The city of Chicago is planning ahead for climate change, choosing different paving materials and plants in anticipation of warmer temperatures, according to this story in The New York Times.

“Cities adapt or they go away,” said Aaron N. Durnbaugh, deputy commissioner of Chicago’s Department of Environment. “Climate change is happening in both real and dramatic ways, but also in slow, pervasive ways. We can handle it, but we do need to acknowledge it. We are on a 50-year cycle, but we need to get going.”

Across America and in Congress, the very existence of climate change continues to be challenged — especially by conservatives. The skeptics are supported by constituents wary of science and concerned about the economic impacts of stronger regulation. Yet even as the debate rages on, city and state planners are beginning to prepare.

The story prompted me to seek climate data, and I stumbled up this cool interactive library maintained by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. You can use their graphics to see trends in temperature anomalies, atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration, sea levels, etc.: