STUDY: PEOPLE ARE CAUSING WESTERN DROUGHTS

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AP - People driving their cars, cranking on their air conditioners and
switching on lights and dishwashers are responsible for most of the
climate changes that are gradually drying up water supplies in arid and
growing Western states, a new study finds. Those climate trends are
likely to increase, threatening a water crisis in the western United
States, says the study in the journal Science. . .

The researchers used statistical modeling to compare climate changes
that would have happened with natural fluctuations over time, to climate
changes with the addition of human-caused greenhouse gases and other
emissions from vehicles, power plants and other sources.

They found that up to 60 percent of changes in river flow, temperature
and snow pack between 1950 and 1999 can be attributed to human
activities, such as driving, that release emissions including carbon
dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Another study from the same journal found that changes in climate
brought by global warming could cause major crop losses in many of the
world's poorest regions within the next two decades

The findings foresee alarming consequences for many of the 1 billion
poor people who depend on agriculture for their livelihoods, largely
because agriculture is the human activity that is most vulnerable to
changes in climate. The worst affected areas were projected to be
southern Africa and South Asia, already home to huge numbers of hungry
people.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080201/ap_on_go_ot/climate_change_western_water


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