>> today, on "earth focus," the rising cost of a changining climate. coming up, on "earth focus." we have never confronted a crisis like this. in its early stages it's producing recordrd- breaking heat, coastal flooding, and extreme precipitation. and the cost is way too high in lives lost, in damage to prpeperty, a l livelihood. and it may get worse. unless addressed, climate change stands to affect the security of thehe nation, the stability f the u.s. economy, and ultimately our ability to suivive.

>> in this crisis, no one escacapes. >> as far as climate change, how does it actually afaffect te military? ththere are really 3 ththings. one e is it affects or baseses. so those impacts coulde rising se, they can be droughts, they can be flos.s. for example, if you have a drought and you dry up the ranges, you cannot use live ammunition anymore because it sets too many fires. sececond is the arctic is openig up, the ice is melting, and that's opening up a whole new theater that the united states navy and our coast guard partners are gonna have to work in. and finally, when we have the national guard responding to natural disasters in the uninitd

states, those are less forces that potentially the president could call on to go overseas. and where we already see the kind o of threats that we're goa see from national security, is just look no further than north africa. look at the arab spring. one of the contributing causes was a very rapid run-up in the price of wheat. now, why did wheheat almost dodouble rigs the arab spring got going? it doubled because there were terrrrific droroughts in austst, and if everybody remembers the fires of a few years ago, and the russian summer. there were big droughts there. worldwide wheat harvest really contracted. so, you couple the drought with rreally bad governance w with alalready exexisti strtrife, i's sort of like dumping gasoline on and then just throwing matches. even though our budgets are vevery, v very constraiained ine department of defense and the department of the navy, the climate doesn't care about our budgets. it doesn'n't care about our politics. it's just g goingo change accordingng to the laws f physics.

>> it's not only the military that is increasingly concerned. so are many financial and business experts. "risky business" is a nonpartisan analysis of the economic risk of climate change in the united states. it was led by michael bloomberg, henry paulson, and tom steyer. among the findings, if we continue on the same path, by the year 2100, the country could see $701 billion of coastal property underwater. $108 billion in average annual losses from hurricanes and coastal storms on the eastern seaboaard and gulf of mexico. and in some states, a loss of up to 70% in average annual crop yields. extreme heat and humidity would also threaten human health, reduce labor productivity, and strain electricity grids. >> global climate change over titime poses s severe threreats life oeaearth we e kn it toda a and atimeme gs on,,

those serere thrts b bece greaterndnd greer, , an ultimately i thk k havehe pottitial obecocomi catastrophic. >>ven if y'rekeptical bobout cmate chae, t the'no denyinghahat ipresesen majoror riskshahat noompapanycity, or contryry c affororto ignore. >> ielieve t america siness community can andusust ad theheay in helping totoeduce these risks. to risisto the cllenges of climate change, theyusust do ssnow. this is not a probl for another y.y. thenvesestmts we'rmamakingodayay wl determi o our enomimic ture.. >> according to the u.s. government's 2014 national climate assessment, average temperatures have increased by as much as 1.9 degrees fahrenheit in the u.s. since 1895, with most of the increase occurring since 1970. temperatures are projected to rise another 2 to 4 degrees in most areas of the country in the next few decades. people are

already feeling the impact, these early effects of climate change a harbinger of what the future may hold. >> if you're on the coast, most likely it's sea level rise. if you're in the midwest, extreme h heat-wave events. extreme flooding and precipitationon in the midwest. the heaviest rain events are getting 30% heavier. the folks in the rocky mountain west, they're not gonna recognize the forest even 60 years hence. we're losing most of the pine trees in the southern part of the rocky mountain forests in future projections 'cause it's getting too hot and too dry. >> it's very clear to us that the climate is changing, changing rapidly, and changing primarily because of human activitities. ththe science tells us that. extreme events are one of ththe most important parts of our

changing climate and having very serusus ramicatatio on ouou ciety. particular, we're seeing more large heat evenents, less cold events, and a significant increase in precipitation happening as lalarger events. one of thththingse' seeinin isis at theheet are gting wteter anthe e drare gegeing ddrier >> u know wt? i wasi was born re in plainview, was raid d in pinviviewi' always be i in plnvieiew,nd it t st-- it seems like iisis doi nothinbubut geing hohoer and dri and less rain yearly.

