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Climate Change Will Reduce Snowpack and Increase
Wildfires in West
April 8, 2007
The future will bring warmer and drier conditions
across the West because of climate change. The result will be more
frequent and longer lasting droughts and larger wildfires. So says
the United National Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which
issued its report on the regional effects of climate change in
Brussels on Friday. The West is the region most affected by climate
change in the United States.
This report represents the most detailed account
presented to date about the effects of increasing temperatures
across the Earth. It shows the world is already experiencing the
effects of higher temperatures caused by the buildup of greenhouse
gases in the atmosphere. Even if these emissions were to end today,
climate effects will build in the coming years because carbon
remains in the atmosphere for centuries. If emissions of greenhouse
gas emissions continue to increase as they have throughout the last
century, the climate effects will become increasingly dramatic.
"We’re no longer arm-waving with models. This is
empirical information on the ground,"
said Martin Parry, who served as co-chair of the report team.
More than 200 scientists from 120 countries
participated in the report. They spent four days crafting the
summary, and then had to wrangle with government officials all night
Thursday in order to make the summary document palliative for some
political leaders. The New York Times reported on Friday that
scientists participating in the negotiations singled out the Chinese
political delegation for having successfully weakened conclusions in
the summary. Political delegations from other major fossil fuel
producing countries including Russia, Saudi Arabia, and the United
States also wanted the conclusions that were written by the
scientists to be softened.
Closer to home, Kathleen Miller, who is a scientist
at the National Climate and Atmospheric Research Center in Boulder
said, “The melting snowpack is also going to increase wildfire
activity, and Denver is probably the poster child for that
[phenomenon].” Miller wrote a chapter in the report dealing with
global warming’s impact on fresh water. The U.S. Forest Service has
seen annual expenditures for suppressing wildfires in the West
escalate more than eight-fold in the last decade.
For more information, see the following news stories:
“Climate report Cites Risks for Colorado”
The Rocky Mountain News published this article in its April 7
edition that was written RMN writer Todd Hartman.
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/local/article/0,1299,DRMN_15_5469993,00.html
“Scientists Detail Climate Change Poles to Tropics”
The New York Times published this article that was written by James
Kanter and Andrew Revkin in its April 7 edition.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/07/science/earth/07climate.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin
“Experts Warn Warming Will Harm Society, Nature”
MSNBC published this article in its April 6 edition:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17953433/ |
