Despite the growing evidence of the effects of the climate crisis, the Bevin administration has no plan for dealing with the effects of climate change on the state of Kentucky.
Forward Kentucky contacted numerous agencies across state government, asking if that agency was responsible for developing such a plan, and if so, could we obtain a copy of the plan.
We were met with everything from advice to try another agency (“that’s not our job; try Agency X”) to confusion (“Climate crisis? What’s that?”). A few agencies did respond with formal statements, explaining the work of their agency. However, none of them dealt with preparing for the effects of climate change on the state.
Why is this a big deal?
One of the key responsibilities of any entity—businesses, non-profits, and governments—is developing contingency plans. What might happen, and what are we going to do about it? The formality and depth of these plans is dependent on the two risk factors of probability and impact.
For example, there is a relatively high probability that a given hard drive will fail at some point. If the impact of that event would be severe (it’s your only copy of your great American novel), then you do backups regularly. You manage the risk.
In the case of the climate crisis, the probability is high that it will affect Kentucky in some way. The impact in some areas could be significant. Therefore, a responsible government would be researching the possible impacts, and preparing plans for whatever actions the government itself should take. In addition, a responsible government would be working with stakeholders such as businesses and non-profits to help them plan for their part in dealing with the crisis.
What are some questions that a responsible planning agency should consider when coming up with a climate contingency plan? We wrote an article years ago posing some questions at the city level, which you can find here. A few questions from that article can serve as an example of what we were looking for:
- How much more will capital and maintenance projects cost as higher temperatures demand longer breaks and cancelled work days, not unlike the way rain and snow slow productivity, reducing the productivity of crews working outdoors?
- What impact will climate change have on our various agriculture products?
- Are there particular industries in the state that will be affected?
- What impact will climate change have on our school schedules, beyond the obvious impacts on physical education and sports programs?
- What effects could climate change have on our tourism industry?
- Beyond heat-related illnesses, what other health effects could climate change cause? Will mosquito-borne illnesses worsen?
As you can see, climate change may produce macro-level impacts that will require a coordinated effort across multiple parts of Kentucky society. Unfortunately, our state government is unprepared to deal with any of these, and indeed, has not even considered them.
What about the cities?
Since the federal government has decided to actually make the climate crisis worse, the job of dealing with the crisis falls to the states. If the states fail to act, then the cities must do what they can.
We reached out to the governments of Lexington and Louisville to see what, if anything, they were doing to prepare for the climate crisis. We heard back from one person associated with the Lexington government that they had a plan and would like to discuss it. After that initial contact, though, we’ve been unable to get any response. So, Lexington is a question mark.
Louisville, on the other hand, seems to have a comprehensive approach to the problem, and was glad to talk about their work. They have researched the impacts on the city and the region around the city, and have prepared handouts explaining those impacts.
In addition, they have not one, but two plans to deal with the climate crisis:
- an Emissions Reduction/Climate Action Plan to develop strategies aimed at reducing emissions 80% by 2050
- a Climate Adaptation Plan that will outline the intended alterations to Louisville’s systems in response to anticipated climate change.
Both of these plans should be released soon. The Louisville Office of Advanced Planning is holding community meetings to discuss the effects of climate change and to preview their plans. We will be attending one of those meetings, and whenever the plans are ready and made public we will do a story on them.
In the meantime, let us hope that someone in state government recognizes the severity of what we are facing, and takes on the responsibility of dealing with it.