It was a coincidence, yet one not to be ignored: the arrival of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's latest outlook on the Earth's pending peril and a $3.5 trillion blueprint for government spending. To U.S. Rep. Raúl Grijalva, the fiscal plan falls short if Congress is to be serious about addressing climate change.

Both documents surfaced Monday, which prompted Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat who chairs the House Natural Resources Committee, to say the IPCC report illustrates the need to properly fund federal programs that can counter the impacts that climate change is bringing to the country.

“Climate change is accelerating and creating more conservation needs than we’ve ever faced, and meeting those needs would put a lot of Americans to work. Regardless of how much good work this (Senate budget) resolution does in other areas, you can’t spin away the fact that it doesn’t offer the Interior Department enough money to meet some of our critical climate goals, including pressing needs like drought mitigation throughout the West," said Grijalva in a release. "It’s disappointing to see these obvious needs go unmet, just as it’s disappointing to see the bipartisan infrastructure plan weaken the National Environmental Policy Act, both of which make me worry about whether conservation is being undervalued in federal policy.

The House Democrat added that "(I)nvestments in electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies are critical to a cleaner future, but millions of Americans are facing drought, wildfire, erosion and habitat destruction today. (Interior) Secretary (Deb) Haaland and the agencies and bureaus at Interior can meet these immediate needs if we give them the resources to do so. I’m working with members of Congress who feel the same way I do to increase the topline number on these programs and make sure our conservation efforts get the funding they need to meet the catastrophic climate challenges we now face.”

At American Rivers, President and CEO Tom Kiernan on Monday passed along a similiar message, pointing to the problems the changing climate was creating on the nation's rivers and signaling that healthy rivers could offset some of those impacts.

“We must not only drastically reduce emissions to avoid the worst of climate impacts, but also protect and restore rivers to buffer communities from the impacts that are already upon us," said Kiernan. "From persistent drought and smaller snowpack reducing river flows across the Southwest, to rising temperatures killing Northwest salmon and increasingly frequent and severe floods in the Midwest and Eastern states, frontline river communities are feeling the pain. Black, Latino and Indigenous communities face disproportionately higher impacts due to centuries of disinvestment and unjust policies and practices.

"But just as rivers embody climate threats, they're also the source of powerful solutions," he added. "A healthy river should be a community's first line of defense against climate impacts, offering clean water supplies, cost-effective flood protection, safe places to recreate and stay cool, sustainable food and connection to culture."