NASA has grand plans to combat climate change and its devastating global impacts with a new climate action plan which the agency published on Thursday (October 7).
Climate change and its effects pose a threat like this imminent for life as we know it around the world which is now described as the “climate crisis”, like they wrote the United Nations.
US President Joe Biden aims to address the crisis with an “all-government” approach using the National Climate Task Force, which includes leaders from dozens of federal agencies and departments, according to a declaration released by the White House last January 27.
As part of this approach, NASA – along with 22 other major agencies – has developed a new climate action plan.
“NASA has unique assets it must protect: scientific equipment and capabilities that allow us to understand this climate crisis on Earth and to explore the universe. Thankfully, we have the ingenuity and engineering capacity to ensure that our agency’s assets remain resilient to this growing threat.
NASA is committed to safeguarding our mission for decades to come and, through the data we provide to the world, we will help other agencies make sure they can do the same. “
affirmed theNASA administrator Bill Nelson in a declaration of NASA.
The various points of the new climate action plan and all 23 federal agencies involved are contained in a press release whose full text you can read here.
Commitment and knowledge in this new climate action plan
While so many different federal agencies are contributing to this new climate action plan, NASA is one of the few agencies that conducts its own research on the latter.
NASA scientists have used tools such as Earth monitoring satellites to study the Earth’s climate and collect valuable data for many years, this has included the ice loss study, of ozone levels, sea level rise, of the temperature, from the rainfall, from the extreme weather conditions and much more, NASA described in the statement.
However, with its vast infrastructure, NASA’s facilities not only contribute to climate knowledge, but are also threatened by the impacts of climate change, NASA said in the statement, adding that two-thirds of NASA’s resources are located in particularly endangered locations.
In fact, according to the NASA statement, about two-thirds of the agency’s assets, as measured by replacement value, are located within about 5 meters (16 feet) from the mean sea level along the American coasts.
Some of these assets are found in areas that already have high water levels and other impacts from rising sea levels, and temperature, rainfall and extreme weather events are expected to affect the others.
With both its assets and its concerns in mind, NASA developed its climate action plan and submitted it reviewed by the National Climate Task Force, the Federal Chief Sustainability Officer of the White House Council on Environmental Quality and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
NASA’s new climate action plan includes five main areas of interest:
- identify aspects of climate change that threaten access to space;
- integrate climate risk analysis and adaptation strategies into NASA’s master plans;
- integrate information on climate change resilience planning into NASA’s plans for its centers;
- develop next generation climate models and update climate modeling techniques;
- work with aviation partners to reduce carbon dioxide and develop climate solutions.
Members of the public can share feedback on NASA’s new climate action plan, as well as the plans of the other 22 agencies until November 6, 2021, by posting comments on its dedicated official page, so that we can, all together, come together and really look for a solution.
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