Updated assessment compiled data from 36 indicators
By Donna Beth Weilenman
Staff Reporter
Climate change is having increasing impacts on California’s environment, cautioned the writers of an update of a report last issued in 2009.
“Whether you live in California, Texas or Timbuktu, climate change is real, and it’s long past time for action,” Gov. Jerry Brown said after the report was published.
“The combined impact described by these indicators is dramatic,” said California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) Secretary Matthew Rodriquez. His agency — specifically its Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) — is responsible for the report.
OEHHA employees compiled data on 36 indicators of climate change monitored from throughout the state and gleaned from research studies conducted by state and federal agencies, universities and research institutions.
“Together, these indicators paint a disturbing picture of how climate change is affecting our state and its growing threats to our future,” OEHHA Director Dr. George Alexeeff said.
“This report demonstrates the value of California’s extensive research and monitoring efforts in continuing to track as many of these changes as possible.”
Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said, “I reviewed the document: a great source of information about the indication of the future for critters, bugs (mosquitoes), fish, sea lions and butterflies.”
She also noted the report’s remarks about how California’s weather patterns are changing.
“The indicators of more humid evenings in the Central Valley, warmer coastal areas and less snow pack show that we have no time to lose to reduce greenhouse gases,” she said.
“We are facing (shortages in) food production (and) water supply, increasing diseases, decline in fishery issues — to name a few. Fortunately, there is good news for California, and unfortunately the rest of our country is lagging behind.”
Patterson called the report “a compendium of scientific information, methodology, data, trends and strengths and weaknesses of figuring it all out; an honest, fair and go-to document for solid information.
“One can only hope that the public, decision makers and staff pay attention,” she said.
The news isn’t all dire, however.
California industries, which contribute 20 percent of the state’s greenhouse gas emissions, are becoming more energy efficient. Emissions of greenhouse gases declined if measured per-$1,000 of economic output, the report noted, calling it a sign that companies are responding to efforts to reduce emissions.
But California’s overall emissions of carbon dioxide and other heat-trapping gases increased between 1990 and 2011, and atmospheric concentrations of both carbon dioxide and methane continue to rise.
Transportation was reported to be responsible for 38 percent of those emissions; 12 percent came from electrical energy production in the state, and another 11 percent from imported electricity. Agriculture and forestry contributed 7 percent; residential operations were blamed for 6 percent; and commercial and unspecified sources each contributed 3 percent of the emissions.
Among the indicators examined in the study are high, low and average temperatures.
All have increased, it said, and the rate of warming also has increased. The increased warming of overnight low temperatures is nearly twice the rate of the increase in daytime highs.
Wildfires burn more acres per year than they did in 1950, the report said, asserting that the size, severity, duration and frequency of wildfires are greatly influenced by climate.
The report said the three largest fire years on record in California occurred in the last decade, and annual acreage burned since 2000 is almost twice that recorded between 1950 and 2000.
Spring snowmelt runoff has been decreasing, and more precipitation arrives as rain, rather than snow, which affects agriculture, the environment in general, and the population as a whole.
Studies indicate that the oceans are absorbing ever-inceasing amounts of carbon dioxide, which changes the chemical nature of the water, causing it to become more acidic, which impacts marine life.
Warming temperatures are causing species migration. Smaller mammals in Yosemite National Forest are being found at higher elevations, but trees, too, are affected. Certain conifer forests’ lower boundaries in the Sierra Nevada are changing to higher elevations as well, the report said.
Since 2000, though the population has increased by 10 percent, gross greenhouse gas emissions have both risen and fallen, the report said.
The greatest drop happened after 2008-09, when emissions finally dropped below the 2000 baseline, and have been decreasing slightly since then, for a total 7-percent drop. That’s despite a 49-percent increase in gross state product.
Rising carbon dioxide levels first were documented in 1958 at Mauna Loa, Hawai’i, the report said. Carbon dioxide emissions also are monitored at three California sites.
About half of carbon dioxide emissions are removed by various processes within 30 years; 30 percent is removed in a few centuries, and the balance may remain for thousands of years, the report said.
