How I Think About Climate Change

A unique perspective emphasizes that extensive scientific evidence from various disciplines confirms human-induced changes in Earth's climate. Broad research data supports the role of anthropogenic factors in shaping recent climate variability. The narrative insists on recognizing the substantial influence of human activities on the planet's evolving climate dynamics.

Earth absorbs visible sunlight and reemits it as infrared radiation, which becomes trapped by the atmosphere to warm the planet. In humid climates, water vapor moderates temperature shifts, creating a smaller drop from day to night compared to arid regions. Rising temperatures enable the atmosphere to hold more water vapor, establishing a feedback loop that intensifies the warming process.

Cities Emerge from Historical Climate Stability After the ice age, a gradually warming and stable climate allowed human communities to settle and build cities along water edges for efficient transportation, commerce, and irrigation. Urban planning evolved by integrating systems to manage predictable ranges of temperature, snowfall, and rainfall, from water supplies during droughts to AC during heat waves. Infrastructure like the LA River was designed to mitigate flash floods, reflecting centuries of adaptation to natural weather patterns.

Urban Infrastructure Faces Unprecedented Climate Extremes Climate change disrupts the long-established weather patterns, broadening the range of environmental extremes beyond historical experience. As cities encounter unprecedented events such as record-breaking floods, traditional infrastructure is challenged to respond. Adaptive measures like reinforced flood barriers, advanced drainage systems, and automated control of critical urban intersections are emerging to safeguard urban life against these new extremes.

Melting ice caps from Antarctica and Greenland are raising sea levels, endangering low-lying island nations and forcing entire communities to become climate refugees. Changing weather patterns are disrupting established norms, with abnormal heat causing infrastructure failures and unseasonal cold shattering snowfall records in unlikely regions. Regions like England are experiencing economic shifts as warmer climates open new opportunities, while extreme weather events worldwide signal a transition into a challenging new normal.