0:00:00.686,0:00:05.742
This is the skyline[br]of my hometown, New Orleans.

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It was a great place to grow up,

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but it's one of the most vulnerable[br]spots in the world.

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Half the city is already below sea level.

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In 2005, the world watched as New Orleans

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and the Gulf Coast were[br]devastated by Hurricane Katrina.

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One thousand, eight hundred and thirty-six[br]people died. Nearly 300,000 homes were lost.

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These are my mother's, at the top --

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although that's not her car,

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it was carried there[br]by floodwaters up to the roof --

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and that's my sister's, below.

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Fortunately, they and other[br]family members got out in time,

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but they lost their homes,[br]and as you can see,

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just about everything in them.

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Other parts of the world[br]have been hit by storms

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in even more devastating ways.

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In 2008, Cyclone Nargis and its aftermath

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killed 138,000 in Myanmar.

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Climate change is affecting[br]our homes, our communities,

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our way of life. We should be preparing

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at every scale and at every opportunity.

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This talk is about being[br]prepared for, and resilient to

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the changes that are coming[br]and that will affect our homes

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and our collective home, the Earth.

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The changes in these times[br]won't affect us all equally.

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There are important[br]distributional consequences,

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and they're not what you[br]always might think.

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In New Orleans, the elderly[br]and female-headed households

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were among the most vulnerable.

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For those in vulnerable,[br]low-lying nations,

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how do you put a dollar value[br]on losing your country

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where you ancestors are buried?[br]And where will your people go?

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And how will they cope in a foreign land?

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Will there be tensions over immigration,

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or conflicts over competition[br]for limited resources?

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It's already fueled conflicts[br]in Chad and Darfur.

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Like it or not, ready[br]or not, this is our future.

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Sure, some are looking[br]for opportunities in this new world.

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That's the Russians planting[br]a flag on the ocean bottom

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to stake a claim for minerals[br]under the receding Arctic sea ice.

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But while there might be[br]some short-term individual winners,

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our collective losses[br]will far outweigh them.

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Look no further than the insurance[br]industry as they struggle

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to cope with mounting catastrophic losses

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from extreme weather events.

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The military gets it.[br]They call climate change

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a threat multiplier that could[br]harm stability and security,

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while governments[br]around the world are evaluating

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how to respond.

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So what can we do? How can[br]we prepare and adapt?

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I'd like to share three sets[br]of examples, starting with

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adapting to violent storms and floods.

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In New Orleans, the I-10 Twin Spans,

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with sections knocked[br]out in Katrina, have been rebuilt

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21 feet higher to allow[br]for greater storm surge.

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And these raised[br]and energy-efficient homes

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were developed by Brad[br]Pitt and Make It Right

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for the hard-hit Ninth Ward.

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The devastated church[br]my mom attends has been

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not only rebuilt higher,[br]it's poised to become

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the first Energy Star[br]church in the country.

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They're selling electricity[br]back to the grid

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thanks to solar panels,[br]reflective paint and more.

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Their March electricity[br]bill was only 48 dollars.

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Now these are examples of New[br]Orleans rebuilding in this way,

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but better if others act proactively[br]with these changes in mind.

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For example, in Galveston,[br]here's a resilient home

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that survived Hurricane Ike,

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when others on neighboring[br]lots clearly did not.

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And around the world,[br]satellites and warning systems

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are saving lives in flood-prone[br]areas such as Bangladesh.

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But as important as technology[br]and infrastructure are,

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perhaps the human element[br]is even more critical.

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We need better planning[br]and systems for evacuation.

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We need to better understand[br]how people make decisions

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in times of crisis, and why.

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While it's true that many who died in Katrina[br]did not have access to transportation,

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others who did refused to leave[br]as the storm approached,

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often because available[br]transportation and shelters

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refused to allow them to take their pets.

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Imagine leaving behind your own pet[br]in an evacuation or a rescue.

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Fortunately in 2006, Congress passed

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the Pet Evacuation and Transportation[br]Standards Act (Laughter)

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— it spells "PETS" — to change that.

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Second, preparing for heat and drought.

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Farmers are facing challenges[br]of drought from Asia

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to Africa, from Australia to Oklahoma,

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while heat waves linked[br]with climate change

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have killed tens of thousands of people

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in Western Europe in 2003,[br]and again in Russia in 2010.

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In Ethiopia, 70 percent, that's 7-0[br]percent of the population,

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depends on rainfall for its livelihood.

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Oxfam and Swiss Re, together[br]with Rockefeller Foundation,

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are helping farmers like this[br]one build hillside terraces

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and find other ways to conserve water,

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but they're also providing for insurance[br]when the droughts do come.

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The stability this provides[br]is giving the farmers

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the confidence to invest.

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It's giving them access[br]to affordable credit.

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It's allowing them to become[br]more productive so that

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they can afford their own insurance[br]over time, without assistance.

