Building a resilient tomorrow: how to prepare for the coming climate disruption

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, significant global climate change is now inevitable. Although we cannot tell with certainty how much average global temperatures will rise, we do know that the warming we have experienced to date has already caused significant losses, and that the failure to prepare for the consequences of further warming may prove to be staggering. This text does not dwell on overhyped descriptions of apocalyptic climate scenarios, nor does it travel down well-trodden paths surrounding the politics of reducing carbon emissions. Instead, it starts with two central facts: there will be future climate impacts, and we can make changes now to buffer their effects.

Systems for large-scale change -- Rethink how and where we build -- Lawyer up -- Make markets work for resilience -- Tools for the decision-maker -- Find better ways to pay for resilience -- Get the data, and make it usable -- Work with human nature -- The upenders -- Harden the healthcare system, and make it smarter -- Buffer growing inequality -- Relocate people to safer ground -- Reconceive national security.

Even under the most optimistic scenarios, significant global climate change is now inevitable. While squarely confronting the scale of the risks we face, Building a Resilient Tomorrow presents replicable sustainability successes and clear-cut policy recommendations that can improve the climate resilience of communities in the US and beyond.