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International Scientists Warn: Time to Fight Climate Change is Now
By Suzanne Potter
Story and photo from California News Service, originally published April 5, 2022
April 11, 2022 (Sacramento) --State and international reports on the effects of climate change are out this week, urging government efforts fighting climate change to speed up significantly if the world is to avoid the worst effects, from megafires and drought, to sea level rise and floods.
In a report released April 4, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries need to cut carbon emissions by 43% in the next eight years.
Lauren Sanchez, senior climate adviser to Gov. Gavin Newsom, said California is taking a "whole-of-government approach."
"The world's leading climate scientists have made it clear," Sanchez asserted. "Our window to avoid the worst impacts of the climate crisis is narrowing faster than expected, and success requires unprecedented collective effort and transformational change."
Also last Monday, leaders of a dozen state agencies detailed their roles in California's Climate Adaptation Strategy, including in transportation, housing, agriculture, energy policy and health. The state's plan includes specific action items and metrics for success. California's goal is to become carbon-neutral by 2045.
Jared Blumenfeld, California Secretary for Environmental Protection, said farmworker communities and low-income urban neighborhoods of color bear the most burden from excessive heat and pollution exacerbated by the warming climate.
"We can turn this around," Blumenfeld contended. "The intersectionality between climate and equity is absolutely central to the governor's budget. We just need to make sure that vulnerable communities are the first that we're helping."
The problem is immediate. The California Department of Water Resources just announced the current snowpack is only 38% of normal, due to a record drought also linked to climate change.
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