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Wednesday’s top of the scroll: White House report warns of climate change effects; Water problems becoming more widespread

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 17, 2009 at 8:06 am

From CNN.com:

Man-made climate change threatens to stress water resources, challenge crops and livestock, raise sea levels and adversely affect human health, according to a report released by the Obama administration on Tuesday.

The nearly 200-page document on global climate change — released by the White House science adviser and mandated by Congress — does not include new research, but encompasses several recent studies on the effects of global warming over the last half century.

Among the report’s key findings are an “unequivocal and primarily human-induced” rise in the Earth’s temperature of 2 degrees Fahrenheit over the last 50 years, and a projection of more rapidly changing temperatures over the next several decades. “It’s not just a problem for the future,” said Jane Lubchenco, administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. “We’re beginning to see the impact on our daily lives.”

The continuing temperature rise is likely to spur a series of negative consequences for the Earth’s energy supply, water, transportation, ecosystems and health, the study said. “[The report] tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later, as well as showing why that action must include both global emissions reductions to reduce the extent of climate change and local adaptation measures to reduce the damage from the changes that are no longer avoidable,” said John P. Holdren, the White House science adviser.

Read more from CNN.com by clicking here.

From the San Diego Union Tribune:

Climate change and population growth are straining water supplies even in places where people historically haven’t worried much about the resource. Cities from the Great Lakes to the Gulf Coast are pushing conservation plans much like the ones being introduced across California to deal with a prolonged drought.

Concerns about the scarcity of drinkable water are prominent this week in San Diego, site of one of the world’s largest water-industry conventions, with more than 10,000 attendees. They also are underscored in a 190-page report issued yesterday by the Obama administration, which highlighted the difficulty of maintaining the nation’s water supplies amid global warming.

“Everywhere you look, you have some kind of water problem,” said Bradley Udall, director of the University of Colorado’s Western Water Assessment and an author of the report. “I don’t think (the public) gets the idea that we are in a new era of limits with many natural resources, water being only one. We are going to learn what a gallon means.”

Read more from the San Diego Union Tribune by clicking here.

June 17, 2009 · Filed Under Climate change & water supply

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