“Andrew Guzman and Richard Jackson spoke to the Commonwealth Club
in Lafayette last Thursday about the hazards of climate change,
heat waves and drought. … “Guzman explained that it will affect
water supplies — too much rain falling when it shouldn’t, too
little when it should.
“As a physician and a public health professional I have, in
recent years, focused my energy on climate change because I’ve
come to recognize that it is by far the greatest health threat we
face in the 21st century. … Will our fight against
childhood obesity be stymied when droughts lead to rising food
prices, pressuring families to buy cheap and nonnutritious foods?
“Every year, people add 30 billion tons of carbon dioxide to the
air, mostly by burning fossil fuels. That’s contributing to
climate change. A few scientists have been dreaming about ways to
pull some of that CO2 out of the air, but face stiff skepticism
and major hurdles.”
“President Obama’s climate change speech on Tuesday from
Georgetown University was full of references to climate change
impacts on water availability, flooding and drought. He dealt
head on with key issues of changing water cycle intensity, and in
particular, with the increasing frequency of hydrologic
extremes.”
“Unlike hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, lightning,
ice storms, wind storms, wildfires and volcanic eruptions,
drought is a slow killer. But efficient. Give drought a decade
and it can permanently drive humans from a region they may have
inhabited for centuries. Ask the Hohokam.”
“The United States has the potential to store a mean of 3,000
metric gigatons of carbon dioxide (CO2) in geologic basins
throughout the country, according to the first-ever detailed
national geologic carbon sequestration assessment released today
by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).”
“President Obama laid out an ambitious campaign to address
climate change Tuesday, mapping a course that would bypass
Congress to cut emissions from hundreds of coal-fired electric
power plants and setting the stage for a possible rejection of
the controversial Keystone XL oil pipeline.”
“In a teleconference on Wednesday, June 26, Secretary of the
Interior Sally Jewell and Deputy Secretary David J. Hayes will
join scientists from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to release
the first-ever detailed national geologic carbon sequestration
assessment.”
“In the largest environmental initiative of his presidency,
President Obama will announce this morning the nation’s first
mandatory restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions from new and
existing power plants.”
“Federal spending on community preparedness for extreme weather
events is a fraction of the amount paid to clean up damage from
storms, tornadoes and drought, according to an analysis of
federal data.”
“Satellites peering down on California’s great Central Valley
have discovered evidence that the nation’s prime food source is
fast losing precious reserves of water from the valley’s
underground aquifers.”
“Though the need to adopt policies that sharply curb carbon
emissions remains as important as ever, there also are
unmistakable signs that decades of inaction on climate change are
shaping the present, not just the future.”
“The solution to drought is not simply more water project
construction – certainly not without the water policy reforms
that the water hierarchy in Sacramento and Washington has spent
decades, and tens of millions of dollars, battling in the courts
and Congress.”
“Some UCLA climate experts scaled down global climate models to
create high-resolution looks at Southern California spots like
Big Bear, Wrightwood and Frazier Park, and the forecast isn’t
good: By midcentury, snowfall on Southern California mountains
will be 30 percent to 40 percent less than it was as the 20th
century ended, according to the study led by Alex Hall, UCLA
professor of atmospheric and oceanic science.”
“UCLA scientists predict global warming will reduce snowfall in
Southern California mountains by 40 percent in less than 30
years, a climate shift that has serious policy implications, not
the least being the loss of the quintessential ‘only in L.A.’
experience of skiing the mountains by day and riding the surf at
sunset.”
