Tuesday, September 23, 2014

More Studies Showing California is Doomed

The New York Times has done a story summarizing various studies about the effects of climate change on the livability of different parts of the US.

Alaska and the Pacific Northwest are big winners, no surprise there. But one study points out that northern midwest cities like Minneapolis and Detroit will also be climate winners, relatively speaking.

Most of California is a loser, of course. East of the coastal mountains and south of the Bay Area, California's livability will be seriously impacted by drought, heat and wildfires. California's coastal strip, from the Bay Area north, looks to be a relative winner here, but again, we're only speaking relatively.

My own town of Santa Cruz is on the lower edge of the Bay Area, so compared to people in LA we're going to be okay. Hurray for us.
The studies seem to agree that serious changes to local climates, where current extremes become the new normal, will be occurring by the middle of the century, well within the lifetime of millenials.

I can't believe that we're seriously having this discussion but still don't have a national carbon tax in place.