>> today, on "earth focus," the sing cosof a changing climate. coming up, on "earth focus." we have never confronted a crisis like this. in its early stages it's producing record- breaking heat, coastal flooding, and extreme precipitation. and the cost is way too high in lives lost, in damage to propey, and livelood. and it may get worse. unless addressed, climate change stands to affect the security of the nation, the stability of the u.s. economy, and ultimately

our ality to survive. >> in this cris, no one escapes. >> as far as climate change, how does it actlly affect the mitary? there are really 3 things. one is it affects our bases. so those impacts could be rising seas, they can be droughts, they can be flos. 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. second is the arctic is opening 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 united states, those are less forces that potentially the president could call on to go overseas. and where we already see the kind of threats that we're gonna 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 wheat almost double right as the arab spring got going? it doubled because there were terrific droughts in australia, 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 really bad governance with alreadexisting strife, it's sort of like dumping gasoline on and then just throwing matches. even though our budgets are very, very constrained in the department of defense and the department of the navy, the climate doesn't care about our budgets. it doesn't care about our politics. it's just going to

change according to the laws of 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 seaboard 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 time poses severe threats to

lifen earth we knowt toda and as me goes , those sere threa become great and greer, and ultately i ink havehe poential obecoming castroph. even ifou' skeptic abo climatehange, the's denyi that ipresentsajor riskshat noompany, ty, or contry canfford tognore. >> ielieve t america busine communi can andust lead theay in heing toeduce the risks. to rise tohe challges of imate chge, theyust do so now.his is n a probl r anotheday. thenvestmen e'rmaking tay will determi our ecomic futu. >> 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 heat-wave events. extreme flooding and precipitation in the miest. 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 imate changin hanging pidly, a changing primarilbecause human actities. the science tells us that. extreme events are one of the

most important parts of our changing climate and having very sious ramicationsn our society. in particular, we're seeing more large heat events, less cold events, and a significant increase in precipitation happening as larger events. ne of ththings 're sing isthat theet are gting wetteand the y are geing drier >> you know what? i was--i was born here in plainview, i was rsed in plainview.'ve always been in ainview, and it just-- it seems liket is doi noing but tting hoer and driernd less in yearl

>> 's ben a tough dught. in 10, we h like 29nches f rain, and didn't think there'd ev be anher poor y. in 21, we ha5 inches of rn. worstrought 'd ev see and 20 was theirst tim 've everad to abdon our crop. d we h to picknd choe which op we we gonna sa, which op we were gon andon. and, m, that w-- at was ke choosg whh chilwe were nna loseor ave behind, d we nev had to do at bore. we ways had engh watero make tt oice. >> ts is by r the wot i've evereen. it'by farhe wot a bun of peoe have ever se it. well,he otheray i was buiing fencand justriving

ow withhe windo down, a t thermomer was rding 0-plus. u'llook at 1. >> wear twhats. we use o farmingato ise he feed urce, and then wuse r cowboyr our calemen's hat toaise theattle on our paste land. cornoes not well inhe he. so th's a oblem rit ther corn do not polnate well. th's ne of oufeed soues. cale do nodo well above5 grees. jt like y. ou don't liktotand outde wheit's 95egrees. there's no ifferen between cow and you cattle mbers are down. cow herdare goindown dai. thuse'reosing caill'

paing plts. uh, st-- tre' not enoh cattleo ep them en. these communies are ying up. the taxase is ding up. >> wen the cgill plt closed welost 2,2 jobinstany, so thawas 10of our populati. when irive by at plt d i see atmpty parki lot, just remis me of how many jobs re lost, w many ople weraffected ho it affeed our biness. >>ou kw, some ople say this ishe new nmal, tt this is at we're gonna srt seeg all thtime. ife get in, it'll beucky. but we n adapt.here's no uestion out it. may not g our fir choice,ut we ca adapt.e'reonna neethe bghtest othe brig to me thehalleng. it's gonna ugher too this ithe next 20 years an it wato get t

