5 Climate Action A geographic approach has helped revolutionize how communities adapt to climate impacts and mitigate damages by adopting resilience strategies. The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) has transformed its previous 500-page hazard mitigation plan into an engaging, interactive map-based experience. This innovation came about after the state surveyed counties and municipalities about the data and tools they needed. Local jurisdictions “told us they didn’t find the previous plan useful, which is a dagger to our heart for this huge five-year effort,” said Kristin Lentz, the mitigation planning manager at FDEM. To provide a more user-friendly and intuitive plan, Lentz and her team used GIS technology to analyze hazards, climate, and social vulnerability and incorporated digital maps into their planning. Local jurisdictions in Florida now have the data they need to devise effective mitigation strategies and employ techniques to improve resilience. Geospatial modeling provided a detailed picture of flood risks in Los Angeles. Researchers simulated flooding at much finer spatial resolution. This level of detail allowed them to create a more comprehensive and accurate flood risk map. Director of the Flood Lab at the University of California, Irvine, Brett Sanders, explained, “Existing models for doing accurate local inundation mapping in the past haven’t let modelers study a region the size of Los Angeles County at once at this resolution.” The researchers used the model to identify the populations facing the biggest flood risks. The Los Angeles Board of Supervisors were so impressed with the model and its consideration of vulnerable populations that they passed a new measure to consider equity for all flood mitigation projects. In Atlanta, the city has recognized that trees play an important role in making the city more livable as the weather heats up. Trees Atlanta, a nonprofit organization, is using GIS technology to record, map, and track its work in maintaining Atlanta’s 48 percent tree canopy coverage. This effort is crucial as Georgia faces the fastest urban tree loss in the nation. The data manager at Trees Atlanta, James Moy, highlighted how GIS technology has enhanced their capabilities, sharing how GIS “really expanded the possibilities for how we could record our planting locations, what kind of information we could record, and the quality of care we could give each tree.” Trees Atlanta has fostered a community-led tree-planting effort in places where they will be well received and cared for by the community. New York City officials are working on a revision to flood maps to include projections of how climate change will impact the city’s neighborhoods. The city is also using GIS technologies to provide residents with interactive maps that show current flood hazards and how they are likely to increase due to climate change. This is a part of the city’s efforts to fill in the public’s understanding of flood risk and guide infrastructure planning to reduce the impacts of climate-related hazards. To address rising air pollution, the US EPA and Forest Service have collaborated to create the AirNow Fire and Smoke Map, a mapping tool that combines official air quality data with readings from a network of low-cost sensors run by volunteers. This map aids Americans overall in understanding and planning around worsening air quality conditions. The map combines data from various sources, including official AirNow monitors, temporary monitors set up by state or federal agencies, and homemade air sensors run by members of the public. President Joe Biden has called the enhanced map “an important tool.” If we can better track the impacts of climate change and the solutions to combat it, we might be better at protecting our communities and our planet. Dynamic maps of changing conditions will encourage more people to participate.
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