Engineers Must Take the Leadership in Preparation

From the New York Times editorial page today - Preparing for Tomorrow's Storms:

"In the coming years, climate change is likely to render every part of the country more vulnerable to environmental disasters.  In some states, planning for these disasters is hampered by politicians who deny the every existence of changes in the climate.  In Florida, another state threatened by sea level rise and extreme storms, officials say they were told not even to use the term "climate change."

Even where there's recognition of a gigantic problem - as with California's aging levees - the cost of infrastructure improvements coupled with bureaucratic inertia means it's always simpler to put off measures that might avert future calamities.  And so it's easier to take the gamble that the catastrophe won't happen, the storm won't roll in, the flood won't come, even though ever more scientific evidence says it will."