April 29, 2020 5:55 PM EDT
As Congress considers formulating economic recovery and relief packages for the nation, robust funding must be targeted to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) pre-disaster mitigation programs to help prepare and protect communities ahead of time, particularly African American, Latinx and Native American communities that are suffering the brunt of the pandemic in this dire time. Read more >
December 5, 2019 9:38 AM EDT
This morning, Pentagon officials will testify during a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on “Strategic Threats, Ongoing Challenges, and National Defense Strategy Implementation.” It has been reported that the hearing will likely focus on how the current Pentagon officials are Implementing the National Defense Strategy, a policy document that is a clear departure from previous administrations in many ways, not least in its omission of climate change as a national security threat. Read more >
September 18, 2019 12:00 PM EDT
September is preparedness month and for good reason. It is a time when the Atlantic Basin Hurricane season is at its peak.
The National Hurricane Center is now tracking three storms, Hurricane Humberto, tropical depression Imelda, and tropical storm Jerry. Preparedness month provides the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) with an opportunity to focus the public and Congress’s attention on the need to prepare the public to extreme weather events. The reality is, we need to be prepared for extreme weather and climate change-related impacts year-round.
June 13, 2019 11:09 AM EDT
Congress has a critical opportunity now to reform the National Flood Insurance Program. Here are some of the lessons we can learn from recent hurricanes and other flood events that underscore the need. Read more >
February 14, 2019 2:32 PM EDT
After a dearth of action on climate change and a record year of extreme events in 2017, the inclusion of climate change policies within the annual legislation Congress considers to outline its defense spending priorities (the National Defense Authorization Act) for fiscal year 2018 was welcome progress. House and Senate leaders pushed to include language that mandated that the Department of Defense (DoD) incorporate climate change in their facility planning (see more on what this section of the bill does here and here) as well as issue a report on the impacts of climate change on military installations. Unfortunately, what DoD produced fell far short of what was mandated.