the mo. >> anoer day rain, ather y of worng insid another day thawe can't takeare of e crops. en i'm in theiddle of ranstorm oin the mdle of the cditionshere it's hard fous to beble to danything t in theield, i's to muddytoo wet, or someing going o you kn. and th you ave that next ent thatou see cong and ou wonde how areou gonnaet all yr work

done? w are yogonna take care of e crop t way it shld be tan care o we've beehere in wa about 35 yearsow. i've been rming since i s 15. sthis is 46th cp that 're pting o. and it just ems that we' having re extre event e last veral yes, the volatilithas justeen extrem you kno we havehose rain ents thatre 3, 4, inchesn an ho, or 6 o8 or 10 ches in 24-hour riod. and those are ju not nmal. and it's thoskind of ents thatt's ry hard plan fo ando really try to tigate. whew. m! that's wind wh this cess moiure, we're oing to ve some sease pblem in r corn and our sbeans,ecause othe exce t, becau of the excess humidit see? ve short.

's, u brown-lking. don'have tooany root and it's justufferingrom too much isture. wel, you kw, and before th las3 or 4 yrs, clime chge--i gus my visn of the wold of clime changeas about aew peoe tryingo makmoney onhe deal,o try to sca enough ople io insting inyou know chnologand new ings that would use ss fuel,hat woul mitate somef the efcts hat theylaim wasoing to happe and partilarly the heat. buas a farr in the last seval yearswe are acually seeinghose changes happen here on the farm. we're having more and more extreme ents, yoknow, whher it's heat or cold or too much rain or not enough rain. in the last 10 years, our costs

to gw a cropave gonep almosalmost 5imes. uh, you know, we've added equipment so we can plant and hvest in much shoer time wind. we've beenore mindl of theoil cor that whave because the serus rain event those blessings thawe have out inith motr nature and todjust the cnging asonshat we have arreally tural fous. whats unnaral is t fast pa that e're havg to adjt to. >> there is not debate that climate change will exacerbate forest fires. because of the heat and the precipitation

changes, drought, those sorts of factors. scientists are projecting a 50- 100% increase in area burned in the next 40 years or so. >> it was like a nightmare, the whole evening. my only thought 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 fire. >> we had sent assistant chief page up onto a ridge, , to get a good, you know, overview of the 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 then one woman also died at er home. ijust kephapping and happening all summer long. traditionally, march was the snowiesmonth of the year around here. this past march we had no snow at all. basically summer type conditions. and that lengthening season is causing changes in the fuel, so we're seeing the fuels start to grow earlier in the season, and so they dry out earlier. climate change is very real. it's chang my entire life. this year was our most destructive fire season. the two most destructive fires in colorado's history occurring at the same time. it's different. it's a different world.

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 july. 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 faspace of climate chan is cleay seen o ameca's coasts, hard hit by rising sea levels, flooding, and severe storm surges. >> what we see is the united states, the eastern part of the 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 more people har's w, obviouy when a sto does stke, the conseences a even mo dire.

>> there is a ton of coastline in america. we have something like 94,000 miles of coastline, 60,000 miles of coastal roads. half of america lives within a coastal watershed county, very close to the coast. so, we are a coasl coutry, if u will. what climate change is gonna do, the most important impact to coastal areas is gonna come through sea level rise. and that means that coastal flooding gets worse, coastal erosion gets wors 're gna see cotal areainundate an in factthe impoant thing is, th is not mething out e futureit'already happeni now. viinia bea, miami, new orleans, they're already dealing with those types of impact. one trillion dollars worth of structures and property sitting right at the shoreline. so flooding will get more extensive, it will happen more frequent, and th sort of thi is whatuts millns of

