California Climate Changed

The California Environmental Protection Agency has released a report documenting how the state has already been "climate changed" and warning of plenty more change on the way.

The study, written by 51 scientists, tracked a variety of indicators and found widespread evidence of the toll climate change is taking across the across the state, including more frequent and intense wildfires, rising sea levels, shrinking glaciers, warmer lakes and oceans, and hotter temperatures. These ripple effects of these changes threaten communities, industry, public health, and the state’s prized natural resources.

“Climate change is not just some abstract scientific debate,” said California EPA Secretary Matt Rodriquez. “It’s real, and it’s already here.”

Californians are already suffering from a growing number of heat-related illnesses and deaths and those figures are projected to rise along with temperatures. The report found that in most regions of the state, warming has accelerated over the past three decades. During the summer, heat extremes have increased and nighttime heat waves have risen across the state. As climate change drives temperatures up, it poses a serious risk to public health. As evidence of this, the report notes that “the July 2006 heat wave, unprecedented in its magnitude and geographic extent, resulted in 140 heat-related deaths in California.”

Coastal residents will feel climate change at work as rising seas threaten their communities and quality of life. Sea levels measured at San Francisco and La Jolla have already risen by eight and six inches over the past century and as water levels continue to climb along California’s coast, the report predicts that “it could lead to flooding of low-lying areas, loss of coastal wetlands … erosion of cliffs and beaches, saltwater contamination of drinking water, impacts on roads and bridges, and harmful ecological effects along the coastline.”