CC NEWS FOR JANUARY 2007
The Independent reports, World faces hottest year ever, as El Niño combines with global warming. See: http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/article2116873.ece
Matthew Wald, in an article in the NY Times, titled, Travel Habits Must Change to Make a Big Difference in Energy Consumption, points out that reducing automobile gas consumption--with a combination of more fuel-efficient vehicles and use of public transportation--is one of the most effective ways to reduce both CO2 emissions and oil imports. See:
The California Air Resources Board has a web site detailing ways California is working to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to deal with climate change. See: http://www.arb.ca.gov/cc/cc.htm
Webcasts of public CARB meetings are available with streaming audio/video. For a schedule see: http://www.arb.ca.gov/app/calendar/cal_wbcst.php
Presentations of past seminars are available at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/seminars/seminars.htm
The Union of Concerned Scientists has issued a report, Smoke, Mirrors & Hot Air - How ExxonMobil Uses Big Tobacco’s Tactics to Manufacture Uncertainty on Climate Science, at: http://www.ucsusa.org/assets/documents/global_warming/exxon_report.pdf
You can easily send a letter to your members of Congress, asking them to stop subsidies to Exxon Mobil, which is already raking in record-breaking profits, at:
http://ucsaction.org/campaign/1_3_07_Exxon_report?rk=8p21PSd1E4UzW
I urge readers also to join a boycott of ExxonMobil and to write to their CEO, Rex Tillerson, as I have done, explaining why we will not buy their products or services until they stop their campaign of disinformation on climate change. You can reach Mr. Tillerson at:
A new study by the Earth Policy Institute, reported in the NY Times in an article titled, Rise in Ethanol Raises Concerns About Corn as a Food, says that the rush to produce more ethanol--fueled by a 51 cent per gallon government incentive--to replace part of our imported petroleum may consume as much as 50% of the U.S. corn crop, raising the prices of meats and diary products. See: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/05/business/05ethanol.html?_r=1&%20_r=1&oref=slogin&ref=science&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin
Lester Brown of the Earth Policy Institute has written an article, titled, DISTILLERY DEMAND FOR GRAIN TO FUEL CARS VASTLY UNDERSTATED - World May Be Facing Highest Grain Prices in History. He writes, “The grain it takes to fill a 25-gallon tank with ethanol just once will feed one person for a whole year.” “The competition for grain between the world’s 800 million motorists who want to maintain their mobility and its 2 billion poorest people who are simply trying to survive is emerging as an epic issue.” See:
http://www.earth-policy.org/Updates/2007/Update63.htm
Bill McKibben, the author and environmental activist from Middlebury College, Vermont, has started an organization called Step It Up on Global Warming – Communities Uniting for Climate Action Now. Demonstrations and activities are planned across the country on April 14. (The first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970. See: http://www.earthday.net/resources/history.aspx) Wouldn’t you like to join them? See: http://stepitup2007.org and http://www.grist.org/comments/dispatches/2007/01/08/mckibben/index1.html?source=friend
For an excellent article on ethanol see the Harvard Magazine article, The Ethanol Illusion, at:
http://harvardmagazine.com/on-line/110634.html
Juliet Eilperin has an article in the Washington Post, A Little More Green, a Little Less Gas, describing programs that offer to plant trees to offset CO2 released by plane travel. Travelocity has even gotten involved. See http://www.treeflights.com/ and http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900432.html
Mountain-top removal mining is devastating Appalachia, as reported by Eric Reece in Grist Environmental News and Commentary, in an article titled, Moving Mountains. Though published nearly a year ago, the article is timely in view of the current rush by coal companies and coal-fueled power companies to cash in on high energy prices. Some have even said that “the U.S. is the Saudi Arabia of coal,” as if this were a good thing. See: http://www.grist.org/news/maindish/2006/02/16/reece/
The Guardian has posted an article by George Monbiot, titled, Drastic Action on Climate Change is Needed Now – And Here’s the Plan, describing the key recommendations of author’s recently published book, Heat – How to Stop the Planet Burning. See: http://environment.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,,1935560,00.html. His book is a must-read.
