That is triple. We stand to establish all kinds of wins for public health, so we stand at a crossroads with the body of science we have collected thanks to the work of many scientists to make informed decisions about where we go from here and trying to create a future that really has a human face on it and that is healthier and more secure, and so i am really honored to be a part of that conversation with all of you. Thank you. Thank you, doctor. I am the coauthor of the agriculture chapter. An overarching theme of the agriculture chapter is that crop and Animal Agriculture producers in the u. S. Are already facing increased challenges from changes in climate. To put this into context, u. S. Agriculture is very diverse, with most regions having crops and animals that are highly adapted to local climate conditions. Local temperature, rainfall, and soils did they crops are growing and where. Likewise, Animal Agriculture allows for grazing opportunities and more comfort and low disease potential. Specialization and intensification that has increase productivity have also tightened the relationship to train agriculture and climate. In the midwest, where i am from, we have more rain coming in the first half of the year and less in the second half. We have a 40 year trend of increased extreme rainfall events that are delaying or preventing the planting of soybeans and corn. There is also a rising concern about the increase in soil erosion accompanying these extreme rainy vents. California producers are facing a different but analogous set of challenges, including drought and heat, impacts on vegetable production. On the other hand, there has been a decline in the last 50 years in the number of chilling hours necessary for trees and fruits and grades to maintain high production. Cherry trees, for instance, that require at least 900 chilling hours between growing seasons no longer meets the minimum chilling requirements in some parts of california to to warmer winters in the last halfcentury. Many parts of texas and oklahoma in 2011 experienced more than 100 days over 100 degrees fahrenheit, with most states setting new High Temperature records, and rates of water loss were double the longterm average, depleting Water Resources and contribute in more than 10 billion in direct losses to agriculture. These trends in temperature and precipitation that pose threats to Agricultural Production observed over the u. S. Are likely to continue and become much more severe under the high Carbon Emissions scenarios. These trends are consistent with the global trend of dry regions getting drier and hotter and wetter regions getting wetter and more humid. All such trends pose threats to u. S. Agriculture. Farmers are beginning to connect the dots and recognize that local climates underpinning their multigenerational livelihoods and rural agribusiness communities are changing. They are forced to seek increasingly more costly strategies to adapt to these changes in order to maintain profitability. By mid century under current climate in mission trends, it is unlikely that adaptation strategies will be sufficient to avoid the negative impacts to most u. S. Crop and livestock production. Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon. My name is suzanne, and it is my great honor to introduce you to the coastal chapter. The essence of the story that we are trying to tell in the coastal chapter is actually quite simple. It simply says what happens to our coast will happen to our nation. More than half of the American Public lives in a coastal county, producing nearly 60 of gross domestic product. Nine out of the 10 Consumer Products that you used in your house today, in your home, came through one of our nations ports. If you put gas in your tank, if you bought seafood today for dinner, well, then, you are inextricably linked to what happens at our shores. It is facts like that that makes it clear that he will feel the Climate Change on our shores. But, lets say you do not live in portsmouth, new hampshire, or norfolk, virginia, or where streets regularly flooded during particularly high tides already, so you do not live in cape cod or on hawaii, where the salt water already pushes into coastal groundwater reservoirs that people depend on, or, lets say you do not live in the bayous of southern louisiana, where every 24 minutes, one football field worth of land is lost forever as an impact of sinking land and rising seas, and it might come as a surprise to you that Climate Change is no longer a hypothetical threats in some distant future. As we speak, it already leads to intermittent disruptions for businesses and everyday life, and it is already an expensive headache for those maintaining our coastal roads and sewage plants, and it is already eroding away valuable beaches and dunes and wetlands, and with it, the habitat for habitat and plant species, and as that sea level continues to rise, these issues will grow from an intermittent to a chronic problem, and during coastal storms to lifethreatening dangers, and small coastal villages in alaska as well as some of our biggest, most vibrant cities, like l. A. , used in, or, as we saw in sandy, in the big apple. So in our chapter, we show how the lifelines like Energy Infrastructure and water pipes are a growing risk from Sea Level Rise and storm surges, and we show how nationally important exits are at risk of being repeatedly disrupted by storms or floods. We also show how many of our most vulnerable populations are more exposed and have fewer options to adapt, and then how coastal habitats that we love and need are at the Tipping Point of your reversible damage, and what our chapter will also tell you is that coastal managers are also beginning to recognize these dangers and are working hard to find solutions. Clearly, there are no simple, easy Solutions Come but, then again, america did not become a great nation because it was easy. What they show us is that we can, with hard work, reduce these risks, Work Together with foresight for a safer future. Thank you. Well, thank you all and there are not a lot of smiles. One of the questions i thought i would ponder and ask my colleagues as we may be collect some questions from you all, and once you are done, i will actually answer it myself, but in 15 to 30 seconds, what keeps you up at night . So, me again. I live in the midwest. As bad as all of those coastal things susie was talking about frighten me as much as all of us, the things that really worry me that keep me up at night is the concerns about severe weather. And it is not what we already know, it is what we do not know. We are trying to learn exactly what is happening with severe thunderstorms. Are we likely to get more and stronger tornadoes . In the future . Are we going to have more ice storms . Are we going to have more hail . We do not know those things yet, but we have some pieces of evidence, and it could be that lightning war tornadoes become more intense, but we are still in the early stage of the research, and so i worry about it. The research i and my colleagues and i need to do to learn what needs to be learned there. Thanks. A couple of things come to mind for me. It is those events that are feasible but not so likely. So what we talked about today are those events that have considerable confidence as we continue to pass on that will eventually occur. But there are a number of events that are feasible but perhaps not so likely, but if they are, if they do occur, they could become quite a surprise. Jerry talked about the collapse of ice sheets in antarctica and greenland, and the other is the melting of permafrost, and massive releases of methane stored in the eyes for centuries, and a potentially additional burden on the atmosphere with respect to Greenhouse Gases that could actually accelerate the changes that we have already been talking about. Following up along a similar vein, i worry about loss of sea ice in the arctic. We have seen by 2012 about a 50 reduction in the area of late summer sea ice, and about a 75 reduction in volume. One of the reasons that is a cause for concern is that that is a faster rate than the models projected with increasing Greenhouse Gases. It raises the possibility that while climate models are absolutely our best tools for projecting the future, creating this bound of possible outcomes, it alludes to things we heard from jerry and things we heard from tom that are sort of risks, worstcase scenarios, there are possibilities potentially outside of what climate models suggest that we need to be thinking about as well to protect our longterm concerns. Ok, what keeps me awake at night, i worry about two things that come to mind. Cumulative effects on Peoples Health of one storm and then another storm and then more poor air pollution in communities that are already challenged by being next to places, facilities that emit air pollution over time, and then there is a heat wave. I worry about peoples