Water Education Foundation
This is just one post in the Climate change & water supply Category
Click here to view all posts

Scripps Institute researchers say people are to blame for climate change in the west

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on January 31, 2008 at 5:10 pm

Thanks to Aquafornia reader Daniel, who sent me this link from Yahoo News:

Human activity such as driving and powering air conditioners is responsible for up to 60 percent of changes contributing to dwindling water supplies in the arid and growing West, a new study finds. Those changes are likely to accelerate, says the study published Thursday in Science magazine, portending “a coming crisis in water supply for the western United States.”

The study is likely to add to urgent calls for action already coming from Western states competing for the precious resource to irrigate farms and quench the thirst of growing populations. Devastating wildfires, avalanches and drought have also underscored the need.

Researchers at Scripps Institute studied climate changes in the west during the latter half of the twentieth century and determined that human activity was the cause:

The changes they observed differed significantly from trends that could be attributed to natural fluctuations between wet and dry periods over time, they said. “The climate’s changing in the West. We’ve known that. The question is why, and no one’s really addressed that,” Barnett said in an interview. According to his study, “The answer is it is us.”

“The picture painted is quite grim so it’s time to collectively sit down and get our act together,” Barnett added, suggesting the need for conservation, more water storage, and a slowdown on development in the desert Southwest. “The building is just going crazy, so it would be a pretty good idea to put a curb on that unless they can figure out how to get more water,” he said.

To read the full text of this article from Yahoo News, click here.  And read on to the article below for more coverage on this study.

January 31, 2008 · Filed Under Climate change & water supply

Comments

Leave a Reply