News on Climate Disruption |
||
EmissionsTailpipes, cows expand Idaho's carbon footprint, Idaho Statesman, June 24, 2008. An Idaho emissions inventory shows emissions of heat-trapping gases grew by 30% between 1990 and 2005, with agriculture, especially methane from dairies and feedlots, running a close second to transportation as the leading sources. Urban areas on West Coast produce least emissions per capita, New York Times, May 29, 2008. A ccording to a new Brookings Institution study ranking the nation’s 100 largest urban areas, the West Coast’s mild climates, hydropower sources, and aggressive energy-reduction policies give its residents smaller carbon footprints than much of the rest of the country. U.S. energy-related carbon dioxide emissions rose by 1.6 percent in 2007 , Energy Information Administration press release, May 20, 2008. Greenhouse gases see major increase worldwide in 2007, Denver Post, April 24, 2008. NOAA reports that worldwide carbon dioxide emissions rose 0.6% in 2007, more than most predictions. CO2 is now at 385 parts per million in the atmosphere, up from about 280 in the mid-19th century. Aspen vacation homes: Energy hogs, Denver Post, August 30, 2007. A Sopris Foundation report finds that large vacation homes in Aspen contribute over 60% of the city’s greenhouse gases, even though they sit empty three quarters of the year on average. State's CO2 output jumps, environmental group says, Rocky Mountain News, April 14, 2007. Environment Colorado reports a 39% rise in carbon dioxide from 1990-2004 in Colorado, the fifth largest among states. Climate Changes in General A new report by the U.S. government’s Climate Change Science Program, covered by the New York Times , Washington Post , and Associated Press , details the observed and forecast effects of climate change on the nation’s land, water, biodiversity, and agricultural resources. Unlike other reports earlier in the Bush Administration, this apparently was not watered down by political appointees. Compiled by 38 leading scientists, drawing from about 1,000 studies, it highlights how human emissions of heat-trapping gases have already translated into more frequent forest fires, reduced snowpack, and increased drought, especially in the West, with more effects likely to come. The federal government also issued a new Scientific Assessment of the Effects of Global Change on the United States , which under federal law is supposed to be updated and issued every four years. A court order to comply with the law led to this overdue report, which mostly restates what is in last year’s reports by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the new federal report mentioned above. In it, the Bush administration acknowledges that heat-trapping gases "are very likely the single largest cause" of the Earth's warming. Bush advisers agree fossil fuel causes warming , Los Angeles Times, May 30, 2008. Jet stream found to be permanently drifting north, Associated Press, April 23, 2008. Researchers find that the Northern Hemisphere jet stream has moved towards the North Pole an average of 1.25 miles a year from 1979-2001 and suspect the movement is linked to climate change. Weather patterns likely follow the shift, leading to a drier Southwest and wetter Northwest. Two Southern Hemisphere jet streams are similarly moving towards the South Pole. The first study to definitively show that observed changes in the hydrology of the West’s major river basins are likely caused by human-induced climate change was published in Science Express on January 31 (in abstract form only for free; readers can elect to purchase the full article online). The authors of the study include well known climate researchers from around the West. Based on observations of nine mountainous regions of the West for the period 1950-2000, the researchers found that up to 60% of the trends of warmer winter air temperatures, declining snowpacks, and earlier run-off can be attributed to human-caused climate change, rather than natural variability. In all but one range (the Sierra Nevada), water content of the snowpacks decreased, and in all ranges the January through March average minimum temperature increased, and peak river flows occurred earlier in the year. The results were compared with a regional hydrologic model downscaled from two global climate models. The anthropogenically forced versions of the models led the researchers to verify the correlation between the model predictions and the observed hydrologic changes. Highly recommended! Human activities reshape California climate, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory press release, January 17, 2008. Researchers find that a 2.1 ° F rise in average temperatures in California between 1915 and 2000 is likely caused by human-generated greenhouse gases and land use changes. The warming has been fastest in late winter and early spring. Warming climate may prove costly for Washington state, study warns, Seattle Times, January 11, 2007. In Washington, a new study highlights the economic impacts of rising temperatures and altered snow and rainfall patterns. "The impacts we found are significant," says Bob Doppelt, director of the University of Oregon's Climate Leadership Initiative. "But we also think they're manageable." West is warming epicenter, Denver Post, October 12, 2006. The average temperature in the West has risen 2-3 degrees F over the last 100 years, compared to a global average of 1 degree F. "The West is warming dramatically," said Jonathan Overpeck, director of the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth at the University of Arizona. "Things are just going to get hotter. You can bet the farm on it." Report: Global warming real threat to California, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 12, 2006. A new report by the State of California is summed up by Linda Adams, the state's secretary for environmental protection: “The potential impacts of global warming are unmistakable, adding more days of deadly heat, more intense and frequent wildfires, shorter supplies of drinking water and serious public-health risks.” A sign of things to come: Climate changes already here in Montana. The Missoulan, April 30, 2006. Over the past 50 years, the average temperature in Montana in March has increased by about 5 degrees, and Montana climate scientist Steve Running can already document the effects. Parched New Mexico gets a taste of climate change. USA Today, February 27, 2006. "Climate scientists may debate whether severe drought in the Southwest is a sign that climate change is already here, but there is little dispute that drier, warmer conditions in the region are a taste of what life may be like if Earth's temperature continues to rise. 'The big ecological changes are really beginning ... in the West,' says Tom Swetnam of the University of Arizona.'" National Geographic News, October 17, 2005: No Winter by 2105? New Study Offers Grim Forecast for U.S. "'In the Southwest, if you imagine the hottest two and a half weeks of the year, you're looking at that becoming three months long." Billings Gazette, May 17, 2005: Study blames global warming for early signs of spring. "The first signs of spring are appearing earlier in the year, and a new study from Stanford University released Monday says man-made global warming is clearly to blame." Washington Post, February 6, 2005: Arid Arizona Points to Global Warming as Culprit "Dramatic weather changes in the West -- whether it is Arizona's decade-long drought or this winter's torrential rains in Southern California -- have pushed some former skeptics to reevaluate their views on climate change."
|
||
 |
||
| Home | ||
| ruption | ||
| Water | ||
| Environmental | ||
| The West's Contribution | ||