>> 's ben n a tgh d droht. 2010, h had le 2929 ihes of rain, ani i did't ink the'd ev be another poor day. . 2011, whahad 5 cheses of rai w worstrought 'd ev seen. and 2011asas theirstst te we' everad to o andon our crop. d d we h to pipi and choe e whiccropop wwere g gna save, whh h crope wewereonna abandonanand, m, ththatas-- tht t was ke c choing whwhh chd d we we gonna se, or leavbehind, and we nerer had to do at befor w we alys h had ough water to ma thahat choe.e. t this by y fathe wowot i'e e evereen. i is s far the worst a bunchofof peoe have ever se i it. well, t o otheray i i w buildg g fencand d ju drivivi slowiwith t winindo down,n,nd the theomometeras r reang

120-usus. y'llook atat20. >> we wr r two ts.. we u o our fmingng h to rarae the feed source, d then wuse our cowboyr r our ttlelem'ss hat to rai t the ctle e onur pasture ndnd. corn does nododo welin t the heat. so that's problem ght there. cn n doesot p polnate well. that's o of f oufeed sorcrces.attttleo not t well ove 95 degrees.usust li you. you d''likike stand oside wheiit's 9595 drees. . ere's no diffeenence bween a c andnd y.. catltle nuers areown.n. coheherds e gogoindown d dly. thuse'e' lososincargilils, packg plants. , just--

there's not enough catt too keep theopopen. the coununitieare e drng up.p. the tax basisis dryg upup. >> wenen thearggilplant t osed welolost 200 j jobinstanany, sohahat wa10% % ofur population. wh i i dri by y th plananand i e that ety paking lotitit jusremimindme of w w manyobs s we lost, how many pelele weraffefect, how it afctcted o busines >>ouou kno somome ople s s thiisis theew n norl, thaha thiss s whate' gonnanatart seeing all thtitime. we get rain, it'llll beuckyky. >> but we can apapt. tre's no queion abouitit. weay n not get o f firsthoicice,ut we e n adapt.e'e' gononnaeed thth brighstst of e brbrig to meme th c challgeses. 'gonna be toheher too ththisn the e xt 20yeyears an i it s to g g to the moon.

>> anotheraay ofain,n, ather daofof worng i inse. anonoer dd that wean'tatake ce ofof e e crops. whn i'in the mdle of a raitorm or the mide of the conditnsns whe it'hardrd for uso be abltoto do ythihing out t the fld, , i's s o ddydy, o wewet,r somemeing going on,ouou kn. anand en youou have th next event that you see coming ad yyouondeder,ow are you gon g get a youour rk nene? hoare e yogonna ta care of the opop theay i it should be tan n caref?

'veeen n he in ioio about y yearsow. . i've b bn farming nce i wa15.. sthisis imy th crop at we're putti out. d d it jt seseemthat we're hing g mo extrere eves.s. ee lasseveverayears,s,he volility hajust bee extrem you kno we haha those in eventthat are, 4, 5 inchesnn an ur, , or or 8 8 10 chches ia 2424-hr periri. and those arjujust n nororma and it'ththose nd o of ents that it'vevery hd toto pn forr and to relyly tryo mimitite. whew. m! ! tha's ndy. with ts s exce moioiste, we'e're gng to ha s some seasase problem in our rnrn andur soybes,s, becse o of e excece wet, bauause othe e exss huhumidy. s seevery s srt. it's, u b brownookiking

doesn't ha toooo my rootot and it's ju sufuffeng frorotoo much isisture well,ouou kno andnd bore thth last 3 or y yearsclimimat chan--i guesmymy visn of the wor o of clate e chge wasas about a f people yiying t makmoney onhehe dea to o tr to sca enough opople io investing inyoyou kn, tecolology d nenew ings t tt woulususe le fueuel,hat woul mitigatsome of e effect that th claim w going t happe and parcularly e at. but a farmein the last sevalal yea, wewe a actlly seei those cnges appen here on the farm. '' having re and me extrem eventsyoyou kn, whwhetr it's at or coldr too muchain or not enough rain. in the last 10 0 years, o our cs to grow a crop havgogone u

almosalalmost timimes uuh,ou know,w,e've aed equipment so we c p plantnd harvestn n a mu shohort timee window. we'veve be morore ndfull of theoil cor that whave becae of theerious rn events. those bleinings tt we havto be ot t in wh m motr natutu and to ausust tohe c chaing sesosons tt wewe he are e ally natural r us. wh is unnatural ishehe faspacece tt we'rere havg toto aust toto >> there is not debate that climate change will exacerbate forest fires. because of the heat and the precipitatation changes, drought, , those sortsf factors. scientists are

