NCDP Perspectives

This post was originally published on February 9, 2016 in The Huffington Post blog. By most accounts, December’s international climate conference in Paris was an unexpected and landmark success. Virtually every nation on earth now understands what’s at stake and all have reached common understanding about what needs to be done to slow the advance of unmitigated planetary warming. Still, in spite of overwhelming scientific evidence that dangerous levels of planetary warming and human-induced climate change are real, hard-core resistance to well-established science remains a challenge. Particularly disconcerting is the fact that the ranks of the “climate deniers” include too many influential political and policy leaders. That is not to say that every question about the impact of climate change is scientifically settled. For instance, how does climate change affect the intensity or frequency of coastal storms? And what is the relationship between climate change and weather patterns? Our sense is that science will soon clarify the storm question, though proving the impact on weather is considerably more difficult. Regardless

Climate Change as a Human Factor Climate change is defined as change in global or regional climate patterns, which may include increases and decreases in temperature as well as changes in severe weather events. These changes in severe weather may increase both the frequency and intensity of disasters and the likelihood of mega disasters. Climate change will likely affect most severely individuals that are already more vulnerable such as older persons and children, those that are socially isolated, people with various health

The consequences of climate events are not borne equally. Local populations cope with drought in the arid Sahel much differently