Alex Smith of Radio Ecoshock has a 35-miinute audio of speeches from five climate change leaders (Al Gore, Amory Lovins, George Monbiot, Ross Gelbspan) proposing solutions at:
http://www.ecoshock.org/downloads/ecoshock/ES_Climate_Solutions.mp3
The complete speeches are available at:
http://www.ecoshock.org/DNclimate_solutions.html
Phil Mckenna of NewScientistEnvironment has an article, Climate Change Unites Science and Religion. Scientists, conservationists, and university professors, along with seminary officials, evangelical organization leaders, and "megachurch" pastors, have sent a letter to President Bush and congressional leaders urging fundamental changes in public policy to deal with climate change. “We share a very deep reverence for life on earth, whether that life was created by God or evolved over billions of years, it exists, is sacred to all of us, and is being endangered by human activity,” said Eric Chivian, Director of Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment. See: http://environment.newscientist.com/article/dn10975-climate-change- unites-science-and-religion.html
Scientists at the University of Delaware have released the results of a study on public attitudes toward development of offshore wind power in Delaware. (There is huge wind resource all along the U.S. Atlantic coast from Cape Hatteras to Cape Cod—enough to supply all of the electricity needed by the coastal states, many times over.) An interim report and executive summary can be found at www.ocean.udel.edu/windpower. A press release on the same can be found at http://www.udel.edu/PR/UDaily/2007/jan/wind011607.html. Delaware residents are much more favorable to wind power that are people in Massachusetts, where the Cape Wind project has struggled for years against public opposition.
The following items are from the Environmental and Energy
Study Institute (EESI), Carol Werner, Executive Director. Please see EESI's
website for more links to climate change stories, and past editions of EESI's
Climate Change News. At:
http://www.eesi.org/publications/Newsletters/CCNews/ccnews.htm.
California to Set a GHG Emissions Performance Standard for Baseload Generation
On October 30, 2006, the California Energy Commission instituted a proceeding to establish a greenhouse gases (GHGs) emission performance standard "for all baseload generation of local publicly-owned electric utilities at a rate of emissions of greenhouse gases that is no higher than the rate of emissions of greenhouse gases for combined-cycle natural gas baseload generation." The standard will implement Senate Bill 1368. The Commission also is directed to adopt regulations to enforce the standard with respect to local publicly-owned electric utilities. The standard is to be established by June 30, 2007.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: California Energy Commission and Senate Bill 1368 (pdf format)
German Study Highlights Solar Energy for Carbon Reduction
A German study entitled “Trans-Mediterranean Interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power” has developed a European electricity generation scenario to 2050, which can bring down carbon emissions to 25 percent of those in the year 2000, with renewables enjoying 80 percent share in the electricity mix. Annual carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions can decrease to 350 million tons (Mt) in 2050, instead of rising to 2350 Mt in a “business-as-usual” mode. For comparison, annual emissions were 1400 Mt in 2000. According to the study, while electricity supply depended on resources such as nuclear, coal, gas, oil and hydropower in 2000, by 2050, nuclear can be phased out and reliance on coal and oil can be reduced as imported solar, wind and hydropower take over.
The study suggests importing solar electricity into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) by interconnecting the electricity grid. Due to a higher solar irradiance, the cost of concentrated solar power is usually lower in MENA than in Europe. "Every year, each square kilometer of desert receives solar energy equivalent to 1.5 million barrels of oil. Multiplying by the area of deserts world-wide, this is nearly a thousand times the entire current energy consumption of the world," said Franz Trieb, one of the study team members. He added, "We can tap in to this energy by using mirrors to concentrate sunlight and create heat....to raise steam and drive a generator in the conventional way. This kind of 'concentrating solar power' -- which is very different from the better-known photovoltaic 'solar panels' -- has been producing electricity successfully in California for nearly 20 years."
The solar imports can meet about 15 percent of the European electricity demand by 2050. The report says that "starting between 2020 and 2025 with a transfer of 60 TWh/y (terawatt-hours per year), solar electricity imports could subsequently be extended to 700 TWh/y in 2050." If actions begin now, power can become cheaper than a “business-as-usual” case in about 15 years, and negative socio-economic impacts of a rise in fossil fuel prices can be turned around by 2020 when accompanied with necessary political and legal framework.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Science Daily and Trans-Mediterranean Interconnection for Concentrating Solar Power
Democrats Urge Bush to Pass Mandatory GHG Legislation
On November 15, three Democratic senators who are to lead powerful environmental committees in Congress sent a letter to President Bush urging him to work with Congress to combat climate change by putting mandatory limits on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The Senators are the incoming chair of three important Senate committees on global warming: Sen. Boxer (D-CA) is the incoming chair of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee; Sen. Bingaman (D-NM) is the incoming chair of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee; and Sen. Lieberman (D-CT) is the incoming chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee.
