Sustainable Critical Infrastructure Systems A Framework for Meeting 21st Century Imperatives: Report of a Workshop (2009) / Chapter Skim
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2 Meeting 21st Century Imperatives with 20th Century Infrastructure Systems
2 Meeting 21st Century Imperatives with 20th Century Infrastructure Systems
Pages 13-22
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From page 13... ...
In the 21st century, critical infrastructure systems will play an essential role in meeting other urgent national needs or imperatives, including the following: • Remaining economically competitive with the European Union, China, India, and other economic powers; • Reducing U.S. dependence on imported oil; • Reducing the greenhouse gas emissions linked to global climate change; • Protecting the environment and conserving increasingly scarce natural resources, including potable water; and 13
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From page 14... ...
However, they are real and significant. ECONOMIC COMPETITIVENESS Throughout much of the 20th century, the United States was the global economic leader, and it remains so today.
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Canada and Mexico also supply a significant portion of the petroleum used in the United States. Trade routes from Southeast Asia across the Indian Ocean, into the Red Sea, and across the Mediterranean Sea mean that Asian goods can be directly delivered in containers to East Coast cities in the United States instead of being shipped to the West Coast and transported across the country (Gallis, 2008)
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From page 16... ...
critical infra structure systems does not reflect the north-south trade patterns with Canada and Mexico. Increased trade following the adop tion of NAFTA, combined with new security requirements, "has caused significant congestion and cost increases at border cross ings with Mexico and Canada and on corridors serving NAFTA markets" (TRB, 2006, pp.
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If the United States is to remain as economically competitive as possible, more efficient methods to transport goods and services and additional corridors may be needed. New corridors or infrastructure components in turn could have significant environmental and land use impacts unless they are fully evaluated and carefully planned.
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Coordinated action will be difficult to achieve in the absence of an overarching concept or objectives for critical infrastructure systems. G L O B A L C L I M AT E C H A N G E Scientists predict that global climate change -- higher temper atures and extremes of precipitation -- will result in more extreme 18 SUSTAINABLE CRITICAL INFRASTRUCTURE SYSTEMS
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From page 19... ...
. Current water management practices may not be robust enough to cope with the impacts of climate change on water supply reliability, flood risk, health, agriculture, energy, and aquatic ecosystems.
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While these challenges are great, continuing to provide water, power, and mobility as was done in the 20th century presents a substantial obstacle to mitigating greenhouse gas emissions and the higher temperatures and extremes of precipitation associated with global climate change. E N V I R O N M E N TA L S U S TA I N A B I L I T Y For much of the 20th century, relatively little attention was given to the effects of the built environment, including critical infrastructure systems, on the natural environment -- oceans, rivers, lakes, ecosystems, raw materials, the air, the soil, and the land.
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DISASTER RESILIENCY Communities and individuals require essential services in order to learn about, react to, and recover from natural or humanmade disasters -- earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, flooding, terrorism, or accidents. Critical infrastructure systems provide crucial services, including clean water for drinking and for the protection of public health; mobility for the evacuation and repopulation of communities; connectivity for emergency communications and response; and power for hospitals, for safety, security, and incident management, for cooking and refrigerating food, and for the continuity of government operations before, during, and after an event.
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