Climate Change Archives

Paper Outlines How L.A. County Can Adapt Its Water Supply For Climate Change

The climate is changing, Earth’s population is growing and more people are living in cities. That means urban areas—particularly those in arid or semiarid regions—need to update their water supply systems. The world was reminded of this earlier in the year with the water crisis in Cape Town, South Africa, which has a climate almost identical to that of Los Angeles. At the peak of the crisis, residents were required to limit daily water consumption to 50 liters (about 13 gallons), taking two-minute showers and letting their lawns and gardens dry up.

Full Story

15 Takeaways From The US Climate Change Report

The average global temperature is much higher and rising more rapidly than “anything modern civilization has experienced,” according to David Easterling, one of the authors of a new US government report that delivers a dire warning about our future. Thousands more could die, food will be scarcer, and the US economy could lose hundreds of billions of dollars — or, in the worst-case scenario, more than 10% of its GDP — by the end of the century.

Full Story

Climate Change Will Bring Multiple Disasters at Once, Study Warns

November 20, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Andrea Mora /CBS San Francisco

In the not-too-distant future, disasters won’t come one at a time. Instead, according to new research, we can expect a cascade of catastrophes, some gradual, others abrupt, all compounding as climate change takes a greater toll. While all regions of the globe face compounding threats, the study cited California and Florida as two prime examples close to home. “Facing these climatic changes will be like getting into a fight with Mike Tyson, Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Jackie Chan — all at the same time.”

Full Story

Reduced Sierra Nevada Snowmelt Runoff To Threaten California Agriculture

October 9, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Phys.org (UK)by University of California, Irvine

An estimated three-quarters of the water used by farms, ranches and dairies in California originates as snow in the Sierra Nevada mountain range, but the future viability of that resource is projected to be at heightened risk due to global climate change. In a study published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University of California, Irvine researchers argue that a 1.0 degree Celsius increase in the global average winter temperature will lead to a 20 percent jump in the likelihood of below-average snow accumulation in the high country, resulting in lower spring runoff.

Full Story

OPINION: Figuring On Climate Change: Model Outputs Vary, But Worries Are Real

October 9, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)by Tom Philp

The state of California recently released its Fourth Climate Change Assessment. Among the technical reports was a deep dive into the future of the State Water Project and the Central Valley Project. It was over my head. It was calling my name. And in climate change’s frenzied media cycle, the whole assessment soon faded. That’s too bad. This assessment of the state’s two largest water projects provides an important but foggy glimpse into what all of our water successors come 2060 will likely be fighting about. The fog is due to how there is no single prediction from what today’s best science, collectively, is trying to tell us.

Full Story

In Colorado, Water Bosses Begin To Accept Climate Change Impacts

October 8, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /Water Deeply (New York)by Brent Gardner-Smith

The phrase “climate change” did not appear on the agenda of a recent three-day meeting of the Colorado Water Congress, but the topic was often front and center at the conference, as it increasingly is at water meetings around the state and the region. Amy Haas, the new executive director of the Upper Colorado River Commission, told the Water Congress audience of about 300 water managers, irrigators, engineers and lawyers that “hydrology is changing more rapidly than we once thought” and that “it is primarily due to climate change.”

Full Story

Environment Report: This Is What Global Warming Feels Like

October 8, 2018/in Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Mike Lee /Voice of San Diegoby Ry Rivard

The repeated and dire predictions about climate change can blur together. But a streak of rare and unbearable humidity in San Diego combined with recent record hot ocean water seemed to be a wake-up call for our region: This is what global warming feels like. With that in mind, there have been a few important recent reports at every level of government on what is headed our way. At the end of September, the state released a report on what climate change likely means for San Diego. Sea level rise is one major danger, and could cause hundreds of millions of dollars in damage each year and render parts of the coast unlivable.

Full Story

Major Climate Report Describes A Strong Risk Of Crisis As Early As 2040

October 7, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /The New York Timesby Coral Davenport

A landmark report from the United Nations’ scientific panel on climate change paints a far more dire picture of the immediate consequences of climate change than previously thought and says that avoiding the damage requires transforming the world economy at a speed and scale that has “no documented historic precedent.”

Full Story

Los Angeles Reduces Eastern Sierra Water Deliveries Because Of Climate Change. At Risk, Ranchers Say, Is A Way Of Life

September 24, 2018/in Media Coverage, San Diego County /by Andrea Mora /Los Angeles Timesby Louis Sahagun

The lush plains east of Yosemite National Park offer a window into a bygone California — a place where sage grouse welcome the arrival of spring with theatrical mating rituals and cattle graze on verdant pastures. For nearly a century, these lands have been made green thanks to annual flooding by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, helping maintain cattle forage and keeping alive a culture of ranching in southern Mono County. But those days may have come to an end in August.

Full Story

To Manage Future Water Shortages, California Must Update Its Water Grid

September 18, 2018/in California and the U.S., Media Coverage /by Mike Lee /News Deeplyby Ellen Hanak, Jeffrey Mount

CALIFORNIA’S CLIMATE IS changing, and droughts are becoming more intense. Five climate pressures will seriously stress the state’s water system: warming temperatures; shrinking snowpack; shorter and more intense wet seasons; more volatile precipitation; and rising seas. While California is making good progress in addressing some areas of climate vulnerability, a more focused plan of action is needed.

Full Story

Posts