projectcting a 50- 10100% incree in area burned in the next 40 years or so. >> it was like a nightmare, the whole evening. my only thoughtht was, if we get through this day and everybody's alive, it'll be as good as it gets. there it is, right here, right here. >> oh, my gosh. >> ok. we're out, we're out. >> it was definitely the worst night of my life. >> on the day of the lower north fork fire, it was a red flag breezy day. we were dispatched initially to a grass firire. >> we had sent assistant chief ppage up onto a ridge, uh, to gt a good, you know, overview of thee fire. >> when that fire made that turn and went through that gully, it started running up towards

where i was. when it took off, it took off fast. >> one couple died at their home and thth one woman also died at hher home.t t justept hahaening d happening alsummer lg. tritionall march w the snowit momontof the yr around he. this stst mar we h no snowt all. bically summetype contions. a that engthening sean is caung cnges in e fuel, we' seeing thfuels stt to gro eaier in t season,nd s so ty dry ouearlier. imate cnge is ry real. it'changedy entireife. this ar was o most destructive re seaso the two most destructive res in corado's historoccurrinat he sametime. i's dierent. it's a dferent wld. the fire season is now longer.

in most cases, we didn't have to worry about fires in the rocky mountains or the northwest until usually june or jy. now, you know, the fires are getting earlier and earlier. the first season's getting longer. we're starting to get to be like california where fire season is year-round. >> the faspapace oclimimat chan i is clrly y se on arica's coast hard hiby rising sea levels, flooding, and severe storm surges. >> what we see is the united states, the eastern n part of te united states from the gulf of mexico all the way up to new england is among the highest local sea level rise rates in the world. >> more people live on the coasts than ever before. and now that we have rere peoe inin har'say, , obously y en a sto d does rikeke, e consequces are even mo dire. >> there is aa ton of coastline

in americica. we haveve somethig like 94,000 miles of coastline, 60,000 miles of coastal roads. half of america lives within a coastal watershed countytyvery close to ththe coast. so, we are a coastal couny,y, if u wiwill what climate change is gonna do, the most important impmpact to coastal areas is gonna come through sea level rise. and that means that coastal flooding gets worse, coastal erosion gets worse,e'e' gononnaee coasl l areainunundad. an i in fa, ththe portananthing is, th i is nosomemethg abouou the future. i's alady happeni n now. rgininiaeach, miami, new orleans, they're already dealing with those types of impact.. onerilllliodollarar worth of structures and property sitting right at the shoreline. so o flooding will get t more extensive, it will happen more frequently, anththat st ofof thi i is wh puts miionsns o americans at risk every year.

>> by 2045,5, we could sesee as little as 5 inchches of extra sea level rise or 1111 inches of extra sea level l rise. now, to put that in concrete terms, let't's look at the u.s. naval academy in annapolis, maryland. now, annapolis right now experiences about 50 nuisance floods a year. under the best- ccase scenario, in 30 years hene it could be as high as over 240, abobout, high tides a year. if we have a highest-emission scenario, it could be as high as 380 tides a year, many of those twice a day. we think, there's only 365 days in the year. pretty much, that's almost... you know, it's inundation at thatat point. >> and in this country, we have encouraged people to build on coastal areas, barrier islands, and other high-risk areas that inevitably raise the risk level and the exposure, not only by property y values, high-valued

prproperties,s, but the c cost f repair d d recory, , bo for the homeowne a as we as the publ infrastcture that supppprts thth. so thi roads and bridgeand thatind of thg. so itthe costf climate chge has tbe factored in both in public and private insurance and pupublic d privatete financial support for the structures thatat support people's hhomes and where t they live. >> when floods and hurricanes happen, a lot of people assume that insurance will cover everything, and what isn't covered, the federaral governmet will then come in and make them whole. unfortunately, that's rarely the case. if i live in my own home, the federal government is not responsible for coming in and taking care of me. people need to continue to make sure they've done everytything to protect themselves and can't rely wholly on the federal government.t. >> we are looking at s some communities s that arere puttinn climate action plans that are on the scale of millions of dollars. for example, new york city is

