For decades, scientists have warned that climate change would unleash ferocious natural disasters unlike anything in recorded human history. They predicted that ever-increasing greenhouse gas emissions would cause global temperatures to rise, touching off a vicious cycle of longer and hotter heat waves, deeper droughts, and bigger storms. Most decision-makers, however, treated climate-fueled disasters as the stuff of a distant future. And those who actively worked to fight climate change worried primarily about mitigation—reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Adapting to climate extremes received second billing.
In 2021, however, the natural disasters long foretold by scientists arrived with a vengeance. Extreme weather events exacerbated by climate change—from hurricanes to floods to apocalyptic droughts—pummeled the globe, leaving swaths of destruction that underscored the grave inadequacy of vital systems and infrastructure. The United States did not escape the devastation. On the contrary, the storms and other extreme weather events demonstrated that its most densely populated areas are some of its most vulnerable—and that homes, roads, utilities, communication systems, and other essential facilities across the country are not built for the extremes of today, much less the catastrophes of tomorrow.