The letter said, "...we seek your commitment to work with the new Congress to pass meaningful climate change legislation in 2007. The U.S. must move quickly to adopt economy-wide constraints on domestic GHG emissions and then work with the international community to forge an effective and equitable global agreement... Scientists are now warning that we may be reaching a "tipping point" beyond which it will be extremely difficult, or perhaps impossible, to avoid the worst consequences of climate change."
According to Reuters, on the same day, Paula Dobriansky, the Bush administration's representative at the Nairobi talks on global warming, rejected pleas by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan for the United States to rejoin the Kyoto Protocol setting limits for participating countries on GHG emissions.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Reuters and Senator Barbara Boxer
Global Warming Causes Species Extinctions
A synthesis study by Dr. Camille Parmesan of University of Texas shows that global warming has already caused species extinctions in the most sensitive habitats and that the trend will continue over the next 50 to 100 years. She reviewed more than 800 scientific studies on climate change impacts on thousands of wild species across the world. "Earlier syntheses were hampered from drawing broad conclusions by the relative lack of studies. Because there are now so many papers on this subject, we can start pulling together some patterns that we weren’t able to before," said Parmesan, associate professor of integrative biology, and co-author of an Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 2001 report.
The University's press release says that stronger responses are now being observed in species that are adapted to very cold areas and where these areas have experienced strong global warming trends such as the Antarctic and Arctic regions. The most sensitive species are becoming extinct and/or shifting their ranges with original habitats becoming inhospitable. "Some species that are adapted to a wide array of environments—globally common, or what we call weedy or urban species—will be most likely to persist. Rare species that live in fragile or extreme habitats are already being affected, and we expect that to continue." Pests and diseases are also shifting northwards like other wild animals, according to the review published online in the December 2006 issue of the Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics.
Another report by WWF based on a review of over 200 scientific articles finds a “clear and escalating pattern of climate change impacts on bird species around the world.” Bird groups such as migratory, mountain, island, wetland, Arctic and Antarctic, and seabirds are at a high risk due to climate change. Declines of up to 90 percent have been observed in some populations. The WWF report points out that bird extinction rates could be as high as 38 percent in Europe, and 72 percent in northeastern Australia, if global warming exceeds 2ºC above pre-industrial levels (currently, the value is 0.8ºC above pre-industrial levels).
Click on the following links for the full news stories: University of Texas, Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics and WWF
Fuels Made From Mixed Prairie Biomass Reduce CO2
According to research published in the December 8 issue of Science, biofuels derived from low-input high-diversity (LIHD) mixtures of native grassland perennials can provide more usable energy, greater greenhouse gas reductions, and less agrichemical pollution per hectare than can corn grain ethanol or soybean biodiesel. LIHD biofuels are carbon negative because net ecosystem carbon dioxide sequestration in soil and roots exceeds fossil carbon dioxide release during biofuel production.
David Tilman, lead author and Professor at the University of Minnesota's College of Biological Sciences said, "Biofuels made from high-diversity mixtures of prairie plants can reduce global warming by removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Even when grown on infertile soils, they can provide a substantial portion of global energy needs, and leave fertile land for food production."
As reported by Science Daily, to date all biofuels, including cutting-edge nonfood energy crops such as switchgrass, elephant grass, hybrid poplar and hybrid willow, have been produced as monocultures grown primarily in fertile soils. The researchers estimate that growing mixed prairie grasses on all of the world's degraded land could produce enough bioenergy to replace 13 percent of global petroleum consumption and 19 percent of global electricity consumption.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Science and Science Daily
2005 Carbon Emissions Are a Quarter Over 1990 Levels
According to the US Carbon Dioxide Information Analysis Center (CDIAC), worldwide carbon emissions increased by about three percent in 2005. Global emissions rose by about 200 million tons to a level of 7.9 billion tons of carbon in 2005, which is 28 percent above 1990 emissions levels. "The rate of acceleration is quite phenomenal....Half of all emissions have been since 1980. I think people lose track of the rate of acceleration. You tend to think of (this as) something that's been going on -- it's not," said Gregg Marland, senior staff scientist at CDIAC, which provides emissions data. According to a Reuters article, Marland submitted the CDIAC data to a congressional committee in September but the figures have not been published yet.