resilience, both economically and physically and mentally, spiritually. Even strong people have a tough time being responsive and on their game with event after event after event, and that is what Climate Change is doing, creating multiple events, and another is multiple system failures. We depend on roadways and electrical power to provide airconditioning when it is hot as heck outside, and when it goes down, everyone is in the middle of a heat wave with a very little way to escape, or in the case of a storm, it compromises a way to get to safety, so i think those are real Opportunity Areas for us to look into and keep people healthy. I worry about Food Security both globally and in the u. S. , because social unrest happens very quickly under Food Insecurity, and i talked about the production side of it, but that is only one side of Food Security. It involves transportation. It involves processing. It involves storage, so any breakdown in any of those, from any of the factors that we have already talked about, could lead to Food Insecurity which could lead to social unrest very quickly. Thank you. The question that you asked, what keeps you up at night, is the translation that we used in the coastal chapter actually to get at what are we most vulnerable to, and that is a mixture of what is really coming from Climate Change but also what it is meeting on the ground. It is the social vulnerabilities, our economic capacity to deal with it, so if you just look at Sea Level Rise, you might say, well, miami is right at the front line, but miami has some pretty significant capacity to deal with it. I am worried about communities facing similarly big risks. This is not in l. A. Or the big cities. This keeps me up at night. Thank you. I promised i would answer, as well, and this feeds off of what susie just said. What keeps me up at night is a persistence across the population not to recognize that the old normal climate is broken and that we do not know what the new normal climate is going to be, and that lack of recognition and the inability of this community and decisionmakers to communicate those risks unnecessarily put economic assets at risk and unnecessarily puts human lives at risk and unnecessarily puts ecosystems at risk, and when i wake up in the middle of the night, that is what worries me. Ok. What do you see as bright spots in how we are responding to Climate Change at the federal, state, and local level. I just got these, but i think this is the point, how can they help decisionmakers, as well, and what is the estimated increase in Health Care Costs . Do we have any cogent estimates . We have taken a look not in the national Climate Assessment per se, but there is an important study that is cited in reference. We want this to be a really important working foundational document. There was a study that looked at six things that Climate Change will increase in frequency or extent or the duration in the future, and these are events that already happened in the last decade between 2000 to 2009, and the healthrelated costs were 14 billion to 40 billion, and those health costs do not typically get included when we estimate important infrastructure and roadway and building costs from these extreme weather events, so i think that is an important thing to consider. Ok. I just got a great question. We heard the concerns of the panel. What gives them the most hope that we can meet the challenges of Climate Change, and i think this is only fair. Well, i agree. I give a lot of public thought about Climate Change, because i think it is important to put my time in to explain to people why this is such an important issue. I worry about our children and our grandchildren and the future they are going to face. But i and my talks basically talk about hope for the future. We, as americans, have shown through history that we know how to solve problems, and i think we can solve this. We can deal with it, but we have to make that choice and get on with it. So i think there is a great advantage in this issue, and that is that this nation is very whether conscience. We hear about it every day. Very weather conscious. It is clear we are experience in changes that are quite unprecedented in the nations history. They talk about it. The president talked about it today with a number of weather forecasters and broadcasters, and i think there is very much hope there to reach out and educate the broad populace with how we can solve it. Just quickly, to echo that i do think we may be slow to get going with change, but i think if you look at some historical precedents, once we get started, change can happen quickly. In the northeast and beyond, examples at how cities are dealing with heat events, planting more trees, getting airconditioners, cooling centers, and having action plans. Facing the climate risk, elevating Critical Infrastructure, elevating houses, having discussion of coastal zone planning, and even more mundane things, increasing the size of culverts and drainage pipes, and routine maintenance and repair. And they expect extreme resuscitation. Precipitation. Well, at the risk of being idealistic, the fact that everybody here is definitely interested in this issue and there is so much attention to it, because it affects everyone, Climate Change affects all of us, and i think there is a rising sense of participation, and we are all in this together, and i think recent events with the extreme weather have brought that home. No one likes to think about very tough problems when they are out of solutions, and i actually think the assessment report provides information that is really accessible about opportunities that we have, to make decisions that are going to get us to a at her place, and hopefully it will inspire leadership at every level to step forward and be part of that. I am excited by what i see in terms of local systems and more interest in local foods and reducing the number of food miles. Do we really needs raw berries from argentina in the middle of january, or can we go back to some of the excitement of getting fruit in season, because it was such a rare thing. Cant we go back to some of those and in the process reduce food miles and, perhaps, even increase our nutritional value . The things that give me the greatest hope is you all, and the people i work with on a regular basis in my daytoday job. It is the people that are leading the efforts in coastal communities. It is the people who are willing to step outside the colored lines and draw outside those and do something new, Work Together across disciplinary lines, work across to other divisions, to the next apartment, to the next community down the stream. This, to me, is the greatest hope, and it is one thing we can tell you that we do not to a good job putting it into models. The human spirit, i will tell you, it is the most important factor of getting us from where we are now and onto a different path. Ok, we are getting close to the end of time. One last question, that we got, and i think it is directed to me, so i will try, can you speak to the Climate Change from the perspective of what the national Climate Assessment has taught us . And what i can say is that there will be costs to Climate Change. We are already experiencing them. They will get larger, and they are calibrated not always in dollars and cents but in human lives and whatever the appropriate metric. There will be some costs to the responses that we think about, reducing emissions of Greenhouse Gases or increasing resilience and preparedness to future Climate Changes, but what you find over and over again from the specific examples that are located throughout the assessment is that the costs of not doing anything is much higher than the cost of doing something, and the cost of not doing something only increases dramatically over the next few years, the next decade, and into the future from there, so with that, i thank you for your attention, and the doctor is back. [laughter] [applause] gary, thank you and thanks to all the members of this panel. You have given us a lot of food for thought, if youll forgive the term. And its now my privilege to introduce the next speaker, who is acting chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. Mike is a close colleague in the both literal and figurative sense. He has not only been a key partner in advancing the administrations efforts to boost resilience to Climate Change impacts in communities across the country, but he is in the office right nextdoor, so when either of us need to talk to the other he just has to pound on the wall. So mike the floor is yours. Welcome again to the white house. Great to have you all here. Im mike boots the acting chair on Environmental Quality and im glad you had some time with this pan tomorrow dig into some of the findings from this report, because as you heard there is a lot of valuable information in there. Its the most comprehensive report on u. S. Climate change thats been generated