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Chu: California Could Lose its Cities to Climate Change

Posted by: Michael Dudley

5 February 2009 - 2:00pm

Energy Secretary Steve Chu delivers a grim warning for California: Slow the pace of climate change or the state will lose its agriculture and cities.

"Unless there is timely action on climate change, California's agricultural bounty could be reduced to a dust bowl and its cities disappear, Barack Obama's energy secretary said yesterday.

The apocalyptic scenario sketched out by Steven Chu, the Nobel laureate appointed as energy secretary, was the clearest sign to date of the greening of America's political class under the new president.

In blunt language, Chu said Americans had yet to fully understand the urgency of dealing with climate change. 'I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,' he told the Los Angeles Times in his first interview since taking the post. 'We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going.'"

Full Story: Obama's energy secretary outlines dire climate change scenario
Source: Guardian (UK), February 4, 2009
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Tax Carbon

Submitted by DJB on Fri, 02/06/2009 - 07:38.

It's long past time to get serious on the climate crisis. We need to tax carbon to reduce demand for dirty-unsustainable energy and use the money to fund subsidies for clean-renewable energy: wind turbines, solar panels, small dams, geothermal, and tidal/wave power. In addition, the revenue should be used to subsidize smart growth, transit, plug-in hybrids and electric cars.

Let's start small so that people see it's not the end of the world. How about 1 cent per gallon of gasoline and 1 cent per hundred kilowatt-hours of dirty electricity?

Of course we will need to ramp it up from there, but politically a small start may be essential.

The essential need at this

Submitted by Trevor Burrowes on Thu, 02/05/2009 - 20:17.

The essential need at this time is not for wind turbines...although having them would be nice. The most affordable antidote to climate change, one that would supply many jobs quickly, is to radically increase vegetation to absorb CO2.

I doubt that this would significantly placate the climate change naysayers in Congress, but it could help.

Planting a billion trees in CA would provide immediate jobs and stimulus, while also producing long term benefit.

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