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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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13

Warming Will Wipe Out Calif. Agriculture: Energy Sec.

Top US producer faces disaster without swift action on climate change

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(Newser) – Energy Secretary Steven Chu sees dire effects of global warming, particularly on his home state of California, he tells the Los Angeles Times. Some 90% of the snow in the Sierra Nevada mountains, a vital storehouse for water used in farming and cultivation, could disappear, he said. “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California,” Chu said.

“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” Chu continued. A study last year estimated the state has $2.5 trillion in real estate, including farmland, endangered by warming. Critics called Chu’s warning far-fetched. “Computer model predictions of the year 2100 are simply not evidence of a looming climate catastrophe,” said GOP Sen. James Inhofe.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu.   (AP Photo)
A California field.
A California field.   (AP Photo)
A California vineyard.
A California vineyard.   (AP Photo)
Frost-damaged merlot grapevines are shown at a vineyard in the Stag's Leap Wine District in Napa, Calif.
Frost-damaged merlot grapevines are shown at a vineyard in the Stag's Leap Wine District in Napa, Calif.   (AP Photo)
A California hydrologist reads the depth of the snowpack in the Sierras.
A California hydrologist reads the depth of the snowpack in the Sierras.   (AP Photo)
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It's a breath of fresh air. We've been worried about the impacts of global warming for years, even decades. He's absolutely right—California stands to lose so much in our way of life. - Bernadette Del Chiaro, Environment California, on Chu's comments

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13 comments
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Newser001
Feb 4, 09 11:40 AM CST
This has been on the table for sometime... It poses serious challenges to both the State's economy and the ability to produce food for our nation, as well as exports... Reply
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NewserHound
Feb 4, 09 11:41 AM CST
Not sure that I agree with the analysis of Global Warming... Talking about being data insufficient. Temps are colder than twenty years ago and this causes less snow. Perhaps the ice caps are just relocating like our economy. Reply
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IN RESPONSE:
Forderon
Feb 4, 09 12:48 PM CST
That's because global warming is not an apt name for what's going on. It's actually more of a "global weirding" as Thomas Friedman calls it. The climate will go to their extremes, hurricanes and tornadoes will get more powerful, species will go extinct, etc.
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IN RESPONSE:
Newser001
Feb 4, 09 2:32 PM CST
We're expeiencing a very serious droubt... facing the most significant water crisis in its history, California After experiencing two years of drought and the driest spring in recorded history, water reserves are extremely low. With the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta ecosystem near collapse, court-ordered restrictions on water deliveries from the Delta have reduced supplies from the state's two largest water systems by twenty to thirty percent.
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IN RESPONSE:
radnip
Feb 5, 09 3:09 AM CST
I call it an increase in Global Weather Entropy -- greater highs, greater lows -- weather that's SO much more exciting for humans than it's been in quite some time. I think that's what the global warming opposers mean -- that they would enjoy the new weather a lot more than the old, so bring it on! Nature will adjust and humans will also...though there will likely be a nice chaotic adjustment period.
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