to date. Its a very handsonset of knowledge. Knowledge that Decision Makers across this country have been telling us for quite some time, that they are very hungry for. As they prepare for a future of more frequent and more severe extreme weather and extreme temperatures and other impacts. So im happy that with this next panel that will be coming up shortly youll get the chance to hear more about how we expect some of that Climate Information to be used. And across the administration we have been working very, very hard to get as much scientific information as we can publicly available and into a usable format for folks who need that. The national Climate Assessment is a great example of that kind of tool. Its also a great example of the actionable Climate Science that president obama talked about when he launched the Climate Action plan last summer. Since the president announced his plan we have made great progress on a variety of fronts and im really happy today to have the pleasure of introducing somebody who has really been driving so much of that progress, and thats dr. Sullivan, the undersecretary of commerce for ocean and atmosphere and thed aminute straighter of noaa. Dr. Sullivan is responsible for leading our nations efforts to conserve and manage coastal and marine resources, supporting wise management of Natural Resources, and helping us understand and predict and prepare our communities for changes in our climate, our weather, our oceans and our coasts. Dr. Sullivan has a track record of Fearless Leadership on a variety of fronts, but she made history when she was selected as one of the first six women to be part of nasas astronaut core, and as many of you know during her 15 years at nasa kathy not only became the First American woman to walk in space, but was also part of the Space Shuttle Discovery Mission in 1990 that deployed the Hubble Space Telescope and started a whole new era of space exploration, so were really lucky to have her leading noaa at this time and were lucky to have her here today to talk more about the national Climate Assessment and why its such a critical component of the larger work were doing to tackle this challenge. So with that, Kathy Sullivan. [applause] thank you, mike, im delighted to be with you today and to talk about these intriguing and, with these panels we have. So i want to paint a back drop into what lies ahead. When the Second National Climate Assessment was released in 2000, think about where we were. The country was still recovering from the worst economic cries of crisis since the great recession. The deep water horizon platform had just exploded in the gulf of mexico unleashing a train of consequences that really rocked havoc on the economy and the environment in the gulf of mexico. On the other side of the world people were taking to the streets in tunisia, egypt and libya as part of the arab spring movement. And Climate Change, if people believed it was happening at all, was viewed as a longterm problem, not something that would affect us, not something that would maybe affect the next generation. Down there somewhere near the end of the century, something maybe we need to worry about. Needless to say, a lot has changed over the intervening four years. The u. S. , our economy and our gulf coasts are rebounding, country as cross the middle east continue to strive to move towards greater freedom and democracy for their citizens, and viewpoints about climate are indeed changing. As has been said, perhaps in response to the increasing frequency and attention paid to the significant events of the last few years. But according to a recent gallup poll, more americans believe that increases in the earths temperature over the last century are due to pollution from human activities, thats a 57 response rate, than to naturally occurring changes in the environment. Only 40 have that view at this point. Further, three out of five americans, 60 , say that Global Warming is a serious problem. And 71 now say in recent polls that they see the effect of Global Warming somewhere in their world, in their life, in their business, in their community. So now with the updated and even more detailed focused assessment that we have in hand, this is the time to capitalize on that growing shift in thinking. The data as you have heard tell us that this dynamic planet we call home is indeed changing. The path is no longer prologue in our lives and our livelihoods and communities. So the question before us now is, how do we what can we each much us in this room, how do we ensure that this new information leads to more informed and more dynamic, dramatic action . I see the assessment that were talking about today whether you have it in your hand as the summary or the overview, whether its on your desk top computer, i think of it as precious cargo thats may it as far as the loading dock. But happy yet really been picked up and taken onto its destination. And the challenge before us certainly us as a federal family, but all of us, all of you with us in this room, the challenge before us now is to take this information off the pages and actually deliver it, actually bring it, actually explain it, actually connect it to communities, to businesses, to state and local governments. And to do what we can as advisors, as experts, as citizens to make sure it gets put into action. Thats where i think each and every one of us in this room right now comes into play. All of us who serve in the federal government right now are very, very lucky to have so many members of press from across the country with us here today to mark the release of this report. To help begin to carry its findings, its import, implicationings out to our citizens. And all of you can be on the first line of offense in taking these results out of the room, off the page, and starting the conversations within your communities, within your businesses that will begin to develop the new thinking, the new planning, the new look to the future that will bring about the changes that weve talked about needing to have. Those of you who are partners from academic institutionings and scientific societies, you too have access to untold numbers of people who can take action. Natural aggregations, audiences, member segments. From under grads to post docs, you can help our budding scientists better understand the policy implicationings and you can help our budding policy makers better grasp the science that underpins our knowledge of Climate Change, and our understanding of what actions are available to us to better protect our communities, our businesses, our economy, our society, our health, from the changes that are definitely afoot. Your research into the workings of this planet and the way those impact our societies will also become the foundation for action in communities across the country. The environmental and climate ngos that are repped in the room today, tie have powerful means to wire science into our communities to connect this information and its import for citizens across this land directly to them. And i hope you will find also that this new report is an added and very valuable tool in your tool box as you help our citizens across the land better understand what these changes are, how theyre going to affect them in their region and what it means to them in their community. All of you here from the Business Community including the members who served on the we can learn a lot from you as well as i hope you taking some good notes from this report. Tackling Climate Change and protecting in the environment over the last several years have become much more prominent factors both in evaluating return on Economic Investment and in driving pack fors in many Corporate Responsibility programs. Thats another change that bodes well for the few. So whats next . We do all have to come together and turn these words into actions. From noaas side we see a growing thirst, from communities, from business leaders, from civic leaders, from Decision Makers, a growing thirst for the kind of information weve been talking about here. What kind of foresight can you give me, what kind of understanding about the changes afoot and foresight about what conditions will be in five or 20 or 50 years, as i make the Infrastructure Investment decisions thats before me right now. That has have to be made one way or another. People facing decisions where attempting not to decide is a decision in itself, with a train of consequences. They are increasingly hungry for this kind of understanding about whats happening in the world and foresight about the changes that are coming their way. They realize that this is a factor today, that they need to and want to take better account of in their decision making. And while attribution for specific events to Climate Change may remain difficult, these people know from their very own experience that the phenomena around them are changing, as weve her. Storms are becoming stronger and more