Can We Adapt to Global Warming?

As climate change evidence mounts, some are planning to "adapt"

This page was published 14 years ago. Find the latest on Earthjustice’s work.

We learned recently that the Bush administration kept photographic evidence of climate change from the American people. The pictures from US spy satellites were declassified by the Obama White House. The anti-science bias of the last administration continues to shock.

As proof of global warming mounts, California is preparing for decreased snow pack in the mountains, flooding on its coast, raging wildfires, and increased infectious disease in cities.

A new report predicts – and warns that the state must adapt to these unstoppable consequences. The report, 2009 California Climate Adaptation Strategy, is still in draft form and open for public comment for the next 45 days. It is the nation’s first such official effort to delineate and plan for impacts associated with global warming.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger triggered the report last year when he told state agencies to study how to deal with one of the most alarming climate change scenarios: the loss of California shoreline and property to rising sea levels.

Just about everything and everybody will be affected by climate change, the study says, including agriculture, water, wildlife and people.

On the legal front, the report finds that, “All significant state projects, including infrastructure projects, must consider climate change impacts, as currently required under CEQA (the California Environmental Quality Act)."

An Earthjustice staff member from 1999 until 2015, Brian used outreach and partnership skills to cover many issues, including advocacy campaign efforts to promote a healthy ocean.