americans at risk every year. >> by 2045, we could see as little as 5 inches of extra sea level rise or 11 inches of extra sea level rise. now, to put that in concrete terms, let's look at the u.s. naval academy in annapolis, maryland. now, annapolis right now experiences about 50 nuisance floods a year. unr the best- case scenario, in 30 years hence it could be as high as over 240, about, 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 that 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 lues, high-valued properties, but the cost of repr and revery, th for e homeowrs as we as the publicnfrastcture that supports them. so think roads and bridges and that kind of thing. so it--the cost of climate change has to be factored in both in public and private insurance and public and private financial support for the structures that support people's homes and where they live. >> when floods and hurricanes happen, a lot of people assume that insurance will cover everything, and what isn't covered, the federal government 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 everything to protect themselves and can't rely wholly on the federal government. >> we are looking at some communities that are putting in 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 o shore up our coastlines and make america safe for people to live in the face of this extreme weather. >> native alaskans are on the frontline of climatehange. ovethe la 50 year alaska s warmed twice as fast ashe nationalverage. melting permafrostnd coastal sea ice, as well as increasing rosion a visiblyhanging people'sives. >> we take alaskan native counities at are almost solely-n order r traportatio it'either vy traditiol method so eith ocean-ing, cans, or onoot, in snowses, or isome cas, owmobile and it's diffult to maintain that subsistence lifestyle when the changes are impacting the food resources,

likmarine mmals, umor permrost is awed, anso accs to aditionahomeland or carib or for ose are impact by vaing seass. y'restartingo see eaier aws, sohe timin of hunt and gaerings are impacd. d so coequeny, what y have haened thimonth in ars pastow has tbe bumpe up,n some ces a month earer. anso we're startg to see change how we interet the eironmentround s. >>kipnuk, 's small communy. a vlage. 's noreally cnected t the tside worl but i w always interested in what's going on all around us. i was curious about climate 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 lp? i ought th would hp a lo tell mytory of w we're ing affted by cmate chae this si of the rld. it's mostlybout t winter cong lat the snowould ually co around ptber or octoberbut for e past years, it's been coming around november. in december 2008, it was the worst flood that i remember. you could see all ofhis wate justlowing iftly in the ville that w, and athe me time,here werthese hu ice shts that re just ming inast, andeard the loud thus and bus on theide of the hous and figuredut at was pbably thice shee habroke apt from t river tt are hiing the use. and aft the wat went ba to the ver, the was jus brownsticky m all over e ground erever t water

toched. thatud was otop of these sps--1, 23, and 4 flos in decber are common. the vers aresually fzen all e way ti spring. and ao the erion that we' facinghere. thwarmer mperatur areausing t permrost to lt, and e permafst to melt affects the land through erosion. so, the erosion cuts off some land that falls in the riv, and we le quite bit eachear. th sprin my dad d i, measud how fait was. his yeare lost out 8 fe, and eacyear we st anoth 5 fee and we ve anoth0 or s feet lefuntil e bank othe ri reach the hou. ifit keepsoving athe same te, thenn the ne few years, then we might have to move the house to another

location. it does scare me, because we don't know ifhere'll be an epackr noin the fure. but ifhere's not, tn it wld be mu harder harvest seal r ousubsistee way of lifesty, especily for t seal o that weheavily pend on, d it's part our everydalives. e warmetemperates could afft our y of lifout here d if weidn't get comout he and dony of th with piing berrs or anyf that, would be hd on ouramily, andot only family, but a e famili in the mmunit asell, becse about0% or so of ou diet yr-round from the tura or thocean. a it wilbe hareconomally. yeah, w're ally depdent on l thisood thate get, a i'm very tnkful foit. >> [laugng]

> i think that more and more of the public understands the truth about climate change, and that if we do not deal with this problem, it will be far worse. >>ne thing that we want to also ask is not just what climate change costs, but what fossil fuel dependency costs us. >> there are many ways to cover the costs associated with extreme weather. some things we need federal funding for, and, yes, that comes from the taxpayers, and there only is so much money to go around. we understand that. but there are creative solutions, too. >> better land use planning, better building codes so that homes are less susceptible to damage. and better disaster preparedness so that we don't really just continue to rebuild in these areas and en fund the recovery through taxpayer dollars for disaster assistance. >> making investments in natural defenses, green infrastructure, and community resilience, is a tremendous benefit to the nation and it's something we should do immediately.

>> to create a climate resilience fund to be smart about procting our coastal communities and protecting our pocketbooks as taxpayers. >> failing to step up to the challenge of our time and to create more resilience for our communities would be to sit and watch rome burn. >> the longer we wait, the more expensive it is because t more severe the consequences, on a scale that we may not ever want to see. ■x■x óróxór[r

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