May 19, 2008

National leaders meet to plan for life with climate change

During the next 50 years, people around the world will face water shortages, flooding and other negative impacts of climate change already underway, no matter how much countries reduce greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. King County this week is hosting the first meeting of a national and international effort to develop models for communities around the world to use to reduce the harm from these expected impacts.

King County is one of nine major metropolitan areas, including King County, Chicago, Miami-Dade, Phoenix, Milwaukee, Nassau County, N.Y., San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto, that will work over the next three years to develop the model.

The Urban Leaders Adaptation Initiative is sponsored by the Center for Clean Air Policy in Washington D.C. and partially funded by the Rockefeller Foundation in New York. The initiative will develop a model for use by hundreds of communities based on what the nine Urban Leader communities are doing.

Media are invited to a briefing and tour of King County reclaimed water and flood protection sites.

Tues., May 20, 9 a.m. Media Briefing, Pier 66, Bell Harbor Conf. Center.

Speakers

King County Executive Ron Sims
Ned Helme, President, Center for Clean Air Policy
Joyce Coffee, Department of Environment, Chicago
Cristina Rumbaitis del Rio, The Rockefeller Foundation

11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bus tour of Brightwater portal construction site and King County levee system.