Thu 3 Feb 2022
Source: The Guardian
Photo Source: Unsplash, Luca M.
First came the heavy snow in late December that blanketed Seattle and the surrounding area. Then the torrential rain and flooding hit in early January. One by one, four of the region’s main mountain passes were deemed impassable, and a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 5 south of Seattle was closed.
It was the first time all five had been closed in more than a decade, leaving the Seattle area virtually cut off from cross-state travel.
But it was simply the latest in a series of extreme weather events that have pummeled the Pacific north-west over the past year. In the typically mild-weathered state of Washington alone, it began with heavy snowfall last February, followed by dry, scorching temperatures over the summer that left more than 100 people dead, and then a record-breaking fall rain in the Seattle area.
Now, with more intense extreme weather expected in the years ahead, driven by the climate crisis, a bipartisan assortment of Washington state lawmakers has simultaneously introduced a handful of bills this legislative session that, rather than focusing on mitigation and emission reduction, focus on climate adaptation.
From a proposal to establish a grant program for farmers and ranchers facing damage from flooding and other natural disasters, to adding climate resiliency planning to water system plans, these innovations are intended to prepare the state for the challenges ahead.
“I just think we’re definitely seeing much more extreme weather events and this is going to become the norm, not the one-off,” said Washington senator Mark Mullet, a Democrat, who introduced the proposal to add air conditioners.
He said the legislation was inspired by a conversation with a local firefighter who recalled going on three different calls during the heat dome in late June to homes for seniors and finding residents had died from the heat.
But these proposals also reflect a broader trend taking shape in the last five years, in which the climatemk movement has increasingly recognized the importance of adaptation, explained Aseem Prakash, professor of political science at the University of Washington and director of the Center for Environmental Politics.
The recent Glasgow climate pact doubled the proportion of climate funds earmarked for adaptation. And in October, the Biden administration released climate adaptation and resilience plans that included building supply chain resiliency and increasing protections for workers and communities when it comes to climate change.
Prakash explained that even if we immediately start drastically reducing emissions, the effects of the climate crisis are already being felt.
“So we have to adapt. I think the climate movement realizes this political and moral necessity to adapt,” he said. “And also, whenever we have floods, extreme heat waves, who suffers? It’s really the poor people, the underprivileged. So there is also a very important climate justice component.”
Justin Allegro, director of state government relations for The Nature Conservancy in Washington, said it’s important that it doesn’t become an either-or situation.
“It doesn’t make sense to only invest in one strategy,” he said. “We know that the impacts of climate change are going to continue to happen and there’s so much we can do as a state to better prepare and better respond and better create resiliency. And at the same time, every effort to fundamentally reduce emissions quickly and rapidly and equitably is something that we need to do.”
In Washington state, Representative Mari Leavitt, a Democrat, introduced a proposal that would create a grant program to help local jurisdictions and federally recognized tribes with the added costs associated with extremely hot or cold weather, as well as unhealthy air quality due to wildfires.
She explained that the grants would be flexible to accommodate each area’s distinct needs, but could be used for such things as adding additional cooling shelters and HVAC systems, or even simply providing more fans and water for those in need.
“Those extreme weather events will continue,” she said. “And we just weren’t ready and the resources weren’t available, so cooling centers were getting open later, and for limited periods of time.”
She gave the example of a cooling center in Lakewood, Washington, about 40 miles south-west of Seattle, which wasn’t set up until a few days after the heatwave started and despite firefighters trying to drop people off in the morning, didn’t open its doors until noon.
“I asked the question, ‘Why did it take so long?’ The response I got back was, ‘We were trying to figure out the resources in order to open,’” she said.
Another proposal being considered is the outdoor recreation and climate adaptation (Orca) plan, which would direct the projected $4.4bn in revenue between 2023 and 2032 through the state’s recently passed Climate Commitment Act to climate adaptation and outdoor recreation. Currently, the majority of those funds are designated to emission-reducing transportation programs, given the central role it plays in the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.
Washington representative Mary Dye, a Republican who is behind the Orca plan, said instead the funds should be used for such things as building structures to protect communities from catastrophic floods and improving forest health to reduce wildfires.
“I think that you have to get real and be honest and do good things today that will help our state really be able to adapt to the things that are before us,” she said.
But these proposals are still fairly targeted and, apart from Orca, do not have a huge price tag, explained Prakash.
“I hope it comes up even more forcefully, because this is an issue we have to confront,” he said. “And this is not to say we should not mitigate. We should certainly mitigate. But we also have to start taking adaptation more seriously, which we haven’t.”
Nick Bond, the Washington state climatologist, said it’s clear the state could have done a better job when it came to responding to these extreme weather events.
He said: “Hopefully we can learn from it so that when the next one comes along there won’t be as much loss of life, and to figure out just what we can do to reach those folks that don’t have the resources to get themselves out of a threatening situation.”
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