RE: People fear climate change

In my opinion our impact on climate is overstated. The earth has had multiple hot periods and ice ages long before humans made the first fire. The Clausius-Clapeyron Relation also states that for every 1 C increase in temperature, the atmosphere can hold 7X more moisture. What is likely to happen is that arid regions would become drier and wet regions would become wetter due to increased rain.

Most civil engineering has focused on draining water away. Much of our rain water gets wastefully drained away rather than captured and being put to use. This is changing. At least where I live, cities are starting to build water catchment areas and requiring new construction to include catchment in their green areas. There has also been some success in arid areas with the construction of swales and check dams to slow water from running off. The idea is to slow down the water enough so that it has time to soak into the soil to hydrate the earth and eventually recharge aquifers.

In short, we are adapting to better manage rain water, which would become more important if global warming continues. The additional rain from warming can be a net benefit if we change what we do with it.