Adapt to climate change? While some members of Congress debate its scientific validity, U.S. cities are going beyond efforts to mitigate climate change with lower greenhouse gas emissions. They’re at the forefront of an emerging trend: adaptation.

“It’s a new field,” says Brian Holland, director of climate programs at ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability USA. His association launched a Climate Resilient Communities program last year to help cities study effects of climate change and finance ways to adapt. Nearly 600 local governments, representing one-fourth of the U.S. population, have signed on.

As extreme weather continues to sweep the nation and Americans struggle to deal with heat waves and flooding, Holland says many are convinced they need to act. “We’re already seeing consequences of climate change,” he says, “and those will only intensify.”

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