thinking about over $350 million to try to make new york city more resilient to sea level rise. >> we need billions of dollars to shore up our coastlines and make america safe for peoeople o live in the faface of this extre weather. >> natate alaska arere othe frontline oflilimatehangnge. oveththe la 50 0 yes, alalaa ha w warmetwicice fast t the natialal avege.. melting rmafrostnd coast sea iceas well increasg erosion are visib changing pele' lives. >> we ta alaskanative communits s thatre a almt solel-i-in orr forr trnsnsportion,n, 's eier verer trititionameththod so eieier ocean-ing,g, coes,s, oon foot, in snohoes, orn some ces, snmobiles.nd it's diffict to maintn that ssistence ifestylehen the anges ar imacting t food reurces, like manene mamls, , umor

permafstst is aweded, d so accs to trititionahomemelas for caribour r for ose e ar impact by vryining asons.s. ou're starngng to e eaearlr tha, , so t timimin of huhus d d gathingsgs a impacacd. d d so nseequtly, w wt may have happen t this nth h in yearpapast n hasas tbe bumumd up, in meme cas a m mon earlieranand soe' startrtg see a change inowow we interet t thenvirironnt arorod us. >> kipn, it's a small commmmity. a village. i's not really connect to e outside world.ut i was always interested in what's going on all around us. i was curious about climatee change and how it was affecting us. i didn't realize how bad it was. when i finally understood

what climate change was, i thought, what could i do to help? ththoughthatat wld helela lot to tl mymy sry of howe''re beingffffecteby clima chahang on this dede of e woworl it's stly aboutut theinteter comingate. thenow woul ually co around ptember orctober. t for thpast year it'been comg around novembe inecember 08, it w the worsflood th i rememr. you could see alofof thiwateter just fwiwing iftltly to thehe village th w way, d atat t same time,hehere we ththeshuge ice shts that re just ming in ft, and hrd theseoud thumpanand bus onon t side e the hous and iigiguredut that wasrorobablthe e icsheetsts that oke apart from the river that are hittg g the use. a after t water wt back to the ver, the was jus brownsticky m all ovethe round wherever t w water uched.hat mudas on toof

tsese ste--1,1, 23, andnd. floodin decemr r are commmmon the rivers are usual frozen all the y till sining. and also thererosiothat we're facici here. e warmer temperures are causinghehe permrorost tmeltlt, d thee permafrosto melt affects the land through erosion. s t the erosion cuts off somlaland tt fallllinto the river, and we lose e ite a bit each year. thisprpring,y dadad d i, we msured hofafar itas.. this yeare e losabouout feet,, dd eacyearar wlost a ather 5 feet. dd we ve anoth 40 0 oro feeteft until the nknk of e riv reach the hou. if keeps ming at t same rate, en in thnext few years,hen we mht have ve the hse to anher location.

itdoes sce me, beuse we dodon't knoif t the' be an iceepa or nonoin the future. t t if tre''s not,t,hen it wou b be mu harardeto hararst seal r r our bsisistee way y lifestyle, pepecial foror t seal oil tt t we avilily pend on, and it's pt ofof o everyday lis.s. theararmer mpererates couou affect our way ofifife ouherere. andf we di't t to comout here and a any othis wit picking berrs s or a of f th, it would be hd d on o famamil andotot onlmy f famy, bututll the mimiliesn the counitity as well, becau a about0% o or of rr die yeaear-und isisrom thtutundrar the ocn. a andt lll beard d ecomicalal. yeah, we'rre rely d depdent o o allhhis fd ththate get,t,nd i'm m veryhanknkfufor it. [ [laugng]]

> i think that me and mo of the pubc undersnds ththtruth about climate change,ndnd tha we do not deal th this oblem, it will be far wse. one t tng thahawe wananto al ask is t just wt climate ange cos, but wh fossil fuel pendencyosts us. >> therere many ways to ver the c cts assocted with extreme wther. so things eed feferal fundg for, a, yes,s, tt cocomefrom the taxpers, andhere onlis so uch moneto go arnd. e understand that. but tre re crrtive solions, to >better ld use e anning, better bldlding des so tt hos s are ss susceptible t amage. a better saster eparedne so thate don't really ju c contie to r ruild in ese areaanand th f fund ee recory throu taxpaye dolrs for isisasteasassistce. >> ming invements inatural defens, greennfrastruure, andommunityesilienc is a tmendous nefit tohe natio andt's mething should immedialy. >> to eate a imate rilience fund to s smart

out procting oucoastal ommuniti and proctining r popocketoks s asaxpayers >> iling totep up tthee cllenge oour timend to crate moreesiliencfor our counities uld be to sit an wat rome bu. >> thlonger wwait, thmore expenve it isecauausehe more seve the consequenc, on a scale tt we mayot ever nt to see. ye