| inbluevt | Date: Monday, 2013/09/16, 8:06 PM | Message # 1 | DMCA |
|
|
Private
Group: Blocked
Messages: 1024
|
The U.S. suffered from numerous extreme weather events in 2011 and 2012. In fact, there were 25 severe storms, floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires that each caused more than $1 billion in economic damages, with a total price tag of $188 billion. To help communities recover
from these violent weather events, the federal government spent nearly $62 billion for disaster relief in fiscal years 2011 and 2012. These federal funds only cover a portion of recovery costs; private insurance and individuals harmed by the events also spent billions of dollars.
There is recent evidence that climate change played a role in the extreme weather events of 2012. The recently released analysis from the American Meteorological Society determined
that:Approximately half the analyses found some evidence that anthropogenically caused climate change was a contributing factor to the extreme event examined, though the effects of
natural fluctuations of weather and climate on the evolution of many of the extreme events played key roles as well.Interestingly, many of the states that received the most federal recovery aid to cope with climate-linked extreme weather have federal legislators who are climate-science deniers.
The 10 states that received the most federal recovery aid in fiscal year (FY) 2011 and 2012 elected 47 climate-science deniers to the Senate and the House. Nearly two-thirds of the senators from these top 10 recipient states voted against granting federal emergency aid to New
Jersey and New York after Superstorm Sandy.
Information on federal disaster-relief spending is essential to help Congress and the Obama administration budget enough funds to assist communities with damages from future extreme weather events. This issue brief provides the first-known comprehensive estimate of federal
disaster-recovery spending on a state-by-state basis. Federal and individual state governments need these data to better budget funds to help communities recover from future storms, floods, droughts, heat waves and wildfires, as scientists warn that climate change will increase the incidences of extreme weather. This information also shows federal taxpayers how money for disaster relief has been spent during the past two years.
More
Pick your disaster to caption the picture below.
Message edited by inbluevt - Monday, 2013/09/16, 8:08 PM |
|
|
| |
Main 
