Climate change could cost Pa. billions. This lawmaker says it's time to get ready.
Climate change could cost Pa. billions. This lawmaker says it’s time to get ready.
UN chief warns rising temperatures could lead Earth to ‘climate hell’
The United Nations secretary-general says the world isn’t doing enough to stop climate change, but he believes we can still save ourselves.
Pennsylvania lawmakers will consider a proposal to study the costs of climate change in the commonwealth and how rising global temperatures could affect the health and wellness of residents.
Rep. Joe Webster, a Democrat from Montgomery County, said he is sponsoring a resolution to study the climate crisis, which is projected to cost the Keystone State billions by 2040.
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Under his plan, the Joint State Government Commission would look at how much it will cost to make the repairs and upgrades that climate change will necessitate. It would also analyze the warming trend’s impact on the state’s “natural, built and social environments” and on public health and welfare.
The goal is to arm state lawmakers with “the information needed to combat the climate crisis through to the end of the century,” Webster wrote in a memo summarizing his proposal.
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Flooding, extreme heat and rising seas are three of the climate impacts that will confront Pennsylvanians in the coming years, according to a 2023 report by the Center for Climate Integrity.
To grapple with these shifts, governments across the commonwealth will have to install air conditioners in schools, upgrade storm drainage systems, plant trees to keep cities cooler and invest billions in repairing roads stressed by intense heat and downpours, the report predicted.
Bethany Rodgers is a USA TODAY Network Pennsylvania investigative journalist.