“If opportunity doesn’t knock, build a door”
By Kif Scheuer and Joseph Oldham
The late comedian Milton Berle’s witty observation certainly seems fitting today. Although we are seeing more and more evidence of a changing climate having direct impacts, we are simultaneously seeing people at every level taking action to create opportunities for change.
Evidence for a changing climate is coming out more rapidly than most people can digest it. In this issue we highlight the 3rd National Climate Assessment that was released this month. More focused than the IPCC summary released last month, the National Climate Assessment paints an increasingly stark picture of climate change’s effects on our nation. For the first time, both of these documents connect climate change to present day impacts and talk about our collective need to adapt to changes that will occur with near certainty. It’s increasingly clear that even the most abrupt course change on greenhouse gas emissions is not enough to mitigate these impacts; we need to be actively working to adapt to the changes that are already “baked” into our future. Looking even closer to home, we outline recent research that may have found a “footprint” of manmade climate change in California’s monumental drought.
The good news is that humans across the globe are increasingly motivated to address climate change head-on, and we want to share a few examples with you this month. Without doubt the biggest news is EPA’s newly released “Clean Power Plan” which provides draft rules for reducing emissions from existing power plans. These rules target the largest source of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and set a goal for cutting carbon by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030. Although much remains to be seen how these rules play out politically, they are a huge first step for the nation. A little closer to home, LGC is not only interested in sharing solutions, we want to highlight the ways we create them as well. In May, the LGC,in partnership with the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, was awarded a 3 year grant to launch CivicSpark, a new AmeriCorps program that is tackling climate change head-on by placing AmeriCorps members with local governments on the front-line of climate change action.
Looking at what individual homeowners can do to help with water scarcity, we have an article about climate-appropriate landscaping in the San Joaquin Valley. Focusing on energy savings, there’s a new energy equipment-leasing program for local governments available Statewide that is designed to help reduce energy load for local government operations and potentially save money at the same time. And if all that were not enough for now, we share an update on the California Adaptation Forum, and Verge SF. Two events coming up this summer and fall where decision-makers are going to be coming together to find creative ways to respond to this crisis. So despite the challenges, ahead we remain hopeful and enthusiastic about the doors we can build now and in the future.