intense. Rainfall patterns are shifting with dramatic effect on their community infrastructure, the Agricultural Sector him seas are rising, streets are flooding, shellfish growers have to Pay Attention to the chemistry of the sea water. The core of our work at noaa is to deliver Environmental Intelligence. This kind of action oriented information that people need to prepare, plan for and respond to these kind of changes. We strive every single day to make sound translations and put that kind of actionable information into the hands of these Decision Makers, the people who really need it. With regard to this national Climate Assessment for us that means translating these findings too into actionable information that we build into tools like our digital coast, our forecast for el known why, all of our forecast for el nino, all of our suite of Environmental Intelligence products. From the National Weather service, helping to shape a weather ready nation, providing coastal intelligence tools like storm surge, Sea Level Rise tools, tide and current information to navigators. We work every day to take science off the pains of our journals, off the pains of this assessment and connect it directly to peoples lives providing, as susie moser saiders the foresight they so urge ebbly seek him let me come back to the question that closed the last panel. And i too will say that what gives me hope about the path forward is two things. Its the caliber of the comprehensiveness, the transparency, the thoroughness of this assessment. What i see as its success in bridging language and understanding off the scientific vocabulary list and into real world materials, thats number one. And number two, as many of our first panel said, the people in this room, the attention and the tenor of the conversation that has started here this morning with the release of this report and that is feeding into this emerging shift and how the population look at the trends around them. That gives me hope, but thats a contingent hope. Its contingent on our seizing it, on our taking hold of this as a new tool and working together to take it off the page. I do believe that working together we can, as we must, bring this assessment to life, really make sure it gets off the page, out of the ether, and into the policies, the plans and the practices that are adopted across our nation. I know it wont be easy, but i think the time is ripe and we have a very valuable new Foundation Stone to rest on. So i want to thank all of those who served on the staff of the national Climate Assessment, my colleagues and piers who worked on the nacadac, and noaa and elsewhere that put their nose to grind tone for a very long period of time to deliver a product of this quality, a report of this meaning, with this kind of clarity and timing. This is a really vital moment and a really valuable moment in the history of this dialogue in our country. It is our job, as federal servants, to protect the people of this country, their lives and their livelihoods. We need you working with us to help make sure that this national Climate Assessment serves as a valuable step forward in that regard in protecting our people for the longer time frame that were talking about here. So thank you very much again, and with that i will give the podium back to dr. Holdren to introduce our next panel. [applause] thank you very much, kathy. We sometimes talk about the need for Fearless Leadership in our environmental agencies. I have to say as a scientist who allowed herself to be strapped on top of 5 Million Pounds of high explosives, which were then ignited to rocket her and her colleagues into space and did that multiple times, you are well suited to provide Fearless Leadership at noaa and we are grateful. And im grateful as i said before, for your partnership, personally and at noaa, for this very important effort. Now id like to invite to the stage our second panel. While the first one focused on findings and information put forth in the national Climate Assessment, this one is going to focus on the path forward, how to use that information and ensure that its beneficial to Decision Makers and citizens on the ground. We are joined by t. C. Richmond, she is one of the vice chairs of the national Climate Assessment Advisory Committee, and she practices environmental law at van ness feldman, so its all yours. Thank you. Like the last panel, well be introducing ourselves. Im from one of those small coastal communities north of seattle, washington, so from the other coast. And im with the law firm of van ness feldman, have had the privilege of being the cochair of the national Climate Assessment, and i advise state and local leaders, Decision Makers and primarily the public sector, on how to address land use and environmental Natural Resource issues. From the outset of the national Climate Assessment drafting process, the outline progress says, we always intended it to be a document that could be used for Decision Makers. And thats been sort of our guide post. We want it to be useful information for people to make decisionings, whether it be for forecisions whether it be themselves or for a Larger Organization or in the public sector. So we know that the best and most current information is crucial for all of those decisions, all those choices we make. Our six panelists will each explain how the national Climate Assessment information will be used in their arenas, in their parts of america. Rosina will start us off. Thank you very much. Im Rosina Bierbaum from the university of michigan, a member of the nacadac, also convening author of the adaptation chapter and a member of the president s council on science and technology. So we just her about the array of impacts that Climate Change is already causing and that there are more in store. Really theres no more business as usual, or as the water managers cry, stationaryity is dead, or past is no longer prologue, as kathy said. Oh adaptation, coping, or preparedness as the president callings it, is really necessary. Fortunately it is permeating the consciousness of the public and private sectors, but we are at least a decade behind in thinking in detail about adaptation, compared to mitigation. We know there are well identified Cost Effective well analyzed actions that we can and must take to mitigate Climate Change, and things such as increasing efficiency and renewables that will have benefits in health and air quality. So we have to reduce emissions, as much as we can and very quickly. But equally important we have to machine for and manage the changes that are already under way as well as those that are yet in store. So theres some good news. The president has convened a state, local and tribal leaders tack force on climate preparedness and resilience. Every federal agency has prepared an adaptation plan, 15 states have them and another dozen are thinking about it. Industry is analyzing how to protect their supply chains. And water rely ability and feed stocks are key. And cities where i think the rubber really hits the road, of the cities weve analyzed, about 60 of already in the process of doing some adaptation planning. As youve heard, many cities are already confronting flooding, heel wave, storm surges and air condition demand increasing, so theyre planning for how to cope with these changes and more that under store. So i guess i could say the glass is half full on adaptation. But most of these efforts are planned, yet to be fully implemented, and certainly not yet evaluated to see if they are successful. So Going Forward, cities, states, businesses, all will need localized regularized information about how climate is changing delivered to them at regular intervals. And as weve heard the federal government is stepping up to assist in this process. Were also going to need a come pen day up of best practices or Lessons Learned from the experiments under way, to understand what fails, what succeeds and why. We also need to understand how our mitigation choices may affect our adaptation choices. If you think about the competing demand for land, water and energy, mitigation and adaptation are essential to both of those. To continue to protect people and infrastructure and eco systems in a changing climate requires us to think very differently about food, fiber and shelter. Adaptation requires developing infrastructure that can with stand that new 100 year flood. Different ways of planning for and managing our Natural Resources, new seed varieties that can function and perform well in droughts and floods and heat waves. Were going to need to have improved Emergency Response plans and Early Warning systems. The shared best practices that i mentioned, improved weather and climate monitoring, and continued assessments. Assessments done with the stake holders at the center. So adaptation is nacent, or as weve said, theres more than before but less than is needed. Its a task that is urgent and we really need all sectors of society to participate in finding effective and feasible options to cope with our changing climate. And theres really not a moment to lose. Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. It is a thrill to be in this room and discussing these issues. I am a county commissioner from broward county, florida, and i am just blessed to be a member of the president s task force on climate preparedness and resiliency. And bringing the municipal or local government perspective to the deliberations of that task force and to the issue at hand of Climate Change in general, in southeast florida we have a very interesting model and that is four county, miami dade, broward county, palm beach and Monroe County representing a population of about 35. 5 Million People 5. 5 Million People. Came together about six years ago and signed the historic compact agreeing to Work Together, agreeing to share our staff resources, our Financial Resources and to try to figure out how we could speak with one voice to the federal government to our state about what our needs were. Because Climate Change is something that we dont just think as some future thing. As has been said here today, its happening in our every day lives. The very systems that were designed to drain water out for storm events has actually become the conduit to bring water in. We have fire hydrants rusting away in Monroe County. We have warranties for police fleets that are no longer being honored because of the salt carriage damage. We have beautiful sunny days every time theres a full moon and people who have salt water overtopping their canals into their swimming pools. Our population knows whats happening and they want answers. The four counties by working together can leverage our resources and really make head way. So we are fortunate across the four counties after a lot of work that began with competition and fear that one other county might take our dollars to evolve to a place where the city of miami beach was going after a grant and so was my county, broward county, and so was miami dade and as to was the city of was the city of ft. Lauderdale. But there are staff, we had a conversation and understood that the city of miami beach was probably best positioned to go after that grant. So rather than each much our counties moving forward with our hand out, we all sit back and sign letters to support the city of miami beach as they went after the grant. They did get the grant. Its important that we understand that working together is going to move this machine forward. We have adopted 110 specific recommendations for Climate Change across the four counties and were no longer planning, we under the implementation phase. We have adopted unified sea level projection rises across all four counties which has helped with our assessments. We have adopted changes in our building code, complete streets models and any number of things that i dont have time to tell you about today, but were really excited about what were doing and know that as many phds as we may have on our collective staff, we couldnt get to where we are today if we didnt have the partnerships with the federal agencies. Its the national Climate Assessment tool that gives that gift of technology, of science based resources to those communities and to ours as well that may not have as many personnel opportunities that we do. So were really excited to have this report come out and be updated and to be part of moving forward and showing how you can do it and do it well. Thank you. Good afternoon and thank you. My name is timothy bull bennett. Im a coauthor on the tribal chapter and also a member of the Advisory Committee. This is a rare privilege in that this is the first time that the assessment has actually brought forward a chapter specifically dedicated to climate impacts as it affects Indian Country. So this has been a rare privilege and an honor. This is the most important time in our life. Not just for us, but for your children and for seven generations to come. We owe it to them to make the best decisions with the best information available, the most Accurate Information available. This report contributes to the very bed rock for informed decision making. Not just for today, but for seven generations to come. Indigenous people across this island are facing real issues, and its magnified by the impacts of a changing climate, as was so eloquently discussed in the first panel. Yet there are life lessons that are founded within the very fabric of our diverse cultures. Intimate knowledge of place that are tethered to hundreds of generations that date back thousands of years. We stand on the shoulders of our ancestors, bearing with us their hopes, their dreams for our future. With the passing of our elders, so passes the torch to us. We must act now, now and into the future, with the lessons that have been shared with us. Lessons that taught us resiliency and responsible persistence. We have the knowledge and the opportunity for greatness, right now, not tomorrow, right now. We have the opportunity to couple todays technology with ancient understanding of place, to relearn how to walk in balance with the world around us, and to view all things that share our world as relative and not merely resources. That opportunity is now. So what will we do . This bluegreen canoe that we reside in, this is the only home we have. And were all in this together. Today Indian Country mourns the loss of one of our great champions, one of our great leaders, billy frank jr. A dear friend of mine and a mentor to many. He passed yesterday, and if billy were here, chances are billy is, but if he were speaking to you instead of me, he would tell you this. We are looking for volunteers, not just for today, but lifetime volunteers. So who among us is going to step forward and embrace these opportunities . There lies the question. So i will conclude my comments with this. In the words of the tonka, also known as sitting bull, a venerated elder, spiritual leader for the lakota that lived over a ken try ago and he put and he a century ago put this challenge for to all of us. Let us put our minds together to see what we can build for our children. Our time is now. Thank you, bull. And thank you for allowing me to come and speak with you today about this important document and resource, the national Climate Assessment. My name is l. Patton, i will share my perspective based on my experience in engineering, Risk Management and insurance, and serving communities in which they operate. When vulnerabilities become impacts, they can disrupt normal economic and social function. Depending on the severity of the impact, businesses, their supply chains, their employees and communities can be merely inconvenienced, such as experienced with recent heavy rainfalls in the washington d. C. Area, or severely disrupted or even destroyed, such as experienced by recent droughts and wildfires in the western u. S. Which caused destruction of homes, businesses and crop losses. The nc. A. Provides information about Climate Change vulnerabilities and impact to water, energy, transportation and agriculture sectors, just to name a few. Enabling the private sector and specific regions to develop Cost Effective options for coping with Climate Change today. And in the future. The extremes are often the focus of private sector, because it is those extreme events that tend to swamp existing Risk Management systems, turning mere theoretical vulnerabilities into immediate painful realities. We live in a highly interconnected world because the we live from a highly interconnected world because the vast majority of our exports pass through our port. Drought and heat wave can result in supply change disruptions. Like loam extreme weather event, istant ones can also disrupt us. Risk Management Options can be explored and options taken. While Risk Management solutions can compensate for some Business Interruption and asset damage, they do not guarantee that your customers or employees will be there when the disruption is over. Only Risk Management responsive to risks can reduce actual vulnerability to Climate Change. Climate change is here and with it the number of extreme weather events has expanded. Climate risk can be turned into n opportunity, restoring stability. It can be used competitively to those who use its strategies and solutions. Isolated actions will not be sufficient to address the challenge but the m. C. S. Helps there too, providing information about the interconnect iveness of vulnerabilities and impacts and ow Development Implementation of public and private Partnership Solutions but now is the time to act and i would encourage everyone to look at this document, read it, for us nd it apply it and our children. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im a professor at George Mason University and member of a federal driesry committee that authored the ais saysment and i contributed to the health chapter. Two of the most important findings is that Climate Change is happening here now in every region of the country and that its affecting many, Many Americans in important ways. Administrator sullivan challenged us creatively about how were going to get it off the loading dock and into the hands who need this information in order to run their lives and businesses and what gives me hope is i feel ive had the privilege over the past four years to meet a special segment of americans who are going to play a role in getting this from americas dock to weather casters, 1,300 men and women who are uniquely situated to bring this to life, show americans how Climate Change is affecting their lives now. Why tv weather casters . Number one, they are highly trusted, almost as trusted as climate scientists, who arent the most trusted but unlike weather casters, they have access to most americans. Its kind of quaint that even in the year 2014 the number one source of Weather Information in america is local television. Theyre highly trusted, they have access, theyre remarkable communicators. Their day job or night job is to take complicated Weather Information and make it simple, make it digestable and frankly, make it fun. Make you want to turn on the weather tonight to learn about seth these people are exquisitely good communicators and fourthly, they talk to us about the things we most care about, about whats happening in our community or in our backyard. So in 2009 with funding from the National Science foundation. My colleagues at George Mason University and my colleagues at climate central, a Nonprofit Organization based in princeton, we had this extraordinary opportunity to team up with the cbs affiliate in columbia, south carolina. Mary beth jacoby is their news director and they worked with us over the course of several months in developing information that would help jim gandy and the weather team bring the impacts of climates change to life for their viewers. We went to evaluate wlosht it made a difference. We surveyed local tv viewers beforehand and a year later and what we learned from that evaluation is that jim gandys viewers learned more about Climate Change in the course of one year than did viewers of any competing stations. Thats pretty big news in my business. Were currently teaming now with noaa is and nasa and Yale University to test this on a larger scale. Were testing it statewide in virginia currently. Were always simultaneously trying to scale this up. The educational materials weve developed, climate matters, were trying to make them available to every weather catastrophe in every climate in america. So should they embrace this they have the materials they need to do so thats where the third assessment comes in. The information in the assessment provides the foundation for us to develop information for tv weather casters across the country. Ill close by saying while weve been in here today, the president has been conducting interviews with tv weathercatastrophes somewhere here in the white house, i dont know where. But i think he chose to use his time well because hes giving interviews and talking about the results of the assessment to the very people who are going to help us get this information off the loading dock and into the lives of every american. Thank you. Thank you, this is a moment use moment. Im mark mccalfry from the National Academy for science information and apparently im he only nervous american here. Nervous from speaking at the white house. This is going to help us answer the president s call to help us educate your classmates, parents, friends, tell them whats at stake, broaden the circle. He mentioned that a year ago at the speech at georgetown and we are excite excited to be a part of this process. The National Science center for Science Education joined the net a year ago to be able to try to maximize the education potential and we started this education Affiliate Group which has been plotting over the next several months on how, once the report is out, well be able to take full advantage of this incredible resource. Potential game changer . Two words mobile learning. Mobile learning, as i think a transformingow, is how people learn, where they learn, what they learn and we are very excited about that because the site was designed with mobile learning in mind. N. C. A. Is a terror trove but not only content but context and it will help us build an understanding of whats happening and what can be done. There are thousands of actions embedded in n. C. S. N. C. A. And potentially thousands of career paths as students working with their teachers and others dig into the meat of the report. There are 76 Million Students in this country. Thats one in four people is a student and of course, there are millions more who are parents d grandparents and ememployeers and future ememployeers of those one in four. Climate change hasnt been a priority. Its been skimmed over, sometimes a calls of controversy and we need to change that n. C. A. Can help us with that. Most teens and adults fail the basic questions about climate and energy. Even if people generally agree that its an issue, they dont know at any kind of level of depths to be causes and effect, let alone the responses and risks of Climate Change. Higher literacy, research shows, ultimately means people are more concerned about Climate Change and that can be done about it. It means better, informed decision making. Understanding the costs and effects, having having that knowledge but also the now know how to address risks and minimize maximize responses. This fledgling privatepublic partnership, though lacking in funding at this point we are not lacking in talent. The president s climate commitment, noaa, the green schools alliance, those are a few of the many projects out here that already have established foundations. We are poised for a new American Revolution in learning. Transforming schools into living laboratories that are climate mart, climate safe are the incubators. We can use it as engaging interdisciplinary and integrating themes for education so join us and lets make it happen. Thank you. Its funny that i was talk with ed before we got up here about nervousness how it can sometimes be satisfied when you think about something as important as this is and you surely did that you set aside your nerves. Way tonight thank you all. Great, great comments to get us started. The question that i have, unless you have more is that movie weve talked about the loading dock image and thats the loading dock thats coming from through l government the ethier net, website of the national Climate Assessment but i think one of the most inspiring things to me, had i been on the first panel, to answer the question of what gives me most help is the astonishing connections that are already established across the u. S. And organizations of like kind that are working together. I had no way of knowing about that other than the water world they work in im thinking of the loading dock more as you to your fellow organizations and perhaps are you back to the federal government because i think we all have a lot to offer the federal government in terms of information. Can you think about what within e sphere of your influence what works in sharing the challenges and what works with the local governments and what the federal government could help you do better. I worked for the federal overnment for a long time. So i think theres an interesting need to work from the top to bottom and from the bottom up. The information we are giving back needs to be not just what he we think is usable but is actually usable information weve asked for. In the first assessment we gave the summer average growing temperature to the farmers they looked at us with crossed eyes and said no, no, what we want to know is the temperature at first fwrost and last frost. There is need to know what information is collected and by what is gathered by the feds at the top can be mixed into that. What we heard about how all of the agencies have regional entities, that there can be a middle level between the federal data and the user needs that can getrought to bear so we can increased speck torl data for people at the bottom and information back to those at the top. This the thing they find super exciting about whats happening in florida and what we need more of in this country is a nonpartisan conversation. The issues that are facing us are not about party. They are about the quality of life and information today is what we want our kids to have and grandkids to have in the future. The conversations taking place, while perhaps in the beginning there was a crosseyed looking at each other, ultimately as we wrestled with all of the solutions and we have found administration we understood that theres a lot more we have in common. If we just focus on that and set the other things aside, we can continue moving forward and through that moving forward, step by step, almost six