of my hometown new orleans it was a great place to grow up but it 's one of the most vulnerable spots in the world half the city is already below sea level
in two thousand and five the world watched as new orleans and the gulf coast were devastated by hurricane katrina
time but they lost their homes and as you can see just about everything in them
other parts of the world have been hit by storms in even more devastating ways in two thousand and eight cyclone nargis and its aftermath killed one hundred and thirty eight thousand in myanmar climate change is affecting our
and resilient to the changes that are coming and that will affect
in new orleans the elderly and female headed households were among the most vulnerable for those in vulnerable low lying nations how do you put a dollar value on losing your country where you ancestors are buried and where will your people go
like it or not ready or not this is our future
sure some are looking for opportunities in this new world that 's the russians planting a flag on the ocean bottom to stake a claim for minerals under the receding arctic sea ice
but while there might be some short term individual winners our collective losses will far outweigh them look no further than the insurance industry as they struggle to cope with mounting catastrophic losses from extreme weather events
to allow for greater storm surge and these raised and energyefficient homes were developed by brad pitt and make it right for the hard hit ninth ward
the devastated church my mom attends has been not only rebuilt higher it 's poised to become the first energy star church in the country they 're selling electricity back to the grid thanks to solar panels reflective paint and more their march electricity bill was only forty eight dollars
now these are examples of new orleans rebuilding in this way but better if others
in galveston here 's a resilient home that survived hurricane ike
when others on neighboring lots clearly did not and around the world satellites and warning systems are saving lives in flood prone areas such as bangladesh but as important as technology and infrastructure are
while it 's true that many who died in katrina did not have access to transportation others who did refused to leave as the storm approached often because availabletransportation and shelters refused to allow them to take their pets
imagine leaving behind your own pet in an evacuation or a rescuefortunately in two thousand and six congress passed
second preparing for heat and drought farmers are facing challenges of drought from asia
from australia to oklahoma while heat waves linked with climate change have killed tens of thousands of people in western europe in two thousand and three and again
in russia in two thousand and ten
in ethiopia seventy percent that 's seven zero percent of the population depends on rainfall for its livelihood
oxfam and swiss re together with rockefeller foundation are helping farmers like this one build hillside terraces and find other ways to conserve water but they 're also providing for insurance when the droughts do come
the stability this provides is giving the farmers the confidence to invest it 's giving them access to affordable credit it 's allowing them to become more productive so that they can afford their own insurance over time without assistance it 's a virtuous cycle and one that could be replicated throughout the developing world
after a lethal one thousand nine hundred and ninety five heat wave turned refrigerator trucks from the popular taste of chicagofestival into makeshift morgues
chicago became a recognized leader tamping down on the urban heat island impact through opening cooling centers outreach to vulnerable neighborhoods planting trees creating cool white or vegetated green roofs
this is city hall 's green roof next to cook county 's portion of the roof which is seventy seven degrees fahrenheit hotter at the surface
washington d c last year actually led the nation in new green roofs installed and they 're funding this in part thanks to a five cent tax
third adapting to rising seas sea level rise threatens coastal ecosystems agriculture even major cities this is what one to two meters of sea level rise looks like in the mekong delta
infrastructure is going to be affected airports around the world are located on the coast it makes sense right there 's open space the planes can take off and land without worrying about creating noise or avoiding tall buildings
here 's just one example san francisco airport with sixteen inches or more of flooding imagine the staggering cost of protecting this vital infrastructure with levees but there might be some changes in store that you might not imagine for example
planes require more runway for takeoff because the heated less dense air provides for less lift san francisco is also spending forty million dollars to rethink and redesign its water and sewage treatment
as water outfall pipes like this one can be flooded with seawater causing backups
beyond these technical solutions our work at the georgetown climate center with communities encourages them to look at what existing legal and policy tools are available and to consider how they can accommodate change for example in land use which areas do you want to protect
other examples to consider in the u k the thamesbarrier protects london from storm surge the asian cities climate change resilience network is restoring vital ecosystems like forest mangroves these are not only important ecosystems in their own right
but they also serve as a buffer to protect inland communities new york city is incredibly vulnerable to storms as you can see from this clever sign and to sea level rise and to storm surge as you can see from the subway flooding but back above ground
these raised ventilation grates for the subwaysystem show that solutions can be both functional and attractive in fact in new york
san francisco and london designers have envisioned ways to better integrate the natural and built environments with climate change in mind i think these are inspiring examples of what 's possible when we feel empowered to plan for a world that will be different but now a word of cautionadaptation 's too important to be left to the experts
why well there are no
we 're entering uncharted territory and yet our expertise and our systems are based on the past
but we can simply no longer rely on established norms we 're operating outside the bounds of co two concentrations that the planet has seen for hundreds of thousands of years the larger point i 'm trying to make is this it 's up to us
to look at our homes and our communities our vulnerabilities and our exposures to risk and to find ways to not just survive
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