Reading this NYT article on
Chicago's 50-year preparation for the effects of global warming, it seems that some Conservatives are leading two lives...the populist rhetorical one, and the good governance one:
Melissa Stults, the climate director for ICLEI USA, an association of local governments, said that many of the administrations she was dealing with were following a strategy of “discreetly integrating preparedness into traditional planning efforts.”
They don't really have much of a choice: insurers are forcing them to adapt to a changing planet, or absorb their own natural disaster losses on their own. For instance:
As the region warms, Chicago is expecting more frequent and extreme storms. In the last three years, the city has had two intense storms classified as 100-year events.
Chicago has already changed from one growing zone to another in the last 30 years, and it expects to change several times again by 2070.
Five years ago, the Arbor Day Foundation revised its hardiness zones. In just 16 years, there were major changes across the US (noted below). Now, on any given day it may be warmer or cooler, or seasons may seem warmer or cooler; however, measured over long periods of years, the measured trend shows
shorter Winters and
greater frequency of extreme weather events.
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