years now. The county represented by three republican mayors and one democratic mayor, they understand the challenges facing us are not about party. It was asked earlier what keeps us up at night. What keeps me up is the partisan conversation that take place here in washington and is still taking place in our state and i think there are lots and lots of Communities Just like us, that are wake up every day and solving problems and the party youre in is absolutely not the question somebody asks you when they call city hall for help. They dont care. They want you to fix the problem. Im hopeful that the more we can demonstrate that Important Community solutions are at hand that the more those lessons when hopefully give other policymakers the spine to stand up to what other add logs want them to say and again to begin to face and deal with the problems that are before us. Theres one word that comes to mind and i think it encapsulates all of the words that my colleagues have discussed as well as many of my own. That word is commitment and when i think about commitment, i fortunately think about my own. First of all think about my own. How am i committed to this process, how do i lead by example . For me thats where the paradigm begins to change and thats my primary challenge. This isnt the end of the story, rather the beginning and i keep coming back to opportunities. I have a colleague of mine that helped me understand that its not the challenges that we must face but its the opportunities to do great things. So i challenge myself in that regard. Also, its not just twoway flow of information. Rather, its a multidirectional throw no of information. Its not flow of information. Its not a science knowledge versus an indigenous vodge server issues another knock. It is a gathering of all knowledge for problem solving in ways that are most appropriate. Also, its a willingtons roll up your sleeves and get to work. Im not speaking of the nasa blue marble that was so famous behind me and i think about the words that my brother would say, we are in this together and we are shoulder to to shoulder facing the same direction and it takes commitment from everybody. I put that challenge out to you and primarily for myself. How have i made the commitments i made to my children, my wife and to my mother before she passed. Have i fulfilled those commitments . Those are the things that keep me awake at night and things that also inspire me to work in the morning. In terms of some of the uses ive seen of this kind of data that has impressed me ill highlight a few and i think they in the aftermath of extreme disasters, often we find many and we have customers and clients who work on these issues to try to rebuild their communities in a very fast way but they also try to learn from the experience and having data like this available to them when they make decisions about how to rebuild has been tremendously important. In this context, when certain areas impacted by sandy recently have been looking to rebuild, data became available about expected impacts about future floods and where water ghets basements. There are lots of building codes that were developed when that oncept was not considered. To change that and an understanding in science not just on the part of individual companies but also their local governments and agencies with authority. And being able to point to a verified piece of information and a verified set of science they were able to come up with solutions that allowed them to adjust those regulations and move forward in a way that resulted in more resilience. Let me make a brief comment to be community i mentioned previously. The weather casters, in 2009 when i started working with them. Im not sure as a community they were ready to move forward embracing the information in the Second National Climate Assessment. There was a certain tension in the community but one way in which they have moved, evolved as a community and now they are absolutely ready to embrace the kind of information in the Third National Climate Assessment through dialogue is through assuming good intentions with each other, respectful interactions with one another. Some of that was pretty carefully orchestrated through our interactions with the American Meteorological Society but however it was accomplished, its been remarkable for me to see this community of professionals, 1,300 people, not all of whom i know but enough now they feel i after good sense of them, see them rapidly evolving their own professional stance on the issue of Climate Change and start to ask the questions how can we now change what we do as a result of what we now know . I think what keeps me up at night is the feeling that were not doing nearly enough to prepare this generation and future generations to have knowledge and know how to deal with Climate Change and what gives me tremendous hope and excitement is the fact that when i look at whats happening in classrooms and in Science Centers around the country, theres like i say, theres kind of a revolution going on. And people are largely on an ad hoc basis being very creative and clever in terms of how they bring in authentic data into earning situations but if we were more mot cal and scientific about it, if you will, we could, in relatively short order, transform the country in terms of our ability to address Climate Change to. Me, education is the focal point, particularly formal education but informal as well. Thank you. Our panel is out of time but i would close by saying that we all belong to communities across the u. S. Whether its professional or curve or local and i think that is the Climate Assessment that we all will take out with us and spread out to our individual communities and share that information and share information back to governments. Its a flow of information both ways and were hoping that the national Climate Assessment will get you started in those conversations, so thank you. [applause] thank you very much, and thanks to your panel. Those were really, i think, very helpful insights about how to move the kind of information provided in the national Climate Assessment into action. Its now my pleasure to introduce to close this event the president s closer, counselor to the president , john podesta, playing a key role in the white house, making sure that all of us in the white house and across the administration are doing everything we can to address the president s priorities. John has a an amazing history but i wont take his time by reciting it for you. Really, im delighted that john is in the white house. E brings deep knowledge of the climate issue. Packs nat about passionate about getting the job done. Ohn, the floor is yours. Thank you, everybody, and thanks for joining us today. I came over to thank the speakers and everyone in the room today. I want to especially thank the work of this team. Dr. John holdren. Kathy sullivan. Dr. John karl and all of their teams. This is an outstanding report and i want to say how much the president appreciated it along with the work of the many scientists to contributed and made it a create. Reality. I also wants to thank the Web Development team for the dynamite website that goes along with this report. Who says we cant built a build a great website in the white house . Lets give them all a big hand. [applause] this is a tremendous contribution to our knowledge about Climate Change with hundreds of pages of rigorous scientific analysis, it underscores something that many of us in the administration and in this room have been saying for some time now that Climate Change is no longer a distant threat. I dont doubt there will be some media reports that try to place e third assessments in a nonglowing Climate Change debate. What the report tells us is that there is no debate. An overwhelming majority of scientists tell us, frankly, there is no debate. Climate change is real, its being driven by human activity and its happening right now. These are the facts, despite what those who deny the facts and seek to mislead the public have to say. This report Shows Americans are feeling the impact of Climate Change today, from coast to coast, from florida to alaska. Spring is coming earlier on average. The sea is rising at a faster rate and is already beginning to infiltrate fresh Water Supplies in some coastal area. Were learning particularly troubling things about what Climate Change will mean for our oceans and borders. This is axable science and we need to put it to use. The president has said in many teams he believes we have a moral imperative to act on Climate Change, that we must not believe behind a planet that is weakened and degraded. Last week the president plans to bill that lead on the International Stage to find Global Solutions to whats truly a global challenge. The Third National Climate Action assessment is a key part of that effort. Across the administration, i think were firing on all cylinders to make progress on our climate challenges and to provide the tools and assistance to state and local leaders who are trying to reduce emissions in their communities. Weve reduced three times more energy from solar and three times more from wind power than when president obama took office. Five years ago there wasnt one Renewable Energy project. Today the interior is on track to renew it to six million homes. The administration passed historic fuel economy standards for vehicles and heavyduty trucks. These will cut six billion tons save. 2 production and consumers 1. 