Click on the following link for the full news story: Reuters
US Climate Zones Shifting Northward
Based on the latest comprehensive weather station data, the National Arbor Day Foundation just released a new 2006 Hardiness Zone Map which separates the country into ten different temperature zones to help people select the right trees to plant where they live.
The new map reflects that many areas have become warmer since 1990 when the last USDA hardiness zone map was published. Significant portions of many states have shifted at least one full hardiness zone. Much of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio, for example, have shifted from Zone 5 to a warmer Zone 6. Some areas around the country have even warmed two full zones.
The foundation reclassified the entire Washington DC area in the same zone as parts of North Carolina and Texas. In 1990, the region was on the border of northern and southern growing zones, but a foundation official said that has changed after 15 years of balmy winter weather.
"You could say D.C. is the new North Carolina," said Bill McLaughlin, a curator at the U.S. Botanic Garden on the Mall.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Washington Post and National Arbor Day Foundation
British Sea Life Moves as Waters Warm
Britain's small sea life, including barnacles, limpets and seaweeds, are moving north and east in response to climate change and looking for cooler waters. Some have moved over 100 miles over the past 50 years. A four-year research project, called the Marine Biodiversity and Climate Change and coordinated by the UK Marine Biological Association, mapped 57 species across the British Isles.
Larissa Naylor of the UK Environment Agency said, "We've seen many of these species moving from the areas they are normally found, mainly due to rising sea surface temperatures....The creatures are moving to find more suitable homes in new locations."
"Climate change is having a big impact on British shorelines," said Dr. Nova Mieszkowska of the Marine Biology Association. "Biodiversity is going to be changed, possibly irreversibly, within a reasonably short time because it's only going to get warmer and warmer quicker and quicker according to the scenarios."
Click on the following links for the full news stories: BBC and Guardian
Air Travel GHG Emissions Growing Rapidly
With the projected explosion in worldwide travel, air pollution from aviation is a growing concern among scientists, and it's drawing increased scrutiny from governments, particularly in Europe. By 2050, emissions from planes are expected to become one of the largest contributors to global warming, according to the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, an independent group of scientists that advises the British government.
The European Commission has proposed that airlines operating in the EU should pay for any increase in their carbon emissions above current levels. "Aviation emissions need to be brought under control, because they are rising very fast," said European Commission Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. "Since 1990, they have gone up about 90 percent and, by 2020, they are going to be doubled, if business continues as usual."
The European Commission plan would bring airlines into the European Union emissions trading scheme (ETS). Environmentalists criticized the plan as too weak. BBC Environment Analyst Roger Harrabin said, "...perhaps most seriously, they [the airlines] don't have to account for emissions of other greenhouse gases, probably three times more powerful than CO2, that happen not to be included in the trading scheme."
Click on the following links for the full news stories: USA Today, BBC and DEFRA
Indian Islands Threatened by Sea Level Rise
A six-year study of the impact of future climate change on the Sunderbans, a world natural heritage site that India shares with Bangladesh, has found that two Indian Islands that were home to 10,000 people have succumbed to rising sea level and have vanished.
The region, composed of 100 islands, is home to a total of 1.8 million people on 52 of the islands. Sugata Hazra, director of Kolkata's School of Oceanography Studies at Jadavpur University, said "A dozen others on the western end of the inner estuary delta are threatened. As the islands sink, nearly 100,000 people will have to be evacuated from the islands in the next decade."
As reported by AFP, Hazra blames global warming and the depletion of mangrove areas for the rising sea levels in the world's biggest delta. Hazra says the relative mean sea level in the Bay of Bengal is rising at a rate of 3.14 millimeters a year due to global warming. "And if this trend continues, the rising sea will devour nearly 15 percent of the islands in the Sunderbans," he adds.
Click on the following link for the full news story: AFP
NASA's Dr. Hansen Warns on Climate Tipping Point
In an interview with The Independent, Dr. James Hansen, director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies, expressed concern that the world has less than 10 years to begin to curb carbon dioxide emissions before global warming runs out of control and changes the landscape forever. Dr. Hansen said there are already worrying signs that global warming is beginning to trigger dangerous "positive feedbacks" within the climate, which can accelerate the rate of climate change.
