Chapter 10
Climate Change and Infrastructure
The signs of climate change are visible across the nation,
from the drought-stricken fields of Central California to the
flooded streets of Michigan. Extreme weather is turning
people’s lives upside down and costing communities millions
of dollars in damaged infrastructure and added health care
costs.
Frances Beinecke
I think that once people understand the great risks that
climate change poses, they will naturally want to choose
products and services that cause little or no emissions of
greenhouse gases, which means low-carbon consumption.
This will apply across the board, including electricity,
heating, transport and food.
Nicholas Stern
As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the
unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday
experience, if something has never happened before, we are
generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the
future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is
one of those exceptions.
Al Gore
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three
principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a
massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an
explanation that makes it appear less random, and more
predictable, than it was. . .
This implies the need to use the extreme event as a starting
point and not treat it as an exception to be pushed under the
rug.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan)
An infrastructure network that is resilient to today’s natural
hazards and prepared for the future changing climate.
U.K’s Government’s vision
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
V. Proag, Infrastructure Planning and Management: An Integrated Approach,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48559-7_10
279
Climate Change and Infrastructure
The signs of climate change are visible across the nation,
from the drought-stricken fields of Central California to the
flooded streets of Michigan. Extreme weather is turning
people’s lives upside down and costing communities millions
of dollars in damaged infrastructure and added health care
costs.
Frances Beinecke
I think that once people understand the great risks that
climate change poses, they will naturally want to choose
products and services that cause little or no emissions of
greenhouse gases, which means low-carbon consumption.
This will apply across the board, including electricity,
heating, transport and food.
Nicholas Stern
As human beings, we are vulnerable to confusing the
unprecedented with the improbable. In our everyday
experience, if something has never happened before, we are
generally safe in assuming it is not going to happen in the
future, but the exceptions can kill you and climate change is
one of those exceptions.
Al Gore
A black swan is a highly improbable event with three
principal characteristics: It is unpredictable; it carries a
massive impact; and, after the fact, we concoct an
explanation that makes it appear less random, and more
predictable, than it was. . .
This implies the need to use the extreme event as a starting
point and not treat it as an exception to be pushed under the
rug.
Nassim Nicholas Taleb (The Black Swan)
An infrastructure network that is resilient to today’s natural
hazards and prepared for the future changing climate.
U.K’s Government’s vision
© Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021
V. Proag, Infrastructure Planning and Management: An Integrated Approach,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-48559-7_10
279