Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Report in San Diego outlines how to adapt to climate change

SignOnSanDiego.com: Scientists and policy experts yesterday unveiled San Diego County's first blueprint for adapting to rising sea levels, altered rainfall and other “catastrophic” changes linked to global warming. “A Regional Wake-up Call” offers detailed projections about how the climate will change by 2050 and offers suggestions for how to lessen those effects.

“While climate change is a global issue, . . . the San Diego region is uniquely threatened,” says the 177-page report, billed as the first comprehensive assessment of climate change's effects across the region. ….

…A couple of years ago, The San Diego Foundation started pulling together regional leaders to describe the local effects of global warming and outline possible responses. The 40-member group doesn't have regulatory authority, but its report is likely to influence politicians and bureaucrats as they prepare for potentially major challenges.

“In general, this region has been . . . behind what our expectations were in terms of climate planning,” said Bill Kuni, chairman of the foundation's Climate Change Initiative committee. “We have to start now if we want to see some significant progress five years from now.”

The first step was to have scientists from UC San Diego, San Diego State University and elsewhere spell out the problems as specifically as possible. They said that compared with today, San Diego County in 2050 will require 37 percent more water, the number of days with prime conditions for major wildfires will be up to 20 percent greater, and the sea level will be at least 1 foot higher. The results could be more frequent flooding of coastal properties, more severe water shortages and greater strains on public health agencies….

That's San Diego on the left, Tijuana on the right

1 comment:

buy fresh lemons said...

It is 2010. The clock is ticking. Greenhouse gas emissions have to be stabilized by 2015 ( http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/2015-climate-change-global-warming-2015.php ) We are way behind schedule on this. We're way behind schedule on ramping up renewables. It's been 30 years of a lot of megawords but not a lot of megawatts. What can you do to stop global warming? Write, phone and email:

Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Members.Home
http://epw.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.ContactForm
http://epw.senate.gov/
410 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20510-6175
202-224-8832

Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
See http://globalwarming.house.gov/
http://globalwarming.house.gov/contact
B243 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
202-225-4012
Fax: 202-225-4092
http://globalwarming.house.gov/about?id=0002

...and feel free to send a special thank you Valentine to the folks at Koch who are providing the paychecks for "global deniers." Between 2005 and 2008, the Kansas-based conglomerate spent nearly $25 million to fund "organizations of the global warming denial machine."

Charles Koch, CEO
Koch Industries
111 E. 37th St. North
Wichita, KS 67220-3203, United States
Phone: 316-828-5500
Fax: 316-828-5739
http://www.kochind.com