The Mauna Loa monitoring site reached more than 400 part per million May 9, 2013.
Rising carbon dioxide affects not just air but water, changing its chemistry and causing ocean acidification, the report said.
The ocean absorbs about one fourth of the carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere, and its acidification decreases calcification in animals with shells, from plankton to mollusks and corals, the report said.
Acidification is being monitored at Monterey Bay on the Pacific West Coast.
Though black carbon is a short-lived climate pollutant, the report said it’s a powerful contributor to global warming, right behind carbon dioxide.
Black carbon is a component of soot and comes from diesel vehicles, residential wood burning and wildfires. However, California’s black carbon concentrations have dropped despite increased diesel fuel consumption, the report said.
Other indicators are a decreased winter chill in fruit-growing regions, needed for some trees to produce flowers and fruit; the altitude in the atmosphere at which temperatures drop below freezing, which has risen by about 500 feet in the past 20 years; and total precipitation, which overall has shown little change in the past century.
However, the change from snowpack to rain may impact California’s water supply.
In the past century, spring runoff to the Sacramento River has decreased by 9 percent, which may indicate warmer winters or earlier springtime warming, the report said.
Reduced runoff means less water to meet the state’s needs; it also impacts fish habitat, alpine forest growth and wildfire conditions, according to the report.
Glaciers in the Sierra Nevada have been decreasing; Goddard Glacier shrunk by about 50 percent from 1908 to 2004.
The sea level is another measure. During the past century, sea levels have risen by about 7 inches along California; at the Golden Gate it has averaged 8 inches and at La Jolla near San Diego, it has averaged 6 inches.
The report said this could lead to flooding of low-lying areas, loss of coastal wetlands, erosion and saltwater contamination of groundwater aquifers, as well as impacts to roads, sewage treatment plants and other infrastructure along the coast.
La Jolla’s sea surface temperature has been increasing during the last century at a rate twice as fast as the global rate, the report said.
The state’s lakes have been warming since the 1990s, too, it said.
Heat-related deaths are on the rise, especially July 2006, when 140 heat-related deaths were recorded in California, the report said.
Other indicators are a decline in fall-run Chinook salmon since 2004, unprecedented reproductive failures in 2005 and 2006 of Cassin’s auklet on the Southeast Farallone Islands, though a record-high productivity was noted in 2010.
Declines in sooty shearwater and Cassin’s auklet populations at sea in Southern California have been recorded during the past 24 years, the report said, and there has been an increase in California sea lion pup mortality and stranded yearling pups.
Central Valley butterflies are appearing earlier in the spring during the past 40 years. About half the small mammal species in Yosemite National Park have moved, most to higher elevations.
Other indicators that suggested other problems caused by climate change are called plausible, but not established, and future editions of the study will track their data as well.
Among those are harmful algae blooms, and other studies will track them to see if warming waters or higher concentrations of carbon dioxide are affecting those blooms.
“I haven’t read the entire document but I can tell by the executive summary it is a substantial assessment of critical indicators, from snowpack depth to butterfly migration,” said Constance Beutel, a member of the Benicia Community Sustainability Commission and its first chairperson.
“I am not surprised that transportation as a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions is indicated, just as in our Benicia 2010 GHG inventory … and a major focus we will address as part of our efforts going forward as the Community Sustainability Commission,” she said.
“Transportation is followed by electric power and then industrial as sources of major GHG,” Beutel said.
“The most sobering are the detailed descriptions of impacts on climate and biological systems. We humans are included in this category, along with vegetation and animals,” she said. “I encourage everyone to carefully study this significant report.”
Future reports also will track changes in wind and water circulation. Winter fog in the Central Valley is another indicator that will be monitored, as will trees that are being destroyed by bark beetles.
Climate indicators have been observed as part of OEHHA Environmental Protection Indicators for California program. That program was started 13 years ago so the health of the state’s environment could be tracked.
