Climate Change and California
Living in the Bay Area, it used to be easy to ignore all the talk about climate change. Then the wildfires came, turned our skies Halloween orange, and made it unhealthy to go outside. The pandemic had already made it risky to see our friends and family, but now it was potentially deadly even to go for a walk. This brought climate change home for many of us, and now there’s no excuse not to take the problem seriously. Since there may still be doubters out there, it’s worth asking: how exactly does climate change impact California? Right now, there are three main areas of concern: wildfires, drought, and sea-level rise.
It’s true that wildfires have always been a part of California’s ecosystem. It’s also true that fire suppression policies since 1905 have left too much of our forests ripe for fire. This isn’t the whole story, though. With the higher temperatures brought by climate change, California’s fire season is now longer and more severe than ever. According to Cal Fire’s website, “warmer spring and summer temperatures, reduced snowpack, and earlier spring snowmelt create longer and more intense dry seasons that increase moisture stress on vegetation and make forests more susceptible to severe wildfire.” These changes have also led to an expansion in the size of our fires. Since the early 1970s, wildfires in California have increased in size by 800 percent (Meyer). This year alone, 3,472,947 acres of our state have burned. That’s about 2.6 million football fields, or three percent of the whole state. If we don’t act now to reduce CO2 and methane emissions, we may run out of land to burn.
Drought is another perennial issue in California, but it’s gotten much worse over the past forty years. According to a 2015 report in the New York Times, “rising temperatures dry the soil faster and cause more rapid evaporation from streams and reservoirs” (Gillis). This problem might be manageable if we could expect more rain, but this isn’t in the cards. According to the EPA, “precipitation is unlikely to increase as much as evaporation” (“What Climate Change Means”). This will lead to drier soil and a greater need for irrigation water. Unfortunately, “higher temperatures and declining rainfall in nearby states have reduced the flow of water in the Colorado River, a key source of irrigation water in southern California” (“What Climate Change Means”). California is now caught in a dryness loop that will only get more severe with time.
Climate change will also bring rising sea levels, which will flood many parts of the Bay Area. According to the The ART Bay Shoreline Flood Explorer, which maps the effects of a serious rainstorm after a four-foot rise in sea levels, cities like Alameda, Redwood Shores, Foster City, and East Palo Alto will be completely underwater. Both SFO and Oakland Airport will similarly be flooded. According to the EPA, homes along some ocean shores “will fall into the water as beaches, bluffs, and cliffs erode” (“What Climate Change Means”). The sea will also flood San Francisco Bay wetlands and other estuaries, and this would have a devastating effect on fish and birds in the region.
In the end, climate change has already begun to have a devastating effect on California, and particularly on the Bay Area. Between the wildfires, droughts, and rising sea levels, most of California is in for a bumpy ride. What can we do? One proposed response is the Green New Deal, a “massive program of investments in clean-energy jobs and infrastructure, meant to transform not just the energy sector, but the entire economy. It is meant both to decarbonize the economy and to make it fairer and more just” (Roberts). It remains to be seen if this plan will go through, or if some revised package sees the light of day. Whatever happens, there’s no time to lose.
Works Cited
“2020 Incident Archive.” Cal Fire, www.fire.ca.gov/incidents/2020/, accessed on 18 Sept. 2020.
Gillis, Justin. “California Drought Is Made Worse by Global Warming, Scientists Say.” New York Times, 20 Aug. 2015, www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/science/climate-change- intensifies-california-drought-scientists-say.html.
Graff, Amy. “Map in New Study Shows Impact of 4-Foot Sea-Level Rise on San Francisco Bay Area.” SF Gate, 17 Dec. 2019, www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Sea-level-rise-map- San-Francisco-Bay-Area-14913722.php#photo-18775274.
Meyer, Robinson. “California’s Wildfires Are 500 Percent Larger Due to Climate Change.” The Atlantic, 16 Jul. 2019, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2019/07/climate- change-500-percent-increase-california-wildfires/594016/.
Roberts, David. “The Green New Deal, Explained.” Vox, 30 Mar. 2019, www.vox.com/energy- and-environment/2018/12/21/18144138/green-new-deal-alexandria-ocasio-cortez.
“What Climate Change Means for California.” Environmental Protection Agency, Aug. 2016, www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-09/documents/climate-change-ca.pdf.
