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Don Quixote
08-03-2009, 05:39 PM
what to do while the global warming/global climate change deniers dither

By SAMANTHA YOUNG SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Even if the world is successful in cutting carbon emissions in the future, California needs to start preparing for rising sea levels, hotter weather and other effects of climate change, a new state report recommends.
It encourages local communities to rethink future development in low-lying coastal areas, reinforce levees that protect flood-prone areas and conserve already strapped water supplies.
"We still have to adapt, no matter what we do, because of the nature of the greenhouse gases," said Tony Brunello, deputy secretary for climate change and energy at the California Natural Resources Agency, who helped prepare the report. "Those gases are still going to be in the atmosphere for the next 100 years."
The draft report to be released Monday by the California Natural Resources Agency provides the state's first comprehensive plan to work with local governments, universities and residents to deal with a changing climate. A final plan is expected to be released in the fall after the public weighs in.
The report was compiled after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger directed agencies in November to devise a state climate strategy. It comes three years after the Republican governor signed California's landmark global warming law requiring the state to slash greenhouse gas emissions by 2020.
Most countries have focused on cutting greenhouse gases in the future, but researchers say those efforts will take decades to have an effect while the planet continues to warm. States have only recently begun to look at what steps they must take to minimize the damage expected from sea level rise, storm surges, droughts and water shortages because of the climate changes.
Over the last century in California, the sea level has risen by 7 inches, average temperatures have increased, spring snowmelt occurs earlier in the year, and there are hotter days and fewer cold nights.
The report warns that rising temperatures over the next few decades will lead to more heat waves, wildfires, droughts and floods.
"We have to deal with those unavoidable impacts," said Suzanne Moser, a research associate at the Institute of Marine Sciences at the University of California Santa Cruz. "We can't pretend they are not going to happen and we have to prepare for that."
To minimize the potential damage from climate change, the report recommends that cities and counties offer incentives to encourage property owners in high-risk areas to relocate and limit future development in places that might be affected by flooding, coastal erosion and sea level rise. State agencies also should not plan, permit, develop or build any structure that might require protection in the future.
The report suggests the state partner with local governments and private landowners to create large reserves that protect wildlife threatened by warmer weather. Similarly, wetlands and fish corridors should be established to protect salmon and other fragile fish.
The report says farmers should be encouraged to be more efficient when watering their crops, and investments should be made to improve crop resistance to hotter temperatures.

Cypress
08-03-2009, 06:41 PM
the ag people need to stop growing such water intensive crops, Don.

For christ sake....rice. WTF are they doing growing rice in the central valley. That's a monsoon crop indigenous to SE asia.

Snow pack is going to be gone too Don. Or at least, it will melt by April. Bummer. Less snow boarding.

Don Quixote
08-04-2009, 01:05 AM
the ag people need to stop growing such water intensive crops, Don.

For christ sake....rice. WTF are they doing growing rice in the central valley. That's a monsoon crop indigenous to SE asia.

Snow pack is going to be gone too Don. Or at least, it will melt by April. Bummer. Less snow boarding.

besides rice, cotton is grown in the central valley...wtf indeed

Cypress
08-04-2009, 10:17 AM
besides rice, cotton is grown in the central valley...wtf indeed


Dude! For real! Rice, cotton, tomatoes. Crops that have no business being grown in a desert. We've got a bunch of strawberry growers around here. I'm not sure about strawberries, but I think that crap takes a lot of water too.


I read somewhere that 85% of the H2O used in Cali is for irrigation. I don't know what the heck they are going to do when the snowpack is gone.

Topspin
08-04-2009, 10:24 AM
don't ya'll dare start in on the herb production.

uscitizen
08-04-2009, 10:25 AM
Hey but it provides jobs for illegal immigrants :clink:

Cypress
08-04-2009, 10:27 AM
don't ya'll dare start in on the "herb" production.


All the good weed is grown up on the north coast, where there is plenty of water.

No worries, my Rasta brother. :clink:

Cypress
08-04-2009, 10:28 AM
Hey but it provides jobs for illegal immigrants :clink:


LOL

:)

Don Quixote
08-04-2009, 10:50 PM
All the good weed is grown up on the north coast, where there is plenty of water.

No worries, my Rasta brother. :clink:
not all of it, some is grown within 15 miles of where i live in the los padres national forest...bummer, it screws up the environment there, not enough water so they set up irrigation that diverts water from the native plants

i am eligible for medical mj and have a few spare acres to grow it on :)

tinfoil
08-05-2009, 07:17 AM
Adapt to climate change? I thought we could CONTROL the climate with carbon credits?

uscitizen
08-05-2009, 08:40 AM
Adapt to climate change? I thought we could CONTROL the climate with carbon credits?

Nope.

Cypress
08-05-2009, 10:20 AM
not all of it, some is grown within 15 miles of where i live in the los padres national forest...bummer, it screws up the environment there, not enough water so they set up irrigation that diverts water from the native plants

i am eligible for medical mj and have a few spare acres to grow it on :)


LET'S DO THIS


Call me.