"We just cannot burn all the fossil fuels in the ground. If we do, we will end up with a different planet. I mean a planet with no ice in the Arctic, and a planet where warming is so large that it's going to have a large effect in terms of sea level rises and the extinction of species," he said.
"The greatest concern is that positive feedbacks at high latitudes do in fact seem to be coming into play. We can't just let those feedbacks get out of control or we will have passed a tipping point," he said.
"If we go another 10 years, by 2015, at the current rate of growth of CO2 emissions, which is about 2 per cent per year, the emissions in 2015 will be 35 per cent larger than they were in 2000. But if we want to get on a scenario that keeps global temperature in the range that it's been in for the last million years, we would need to decrease the emissions by something of the order of 25 per cent by the middle of the century, and by something like 75 per cent by the end of the century."
Click on the following links for the full news stories: The Independent and Daily India
Arlington County to Address GHG Emissions
On January 1, Arlington County, VA, announced a major effort toward reducing the county's greenhouse gas emissions. Strategies include buying more wind-generated electricity, providing tax breaks for hybrid cars, requiring new public buildings to be green-certified and distributing energy-efficient light bulbs to residents.
The county has reduced carbon dioxide and other emissions by a total of 2.6 percent since 2000, but must now sharply increase its efforts in order to reach its goal of a 10 percent reduction in the next five years, Arlington County Board Chairman Paul Ferguson (D) said. "Our climate is changing, and that change is causing harm," Ferguson said. "The question is, what can each of us do to slow the trend and eventually reverse it?"
As reported by the Washington Post, the board's plan calls for the county to increase the amount of wind power it buys from 3 percent to 5 percent and to give residents who buy hybrid cars a break on their personal property taxes. The county will refit one or two county buildings with solar technology and require all new major public buildings to be green-certified. Officials said the county will plant 1,200 trees this year and hand out 2,000 fluorescent light bulbs at local fairs and other events. They'll pay for 20 Arlingtonians to get energy-efficiency audits of their houses. The cost of the plan is expected to be around $6 million.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Washington Post (1) and Washington Post (2)
China Releases National Climate Assessment
Portions of China's first national assessment on climate change released on December 27 project higher temperatures, increased drought and flooding, and impacts on grain production over the coming century. The climate change warnings came as Chinese President Hu Jintao called for intensified efforts to save energy.
"Greenhouse gases released due to human activity are leading to ever more serious problems in terms of climate change," the Ministry of Science and Technology said in a statement. Compared with 2000, the average temperatures will increase between 1.3 and 2.1°C by 2020, the China News Service reported, citing the assessment. By the middle of the century, the annual average temperature in China will rise by as much as 3.3°C (more than 5°F), and by 2100 it could soar by as much as 6°C, according to the news service.
A deputy director of the National Climate Centre, Luo Yong, said "The most direct impact of climate change will be on China's grain production.... Climate change will bring intensified pressure on our country's agriculture and grain production." China's output of major crops, including rice, wheat and corn, could fall by up to 37 percent in the second half of this century if no effective measures are taken to curb greenhouse gases in the coming 20 to 50 years, according to the report.
The assessment concludes that hotter weather and increased evaporation will outweigh greater rain and snowfall. In the country's south, heavier rainfalls could trigger more landslides and mudslides, it also warns.
The report was jointly released by six central departments and academic organizations, including the Ministry of Science and Technology, China Meteorological Administration and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. An official from the Ministry of Science and Technology said the government assessment was likely to be fully released in the first half of 2007. "The report will serve as the country's scientific and technical reference in policy making and international cooperation," said Li Xueyong, vice minister of the science ministry.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Reuters, AFP and Shanghai Daily
Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act Introduced
On January 12, Sen. Lieberman (I-CT), with cosponsors McCain (R-AZ), Lincoln (D-AR), Snowe (R-ME), Obama (D-IL) and Collins (R-ME) introduced the Climate Stewardship and Innovation Act of 2007. The Act caps the greenhouse-gas emissions of the electric power, industrial, transportation, and commercial sectors of the economy at year 2004 levels by 2012. It then lowers that cap gradually, such that it reaches 1/3 of year 2004 levels by 2050.
