Adaptations to Protect Physical Infrastructure in a Changing Climate

In the United States and around the globe, climate change presents threats to water, energy, transportation and other infrastructure. These threats are often compounded in a context of rapid urban development, population growth and accompanying service needs, and aging infrastructure.  Climate impacts include changes in precipitation patterns, increased frequency of high-intensity storms, sea level rise. These and other climate effects may result in coastal erosion and associated damage to ports, roads, and other coastal infrastructure, flooding, salinity intrusion into water supplies, and inadequacy of existing infrastructure to handle these changes. This Webinar will examine these changing conditions, their implications for basic infrastructure, and strategies to understand and address these issues.

In Session Three of SSF’s free five-part Adaptation and National Security Webinar Series, hear from moderator Lynn Scarlett and a panel of international experts on the role of adaptation to protect our nation’s physical infrastructure in a changing climate.

Moderator: Lynn Scarlett, Former Deputy Secretary of the Interior (2005-2009), Co-Director of Resources for the Future’s Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth.

A thought leader on environmental issues for over three decades, Lynn Scarlett has held influential positions both inside and outside of government.  She is currently a senior Visiting Scholar at Resources for the Future (RFF) in Washington, DC.  She was recently appointed Co-Director of RFF’s Center for the Management of Ecological Wealth.  She is an environmental analyst focusing on climate change adaptation, environmental risk management, green business and infrastructure, energy and water issues, landscape-scale conservation, and science and decision-making.

Meet our Steering Committee:

• James Buizer, Science Policy Advisor to the President, Arizona State University
• Shannon Cunniff, Director, Chemical and Material Risk Management at DoD
• David Evans, Director of Noblis’ Center for Sustainability: Earth, Energy & Climate
• Alex Beehler, Former Assistant Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Environment, Safety & Occupational Health) and former Acting Deputy Under Secretary of Defense (Installations & Environment) at DoD
• Eileen Shea, Director, Chief, Climate Services Division, National Climatic Data Center, NOAA
• Edwin Pinero, Veolia and former White House CEQ Federal Environmental Executive
• Danielle Miller Wagner, Director of Programming, Center for Environmental Innovation and Leadership (CEIL), and Principal, Local 2 Global Solutions, LLC
• Marianne Horinko, Horinko Group and former EPA Acting Administrator
• Ed Saltzberg, SSF Managing Director and former corporate officer with SAIC and Battelle