The 2013 edition of the report was compiled and edited by Tamara Kadir, Linda Mazur, Carmen Milanes and Karen Randles of Cal-EPA’s OEHHA, and was reviewed by David M. Siegel, Rupa Basu, Lauren Zeise, Allan Hirsch, of OEHHA, and Andrew Altevogt, of Cal-EPA.
The full report can be downloaded at www.oehha.ca.gov/multi media/epic/index.html.
kmietz says
Bravo!
Kristine Mietzner 707-319-4228
>________________________________ > From: The Benicia Herald >To: kristine2770@yahoo.com >Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2013 9:45 AM >Subject: [New post] Report: State hurt by climate change > > > > WordPress.com >beniciaherald posted: “Updated assessment compiled data from 36 indicators By Donna Beth Weilenman Staff Reporter Climate change is having increasing impacts on California’s environment, cautioned the writers of an update of a report last issued in 2009. “Whether you ” >
Will Gregory says
No mention in the above article about fracking (maybe in the report?) and its effect on climate change.
The article and excerpt below give the community more to consider about the oil industry’s influence and this process of extraction and how it affects so many elements of the above report.
“Even if regulations could magically make fracking safe, it uses too much water in a drought prone state. The hundreds of daily diesel truck trips will also cause extensive damage to local roads and increased incidences of asthma and other respiratory diseases.
Fracking causes the industrialization of bucolic landscapes and noise and light pollution. In other states, fracking’s “man camps” are rife with drugs, alcohol, gambling and prostitution. Fracking would also most likely decimate the food and wine industries, which are far more important economically to the state than oil.
The oil will not always even go toward energy independence – despite the popular refrain– as it will be exported to the highest bidder, predominately Europe and Asia.
Finally, fracking all that oil out of the Monterey Shale will accelerate climate change. According to
climate blogger RL Miller, the CO2 released from burning it will be almost as much as that released by the Keystone XL Pipeline.
Coming full circle, this will prevent California from achieving the 20% reduction in CO2 called for in Pavley’s signature bill, the Global Warming Solutions Act.”
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/08/californias-fracking-regulatory-bill/
Will Gregory says
From the above article:
Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said, “I reviewed the document: a great source of information about the indication of the future for critters, bugs (mosquitoes), fish, sea lions and butterflies.”
She also noted the report’s remarks about how California’s weather patterns are changing.
“The indicators of more humid evenings in the Central Valley, warmer coastal areas and less snow pack show that we have no time to lose to reduce greenhouse gases,” she said.
“We are facing (shortages in) food production (and) water supply, increasing diseases, decline in fishery issues — to name a few. Fortunately, there is good news for California, and unfortunately the rest of our country is lagging behind.”
Patterson called the report “a compendium of scientific information, methodology, data, trends and strengths and weaknesses of figuring it all out; an honest, fair and go-to document for solid information.
“One can only hope that the public, decision makers and staff pay attention,” she said
More on fracking…
Hope versus $$ reality$$ for the community to consider…
Some may consider California to be a “green” state and the “environmental leader” of the nation, but that delusion is quickly dispelled once one actually looks at who spends the most on lobbying in California – the oil industry.
The Western States Petroleum Association spent the most on lobbying in Sacramento in the first six months of 2013 of any interest group, according to quarterly documents released by the California Secretary of State.
The association spent $1,023,069.78 in the first quarter and $1,285,720.17 in the second quarter, a total of $2,308,789.95, to lobby legislators and other state officials.
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/08/07/the-ocean-frackers/
Will Gregory says
From the above article:
“One can only hope that the public, decision makers and staff pay attention,” she said.
Paying attention.
More on climate change and those who oppose science based climate policy for the community to consider.
“In today’s environment, the decisions of corporations on climate change are coming under more scrutiny than ever before, and this trend will only continue. Measures to require more disclosure of political spending by companies have been endorsed by an SEC commissioner, received more than 50 votes in
the U.S. Senate, and were the subject of over 100 shareholder resolutions this year. Advocacy organizations are putting together campaigns to trace and publicize company actions on climate change and, as recent events involving the Heartland Institute illustrate, actions intended to remain secret do not always stay that way. In 2012, the only way for a company to be widely seen as a responsible actor on climate change is to be one.”
http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/new-metrics/changing-environment-corporate-action-climate-change
Will Gregory says
From the above article:
“Whether you live in California, Texas or Timbuktu, climate change is real, and it’s long past time for action,” Gov. Jerry Brown said after the report was published.