2 billion over the life of those projects. Many naysayers said we were not worthy of competitiviness. A recent e. P. A. Report tells us that u. S. Automakers have not only emet but surpassed the fuel economy targets so far from passenger vehicles. The Auto Industry is innovating faster than we could have opened and consumer demand is supporting them. Were going to hear similar arguments in the weeks ahead as the e. P. A. Works to limit its proposed rules. The Energy Sector is the largest Single Source of co 2 pollution in the United States. The electricity production sector, excuse me, accounting for about 1 3 of overall co2 emissions. We need to bring those numbers down if we want to get to the president s goal of reducing u. S. Greenhouse emissions by 2020. If the experience of fuel economy rules is any guide or past e. P. A. Rules is any guide, the United States is more than equal to that task. Were working hard to help American Communities build more reestill yenlt infrastructure and were getting the private and philosophic sectors to join us. Recently we built on the administrations long history of open climate data and released more than 100 data maps and resources on Sea Level Rise and coastal flooding. Go to climate. Data. Gov to access that information and build new tools for the public. Weve partnered with a host of companies and organizations from google to the world bank and Rockefeller Foundation who all made serious commitments to make resources and platforms available for this critical works le the work. What i call maps and apps. Row siena mentioned the fact we need to get this data down to specific uses for people so they can understand how these larger regional impacts affect them in their daily lives. On the International Stage the u. S. Is leading the charge to end Public Financing for car plants over seas. Were actively engaged in bilateral talks of partners who are critical of reducing Climate Change, including china and india and recognizing its a security challenge as well. Defense secretary chuck hagel included talks of Climate Change in the firstever meeting of defense ministers on u. S. Soil. And later this week were looking forward to the better building summit and expecting some big announcements during the president s trip to california at the end of the week. I encourage you to watch for that news and share it with your net yo,. The rigorous scientific analysis will provide an even more Solid Foundation for all these efforts. I know the challenges we face can be daunting but i think the assessment is a powerful call for the opportunity to move our energy base from dirty fossil fuels to a clean energy base. Its going to require an all hands on deck effort. Im going to close by asking youall to go back to your communities, back to your communities and schools and businesses with the Third National Climate Assessment in hand. I want to ask you to take the regional breakdowns of climate impacts, the state by state fact sheets and use the other tools youre helping development and develop and make this challenge real for your neighbors and for your state and local leaders. I want to ask you to help your local leaders and businesses realize the scope of the federal and nongovernmental Resources Available to them and to help them make their buildings more Energy Efficient to deploy more alternative energy to make their energy more restill i cant. The challenges we face are considerable but so are the opportunities and thats what the president just discussed with the weather forecasters with ed maibach. And those interviews took place in the rose garden so they should look pretty good on the tube tonight. Th your technology and information, i know we can meet the challenges in Climate Change and leave behind a healthier planet for future generations. I want to thank you for being here today but mostly for what youre going to do tomorrow and the next day and the next day. So please go back to your communities and get this message across. Thank you. [applause] thank you, john, for those remarks. That wraps up our program today. Let me again thank everybody who contributed to the assessment in so many different ways. Thank you to you for being here today. Our partners here and our partners to be. For all that you do and all that you will do. With that we are adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] captioned by the National Captioning Institute www. Ncicap. Org news from arkansas today from the associated press. Marriage licenses are being issued to samesex couples after a ruling yesterday by a Circuit Court judge that overturned a 10yearold voter approved plan on gay marriage. The Arkansas Attorney general says hell appeal that decision. Well have more tonight on cspan with the attorney who successfully argued against the defense of marriage act last year before the supreme court. Shell talk about preparing for the case and some of the current cases around the country dealing with the issue of samesex marriage. Hosted by the city club of cleveland. Tonight at 8 50 p. M. Eastern time. With the last single act that was passed in 1933 after f. D. R. Came to power was a very clear line between speculative versions and services and things that a bank could do and the deposits it took and the services it provided to regular individuals and small businesses. There was a very, very clear distinction. The bankers were on the same side as f. D. R. The population was on the same side and things became stable for several decades after that. You contrast that to what happened in the wake of the 2008 crisis, which has been a much more expensive crisis for the general economy, for the actual unemployment level, not the tagline unemployment level, for what was lost to individuals throughout and relative to the bailouts and subsidies that have een given since and doddfrank came along and did nothing like dep dep ecting itors and regular banking activities. Part of book tv this weekend on cspan 2. And online, our Book Club Selection is it calls you back. But luis j. Rodriguez. Join other readers to discuss the book at booktv. Org. The chair of the federal reserve, janette yellens comments during a hearing on capitol hill. She testified about the current Economic Outlook. This is held by the joint Economic Committee. Ts about two hours. Good morning, the joint Economic Committee on the hearing of the Economic Outlook of the United States will begin and to start, i congratulate chair yellen on her appointment to head the federal governors reserve system. I and other governors welcome you to your first appearance before the committee and we look forward to many more. June will mark the fifth anniversary of the end of the great recession. This recovery ranks as the weakest or near the bottom. This recoverys persistent weakness has created growth gap relative to other recoveries. For example, if this recovery had been merely average then the 1. 4 economy would be million strongers and a family of four in america would have over 1,000 more each month in aftertax income. Remarkably, the one exception to this weak seasons wall street ere the s p 500 return index suggesting for inflation has more than doubled. Last week the bureau of labor statistics released conflicting data about the strength of this recovery. On the one hand, real g. D. P. Growth was basically flat in the first quarter. The inflation rate fell in april tying a multidecade low only reached in the carter and now the obama administrations. More over, the employment to population ratio is lower than when the recession ended, which means there are proportionately less adults working today than hen the recession began. On the other hand, the monthly growth of nonform farm payroll jobs in april exceeded that of past recovery with the Unemployment Rate deflynning since october. Correctly judging the strength of the labor market is very important because the federal Market Committee is tied to the apering of largescale asset pumps and the normalization of rates to the assessment of the labor market. Much of the slack of the labor market is attributed to cyclical factors and believe a Monetary Policy can strengthen the outlook. However, if a stational proportion of the market is due to factors such an as an aging population, maintaining this policy could instead create economic bottlenecks that would trigger price inflation. Different policies are required such as reforming