Photo from massmatt @ flickr

Republicans may not be willing to accept the fact that climate change is happening, but many cities (such as New York and Chicago) and departments of the Federal government (such as the Navy and the Federal Highway Administration) are preparing for it anyway. Now the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is trying to envision what mass transit would look like on a warmer earth — and they’re asking for your help.

Green Car Congress reports that the FTA has issued a request for proposals for transit climate change adaptation assessment pilots. The announcement itself starts off with a blunt introduction as to why this project is necessary:

Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and will increase in the future, according to the U.S. Federal government’s Global Change Research Program. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, increasing severity of drought and wildfires, and thawing permafrost. Reducing greenhouse gas emissions will lower the severity of these impacts over the long-term. However, even if aggressive action is taken to reduce emissions, climate change impacts will continue for many years because of past emissions. As such, both mitigation (reducing greenhouse gas levels) and adaptation (reducing vulnerability of human and natural systems to climate impacts) is required. This project focuses on adaptation.

In other words: Climate change is happening, it’s too late to stop it, it’s probably going to be horrific, but we can downgrade “horrific” to “unpleasant” if we start preparing for it now. Frankly, reading so much blunt honesty from a government agency in one paragraph is oddly invigorating.

The announcement recommends that proposals include four key elements: They must identify current and future climate hazards that affect transit, characterize the risk of these hazards, develop a strategy on how transit can adapt to those hazards, and show how those strategies can realistically be implemented by a public transportation provider. That last point is particularly important considering how cash-strapped cities and states are having to make more with less in regards to transportation and infrastructure funding.

The FTA plans on granting four awards of approximately $50,000 to $175,000 each. You don’t need to be a public transportation provider to apply; the grant recipients can also be “a university, non-profit, private, or public entity working in partnership with a public transportation provider,” which probably describes most of you reading this right now. You can download the full announcement with all the details here.

So what’s your bright idea to help ruggedize transit? Stronger drainage systems in subway tunnels? Train tracks that don’t warp at higher temperatures? Buses that turn into hovercrafts? Whatever it is, get crackin’: The proposal deadline is Noon on August 25 and there’s no time to waste.