I’m actually surprised the big players in the Credentialed Media aren’t talking this up. They’re usually down with running scary fables of climate doom

Cities can lessen economic impact of climate change with green infrastructure

The loss of natural areas and declining biodiversity are putting the economies of many cities around the globe at risk. That’s according to a new report from the World Economic Forum, the organization behind the annual meeting of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland.

According to the report, about 44% of GDP in cities around the world is at risk of environmental disruption by flooding, drought, intense heat and pollution. That’s some $31 trillion dollars.

Notice there’s no timeline provided.

Over hundreds of years, humans have paved over streams and wetlands and cut down forests to build cities. Todd Gartner, who directs the Cities4Forests initiative at the World Resources Institute, said cities are now feeling the impact of that.

“More floods, worse air quality, food insecurity and higher unemployment,” said Gartner. In 2019, the World Economic Forum found that flooding alone cost cities more than $46 billion dollars.

That sounds like it has everything to do with land use, not global warming, natural or anthropogenic.

Many cities around the world are trying to change that trajectory by investing more in “green infrastructure” or “nature-based solutions.”

“We used to just call it nature before it was largely decimated,” said Kate Orff, a professor at Columbia University and the founder of the landscape architecture firm SCAPE.

“So, trees to clean our air, low points, woodland forests and floodplain forests to help absorb floodwaters, etc.,” Orff said.

How about tearing down parts of big cities? Oh, right, they’d rather take more money in taxes and fees, along with more control of citizens.