Not only is California worried about climate change — the U.S. Military has its own concerns in the excerpt and the article below for the community to contemplate…
“The bigger problem, says the report, is global warming, which will cause upheaval, and military challenges, across the globe in the coming decades.”
“Our consumption of oil and other fossil fuels contributes to climate change, which poses growing risks to our infrastructure, livelihoods, and national security,” it says in its primary conclusion. “Using more natural gas and oil, even if domestically produced, neither frees our economies from global oil prices nor checks the greenhouse gas emissions that threaten future generations. The only sustainable solution to this dual challenge is to improve our energy efficiency and diversify our energy sources to include cleaner and renewable power.”
http://insideclimatenews.org/news/20130624/military-report-america-has-misguided-fixation-domestic-drilling
Will Gregory says
From the above article:
“Whether you live in California, Texas or Timbuktu, climate change is real, and it’s long past time for action,” Gov. Jerry Brown said after the report was published.”
And:
Benicia Mayor Elizabeth Patterson said,… “I reviewed the document: …“The indicators of more humid evenings in the Central Valley, warmer coastal areas and less snow pack show that we have no time to lose to reduce greenhouse gases,” she said.
“One can only hope that the public, decision makers and staff pay attention,” she said
From the post below: More climate change news and information the community and our appointed and elected leaders can use…
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/31612-sixth-great-mass-extinction-event-begins-2015-on-pace-to-become-hottest-year-on-record
cmbeutel5 says
Here is the link to the report: http://oehha.ca.gov/multimedia/epic/pdf/ClimateChangeIndicatorsReport2013.pdf
JJ says
Climate change or as it used to be called Global Warming is a big lie. Please go stand at the pier at the end of First Street and wait for the flood.
Simon says
http://grist.org/politics/conservative-hostility-to-science-predates-climate-science/
And the money quote: “Beneath everything else, that is the conservative objection to climate science: The left is responsible for science, so it’s responsible for climate science, which is just another attempt to expand government power. There was never any chance, in hell, at all, ever, that climate science would be coded as “neutral” or “objective” in conservatism’s decades-long culture war, no matter how scrupulously policy-agnostic climate scientists were.”
Simon says
Like the one with Noah?
Bob Livesay says
Please explain to me why ships do not go to Pacheco any more? They did at one time. Martinez had to move its ferry slip out about 100 yards. The trains still run at the same level on the same tracks across from Benicia. Just what happened to the expected flooding of Solano Square. Some of this stuff is goofy without any evidence to the present situation. Constance a complete explanation could help convince us fools. Fools we are not, just thought of that way by the climate change experts.
Roger Straw says
In addition to the State of California report mentioned here, we now can download the recently released State of the Climate in 2012, a supplement to the August 2013 issue of the Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society (BAMS Vol. 94, No. 8). It is a huge download, (258 pages, 38MB) available here: http://www.ametsoc.org/2012stateoftheclimate.pdf. Better for most of us is the NOAA’s Highlights page, available here: http://www.climate.gov/news-features/understanding-climate/state-climate-2012-highlights
Thomas Petersen says
Please explain the increase in California the frequency, severity and duration of harmful algal blooms in all aquatic environments, which are known to be influenced by water temperature: reduced duration and extent of winter fog in the Central Valley, with warming winter temperatures; increased survival and spread of forest disease-causing pathogens and insects, along with increased susceptibility of trees, which are affected by temperature, precipitation or forest fires; or In addition to heat waves and wildfires, changes in the frequency and intensity of extreme events such as droughts and floods. A complete and convincing explanation by non-science-minded folks would be impressive. However, keep in mind science minded folks are not convinced by anecdotal information.
Bob Livesay says
Non-science minded folks presenterd eight references to climate change. Believe what you read without looking at the other side is very shallow. I do believe Thomas does look at both sides.