U.S. NOT MAKING PLANS FOR CLIMATE CHANGE
BETH DALEY, BOSTON GLOBE - Toronto has installed an emergency system
that will alert public health officials 60 hours before the start of
potentially lethal heat waves, which are expected to increase as the
world warms. New Zealand is pairing engineers with local governments to
strengthen infrastructure such as city drainage systems to withstand
more intense rainstorms. Tiny Burkina Faso in Western Africa is
researching new drought-resistant millet and sorghum to grow as rainfall
decreases. But the United States is lagging well behind. Only a handful
of cities or states have begun projects or adopted regulations to
accommodate higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, sea
level rise, and longer growing seasons.
If fairly conservative climate projections hold true for Boston, global
warming will raise sea levels enough by the end of the century that
Boston Harbor will flood parts of East Boston and the downtown Financial
District during a typical winter northeaster. South Boston, Back Bay,
and Cambridge would also probably flood during a category 2 hurricane,
according to simulations produced for the Globe by a computer modeling
consultant. Yet, the region has no plan to deal with flooding of that
magnitude.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/05/us_lags_
on_plans_for_climate_change/
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SOUTHWEST COULD BE IN FOR PERMANENT DROUGHT
LA TIMES - The driest periods of the last century — the Dust Bowl of the
1930s and the droughts of the 1950s — may become the norm in the
Southwest United States within decades because of global warming,
according to a study. The research suggests that the transformation may
already be underway. Much of the region has been in a severe drought
since 2000, which the study's analysis of computer climate models shows
as the beginning of a long dry period. The study, published online in
the journal Science, predicted a permanent drought by 2050 throughout
the Southwest — one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.
The data tell "a story which is pretty darn scary and very strong," said
Jonathan Overpeck, a climate researcher at the University of Arizona who
was not involved in the study. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-swdrought6apr06,0,
122112.story?coll=la-home-headlines
MARC KAUFMAN, WASHINGTON POST - While much of the nation west of the
Mississippi River is likely to get drier because of the buildup of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the greatest effect will be felt in
the already-arid areas on both sides of the US-Mexico border. By the end
of the century, the climate researchers predict, rainfall in that region
will have declined by a worrisome 10 percent to 20 percent annually.
A similar drying out of the subtropical belt above and below the equator
will hit the Mediterranean region and parts of Africa, South America,
and South Asia, the report says, as the overall warming of the oceans
and surface air transforms basic wind and precipitation patterns around
the earth. . .
The prospect of a drier Southwest is particularly troublesome because
the region has some of the nation's fastest growing cities, including
Las Vegas and Phoenix.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/
2007/04/06/global_warming_could_hit_southwest_hard/?rss_
id=Boston+Globe+--+National+News
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BETH DALEY, BOSTON GLOBE - Toronto has installed an emergency system
that will alert public health officials 60 hours before the start of
potentially lethal heat waves, which are expected to increase as the
world warms. New Zealand is pairing engineers with local governments to
strengthen infrastructure such as city drainage systems to withstand
more intense rainstorms. Tiny Burkina Faso in Western Africa is
researching new drought-resistant millet and sorghum to grow as rainfall
decreases. But the United States is lagging well behind. Only a handful
of cities or states have begun projects or adopted regulations to
accommodate higher temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, sea
level rise, and longer growing seasons.
If fairly conservative climate projections hold true for Boston, global
warming will raise sea levels enough by the end of the century that
Boston Harbor will flood parts of East Boston and the downtown Financial
District during a typical winter northeaster. South Boston, Back Bay,
and Cambridge would also probably flood during a category 2 hurricane,
according to simulations produced for the Globe by a computer modeling
consultant. Yet, the region has no plan to deal with flooding of that
magnitude.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/04/05/us_lags_
on_plans_for_climate_change/
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
SOUTHWEST COULD BE IN FOR PERMANENT DROUGHT
LA TIMES - The driest periods of the last century — the Dust Bowl of the
1930s and the droughts of the 1950s — may become the norm in the
Southwest United States within decades because of global warming,
according to a study. The research suggests that the transformation may
already be underway. Much of the region has been in a severe drought
since 2000, which the study's analysis of computer climate models shows
as the beginning of a long dry period. The study, published online in
the journal Science, predicted a permanent drought by 2050 throughout
the Southwest — one of the fastest-growing regions in the nation.
The data tell "a story which is pretty darn scary and very strong," said
Jonathan Overpeck, a climate researcher at the University of Arizona who
was not involved in the study. . .
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-swdrought6apr06,0,
122112.story?coll=la-home-headlines
MARC KAUFMAN, WASHINGTON POST - While much of the nation west of the
Mississippi River is likely to get drier because of the buildup of
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, the greatest effect will be felt in
the already-arid areas on both sides of the US-Mexico border. By the end
of the century, the climate researchers predict, rainfall in that region
will have declined by a worrisome 10 percent to 20 percent annually.
A similar drying out of the subtropical belt above and below the equator
will hit the Mediterranean region and parts of Africa, South America,
and South Asia, the report says, as the overall warming of the oceans
and surface air transforms basic wind and precipitation patterns around
the earth. . .
The prospect of a drier Southwest is particularly troublesome because
the region has some of the nation's fastest growing cities, including
Las Vegas and Phoenix.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/
2007/04/06/global_warming_could_hit_southwest_hard/?rss_
id=Boston+Globe+--+National+News
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