As natural disasters continue to impact the United States, the effects of climate change are increasing and people, including elected officials, are taking notice. Wildfires have been ravaging the West coast, droughts have continued to worsen, and hurricanes are growing in strength. In response, the Biden Administration has decided to launch an initiative, along with NOAA, FEMA, OSTP, and CODE, that will "deliver accessible and actionable information to individuals and communities that are being hit by...climate impacts."
Statement on Climate Data Accessibility
In January, President Biden recognized the necessity for citizens to understand climate risks and to understand how to be better prepared. In response, officials are announcing their plans at a Climate and Equity Roundtable in Detroit, Michigan. This conversation will focus on the "on-the-ground experiences" related to the extreme flooding from the summer. Their new efforts include:
- The redesigned Climate.gov website launched by NOAA
- Integrates artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the accessibility of accurate and timely climate information.
- Connects Americans to climate explainers, data dashboards, and classroom-ready teaching resources.
- Global Climate Dashboard - gives a data-driven readout on the state of the climate system with answers to frequently asked questions.
- Provides access to commonly requested climate data and tools hosted by NOAA’s National Centers for Environmental Information and Regional Climate Centers.
- Interagency Reports on Climate Information Services
- Agencies have developed two reports to the National Climate Task Force on climate information services to help governments, communities, and businesses prepare for and adapt to climate impacts.
- "Opportunities for Expanding and Improving Climate Information and Services for the Public"
- Creates a course for creating accessibility for all communities - enhance understanding of climate impacts—to meet the needs of a diversity of users.
- "Advancing the Nation's Geospatial Capabilities to Promote Federal, State, Local, and Tribal Climate Planning and Resilience"
- Focuses on role of the government in providing geospatial data and potential for federal mapping service to make climate data accessible
- Building GeoPlatform, which provides public access to federal geospatial data by ensuring that all agencies register their climate-related datasets
- Making this data more findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable
- Potential Revision to Minimum Floodplain Management Standards
- FEMA's National Flood Insurance Program
- Flood insurance availability
- Request for Information to address these conditions better
- Climate Research Funding and Community Roundtables
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) awarding more than "$171 million in five-year grants to support 72 research projects"
- Hosting multiple Climate and Equity Roundtables
- Social Science Support from the National Science Foundation
- NSF will leverage its Societal Experts Action Network to support National Climate Task Force
Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE)
As a nonprofit based in Washington D.C., the Center for Open Data Enterprise (CODE) works on sharing "open and shared data for the public good." The impact CODE is leaving is big with their fight against climate change. Since 2015, they have been working on promoting the use of data for this effort and will continue working with the government and private sector.
Working closely with federal government agencies, CODE has multiple publications both print and online including "Roundtable and Webinar on Data for Climate Risk Assessment in Vulnerable Communities." Their Roundtable publications vary from national to international efforts.
U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit
CODE and NOAA's report mentions the importance of "collaborating around data on both risks and resilience." Data collaboration models, thankfully, already exist and can be expanded, including the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit. It meets the challenges of a changing climate, how to navigate action steps, and learn about the case studies on resilience building. It includes are steps to resilience, a "framework that helps document climate hazards, decide with situations to avoid, and come up with workable solution to reduce climate related risks."
Case studies are used to show how communities, businesses, and individuals are taking action to "document their vulnerabilities and build resilience to climate-related impacts." They contain stories from all over the United States.
Other Resources
Find experts, reports, training courses, and summaries to further understand climate change & resilience efforts.
The Hill has an excellent description of how opening data can help the climate fight.
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