According to a fact sheet describing the legislation, the Act controls compliance costs by allowing companies to trade, save, and borrow emissions credits, and by allowing them to generate credits when they induce non-covered businesses, farms, and others to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions or capture and store greenhouse gases. The Act invests set-aside emissions credits and money raised by the auction of such allowances in: deploying advanced technologies and practices for reducing greenhouse gas emissions; protecting low- and middle-income Americans from higher energy costs; keeping good jobs in the United States; and mitigating the negative impacts of any unavoidable global warming on low- and middle-income Americans, low-income populations abroad, and wildlife.
Rep. Olver (D-MA) and Gilchrest (R-MD) are expected to introduce their companion bill within two weeks. The bill will be based on the Climate Stewardship Acts introduced in previous Congresses, but updated to include a long-term declining cap to 2050.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Hartford Courant
EU Proposes Energy Policy to Address Climate Change
On January 10, the European Commission proposed a comprehensive package of measures to establish a new energy policy for Europe to combat climate change and boost the EU's energy security and competitiveness. The package of proposals set a series of targets on greenhouse gas emissions and renewable energy and aim to create a true internal market for energy and strengthen effective regulation. The Commission believes that when an international agreement is reached on the post-2012 framework this should lead to a 30 percent cut in emissions from developed countries by 2020. To further underline its commitment, the Commission proposes that the European Union commits now to cut greenhouse gas emissions by at least 20 percent by 2020, in particular through energy measures.
Stavros Dimas, Commissioner for the Environment, said "Climate change is one of the gravest threats to our planet. Acting against climate change is imperative. Today, we have agreed on a set of ambitious, but realistic targets which will support our global efforts to contain climate change and its most dire consequences. I urge the rest of the developed world to follow our lead, match our reductions and accelerate progress towards an international agreement on the global emission reductions."
As part of accelerating the shift to low carbon energy, the Commission proposes to maintain the EU's position as a world leader in renewable energy by proposing a binding target of 20 percent of its overall energy mix to be sourced from renewable energy by 2020. This will require significant growth in all three renewable energy sectors: electricity, biofuels and heating and cooling. This renewables target will be supplemented by a minimum target for biofuels of 10 percent. In addition, a 2007 renewables legislative package will include specific measures to facilitate the market penetration of both biofuels and heating and cooling.
Research is also crucial to lower the cost of clean energy and to put EU industry at the forefront of the rapidly growing low carbon technology sector. To meet these objectives, the Commission will propose a strategic European Energy Technology Plan. The European Union will also increase by at least 50 percent its annual spending on energy research for the next seven years.
Click on the following links for the full news stories: European Commission and UPI
Study Looks at Cost of Climate Change to Washington State
Climate change is already affecting Washington's economy, according to a $100,000 study requested by the departments of Ecology and Community Trade and Economic Development (CTED) that was released January 10. A team of scientists and economists evaluated climate change in producing the state report, "Impacts of Climate Change on Washington's Economy." The study warns that economic effects are likely to grow in the Pacific Northwest as temperatures increase.
A warming Pacific Northwest, extreme weather, reduced snow pack and sea level rise are four major ways climate change is disrupting Washington's economy, environment and communities. The research team reached three conclusions about the effects of climate change on Washington's economy: climate change impacts are already occurring in Washington State and their economic effects are becoming apparent; the economic effects of climate change in Washington will grow as temperatures and sea levels rise, and; although global warming and the economic disruption it causes will increase over time, new economic opportunities are already available.
Key evidence of climate change effects in Washington include: retreating glaciers, decreasing snow pack, lower summer stream flows, more wildfires, and rising sea levels. "It's safe to say that virtually every aspect of the state's economy will be affected by climate change," said co-author Bob Doppelt, director of the Climate Leadership Initiative at the University of Oregon, in a teleconference after the study's release. "But the impacts are manageable with an appropriate response, and climate change does open the door for new economic opportunities."
Click on the following links for the full news stories: Seattle Post-Intelligencer and State of Washington
The EESI newsletter is a publication intended for all interested parties, particularly the policymaker community. Issues are archived on EESI’s website at www.eesi.org under ‘Publications.’ For more information regarding either the newsletter or EESI please contact Fredric Beck at fbeck@eesi.org.
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Chad A. Tolman
ChadTolman@yahoo.com
Coalition for Climate Change Study and Action