(Heather Clancey/Smart Planet)
Cities, states and national governments must plan more carefully for the cost of weather events such as floods, heat waves, droughts and hurricanes as these events become more frequent and more extreme. That’s one of the main themes of the latest Intergovernmental Planel on Climate Change (IPCC) special report on the human impact of extreme weather events.
The report predicts that the sorts of weather that many regions of the world have been experiencing throughout 2011 will continue, in many instances at a much more intense pace.
The IPCC says that means hotter, longer heat waves. More sustained periods of precipitation. Decreases in cold extremes. And also more economic losses due to same. Consider, for example, that weather-related disasters in the United States are hovering around $50 billion for 2011. That’s according to the National Climate Data Center, which tracks such things. (Read more at Smart Planet)
OTHER NEWS LINKS:
- Meter Reading: Mixed Bag of Success for Eagle Ford, The Economics of Water & More (State Impact/NPR)
- Wildfire Donations to Austin-Area Nonprofits $3.8 Million & Counting (Austin American-Statesman)
- Texas to Cut Reimbursement Rates to Doctors (Texas Health Care Report)
- Worthing HS Students “G.I.V.E.” Back to Sunnyside Community (HISD News)
- Seeing Child Hunger Firsthand (Feeding America)