California just experienced the driest three months on record, which has led to extremely low snowpack, part of a severe drought linked by experts to climate change. (California Dept. of Water Resources)

Listen to the report HERE.

By Suzanne Potter

April 5, 2022   

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 Monday, 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 on 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.

References:  

Climate change report Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change 04/04/2022
Climate strategy State of Calif. 2022
Carbon neutrality report Energy+Environmental Economics Oct. 2020
Snowpack data Calif. Dept. of Water Resources 04/01/2022