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It's a virtuous cycle,[br]and one that could be replicated

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throughout the developing world.

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After a lethal 1995 heat wave

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turned refrigerator[br]trucks from the popular

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Taste of Chicago festival[br]into makeshift morgues,

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Chicago became a recognized leader,

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tamping down on the urban[br]heat island impact

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through opening cooling centers,

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outreach to vulnerable[br]neighborhoods, planting trees,

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creating cool white[br]or vegetated green roofs.

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This is City Hall's green roof, next to Cook[br]County's [portion of the] roof,

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which is 77 degrees Fahrenheit[br]hotter at the surface.

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Washington, D.C., last year,[br]actually led the nation

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in new green roofs installed,[br]and they're funding this in part

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thanks to a five-cent tax on plastic bags.

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They're splitting the cost[br]of installing these green roofs

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with home and building owners.

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The roofs not only temper[br]urban heat island impact

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but they save energy, and therefore money,

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the emissions that cause climate change,

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and they also reduce stormwater runoff.

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So some solutions to heat can[br]provide for win-win-wins.

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Third, adapting to rising seas.

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Sea level rise threatens coastal[br]ecosystems, agriculture,

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even major cities. This[br]is what one to two meters

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of sea level rise looks[br]like in the Mekong Delta.

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That's where half[br]of Vietnam's rice is grown.

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Infrastructure is going to be affected.

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Airports around the world[br]are located on the coast.

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It makes sense, right? There's open space,

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the planes can take off and land[br]without worrying about

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creating noise or avoiding tall buildings.

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Here's just one example,[br]San Francisco Airport,

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with 16 inches or more of flooding.

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Imagine the staggering cost of protecting

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this vital infrastructure with levees.

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But there might be some changes in store

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that you might not imagine. For example,

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planes require more runway for takeoff

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because the heated, less dense[br]air, provides for less lift.

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San Francisco is also[br]spending 40 million dollars

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to rethink and redesign its[br]water and sewage treatment,

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as water outfall pipes like this[br]one can be flooded with seawater,

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causing backups at the plant,[br]harming the bacteria

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that are needed to treat the waste.

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So these outfall pipes[br]have been retrofitted

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to shut seawater[br]off from entering the system.

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Beyond these technical solutions, our work

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at the Georgetown Climate[br]Center with communities

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encourages them to look at what existing[br]legal and policy tools are available

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and to consider how they can[br]accommodate change.

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For example, in land use,[br]which areas do you want

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to protect, through adding[br]a seawall, for example,

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alter, by raising[br]buildings, or retreat from,

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to allow the migration[br]of important natural systems,

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such as wetlands or beaches?

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Other examples to consider. In the U.K.,

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the Thames Barrier protects[br]London from storm surge.

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The Asian Cities Climate[br][Change] Resilience Network

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is restoring vital ecosystems[br]like forest mangroves.

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These are not only important[br]ecosystems in their own right,

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but they also serve as a buffer[br]to protect inland communities.

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New York City is incredibly[br]vulnerable to storms,

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as you can see from this clever[br]sign, and to sea level rise,

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and to storm surge, as you can[br]see from the subway flooding.

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But back above ground, these[br]raised ventilation grates

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for the subway system show[br]that solutions can be both

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functional and attractive.[br]In fact, in New York,

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San Francisco and London,[br]designers have envisioned

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ways to better integrate[br]the natural and built environments

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with climate change in mind.

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I think these are inspiring[br]examples of what's possible

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when we feel empowered to plan[br]for a world that will be different.

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But now, a word of caution.

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Adaptation's too important[br]to be left to the experts.

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Why? Well, there are no experts.

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We're entering uncharted[br]territory, and yet

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our expertise and our systems[br]are based on the past.

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"Stationarity" is the notion[br]that we can anticipate the future

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based on the past, and plan accordingly,

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and this principle governs[br]much of our engineering,

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our design of critical[br]infrastructure, city water systems,

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building codes, even water rights[br]and other legal precedents.

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But we can simply no longer[br]rely on established norms.

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We're operating outside the bounds[br]of CO2 concentrations

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that the planet has seen[br]for hundreds of thousands of years.

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The larger point I'm[br]trying to make is this.

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It's up to us to look[br]at our homes and our communities,

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our vulnerabilities[br]and our exposures to risk,

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and to find ways to not just[br]survive, but to thrive,

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and it's up to us to plan and to prepare

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and to call on our government[br]leaders and require them

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to do the same, even while they address

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the underlying causes of climate change.

0:10:01.798,0:10:03.430
There are no quick fixes.

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There are no one-size-fits-all solutions.

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We're all learning by doing.

0:10:08.638,0:10:12.719
But the operative word is doing.

0:10:12.743,0:10:14.802
Thank you. (Applause)

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(Applause)