Title
Resolution Expressing Support for the Principles of the 2016 Paris Climate Agreement and District Efforts to Mitigate the Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Public Health, Flood-related Property Damage, and District Facilities in the Region
Body
WHEREAS, the Paris Climate Agreement was signed in 2016 by 195 countries, including the United States of America, with the goal to hold the increase in global average temperature to well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit or 2.0 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels through a framework to reduce manmade greenhouse gas emissions; and
WHEREAS, a consensus of the world’s scientific community has concluded that an increase of this level of atmospheric temperatures would result in catastrophic impacts, including more devastating floods and droughts, rising sea levels, widespread food, water shortages, and more powerful storms; and
WHEREAS, National Aeronautics and Space Administration and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientists agree that 2016 was the warmest year on record and that eight of the 12 months in 2016 were the warmest on record for those respective months; and
WHEREAS, the planet's average surface temperature has risen about 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit (1.1 degrees Celsius) since the late 19th century with 16 of the 17 warmest years on record occurring since 2001; and
WHEREAS, since 1900, in the United States Great Lakes Region, annual average temperatures have increased by 2.0 degrees Fahrenheit and total annual precipitation has increased by 10.8% with both trends expected to continue to increase in the future; and
WHEREAS, the amount of precipitation falling in the heaviest one percent storms increased by 37% in the Midwest from 1958 through 2012; and
WHEREAS, in nearly 80 years of Milwaukee rainfall records, half of the top 10 largest storm events have occurred within the past 20 years; and
WHEREAS, the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District is responsible for protecting public ...
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