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My name is Josh Melliger. I am a climate

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and water resilience specialist

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for the Department of Defense

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and I'm here to talk about my role

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within a climate action team.

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So I grew up on a farm in eastern

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Nebraska,

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where irrigation was critical to the

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livelihood of

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the, really the whole state in

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agriculture. I developed a passion for

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water

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and had the fortune to be able to study

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water in college

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and earn a job at the Army Corps of

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Engineers.

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I was able to to use the skills I

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developed in my life and

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elaborate on some projects and one of

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those projects was

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in Afghanistan, where water is extremely

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critical to the livelihood of most of

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the population.

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Most of the people are farmers and water,

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water security is critical.

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And in over time working with the Army

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Corps of Engineers and now with the

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Department of Defense, it's obvious that

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climate change is having a drastic

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impact

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on on water availability and

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when and how that falls to the Earth

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and it's really important that we

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understand

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the potential impacts of climate change

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on the Department of Defense,

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whether you're stationed in Afghanistan

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or elsewhere.