Climate Change and Our Coasts:
Impacts and Adaptation Options

Monday, November 9, 2009
12-1:30 p.m.
253 Russell Senate Office Building

A Congressional Luncheon Briefing
in conjunction with the
Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee

Though Congressional debate on action to mitigate climate change is well underway, adaptation to climate change has been given far less attention.  Even with effective mitigation efforts, science suggests adaptation will be necessary, as current levels of atmospheric greenhouse gases commit the globe to additional warming and climate change over the coming decades. In coastal regions, these impacts include sea level rise and ocean acidification. Few states have begun to plan for these impacts, and adaptation planners are only beginning to understand the range of costs and possibilities – including the limitations – for adaptation. This briefing will focus on climate change impacts and adaptation options in coastal regions with a panel of leading scientific and policy experts who will draw on examples of efforts around the U.S. to develop adaptation strategies.

Please join us for a presentation and discussion featuring:

• Vicki Arroyo
  Executive Director, Georgetown State and Federal Climate Resource Center

• Virginia Burkett
  Chief Scientist for Global Change Research, U.S. Geological Survey

• Ken Caldeira
  Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution of Washington

• David Kennedy
  Acting Deputy Assistant Administrator, National Ocean Service, NOAA

Organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and Communication Partnership for Science and the Sea (COMPASS).