Global Warming Impacts
in California
The impacts from global warming are widespread and potentially devastating. The impacts are immediate, and they will continue to grow. As stated in a recent report to the Governor,
Today’s climate variability and weather extremes already pose significant risks to California’s citizens, economy, and environment. They reveal the [S]tate’s vulnerability and existing challenges in dealing with the vagaries of climate. Continued climate changes, and the risk of abrupt or surprising shifts in climate, will further challenge the state’s ability to cope with climate-related stresses.
California Climate Change Center, Preparing for the Impacts of Climate Change in California: Opportunities and Constraints for Adaptation (March 2006). 
Examples of Global Warming’s Impacts in California1
Losses to the Sierra Snow Pack. Higher temperatures diminish snowfall and cause the snow that does fall to melt earlier. This reduces the amount of water stored in the Sierra snow pack, which accounts for approximately half of the surface water stored in the State. Reductions and early melting of the snow pack will aggravate the State’s already overstretched water resources and cause increased flooding.
Public Health Threat Caused by Higher Temperatures and More Smog. Global warming increases the frequency, duration, and intensity of conditions conducive to the formation of smog. As temperatures rise, the number of days of extreme heat events also increases, causing the risk of injury or death from dehydration, heatstroke, heart attack, and respiratory problems to rise. Most vulnerable are the elderly, those whose health is already compromised (such as children with asthma), and the poor, who may not have the means to purchase and run air conditioners or to evacuate to air conditioned locations. As was recently reported in the Washington Post, the death toll from California’s 12-day heat wave in July of this year “topped 130. . . as coroners documented more cases of mostly elderly victims found dead during the record-breaking temperatures.” Pomfet, 130 Deaths Blamed on California Heat Wave, Washington Post (July 29, 2006)
Damage to Agriculture. By reducing the State’s natural water storage capacity, raising temperatures, increasing salt water intrusion in agricultural regions, causing flooding, and increasing the risk of pest infestations and other calamities, global warming poses a serious threat to California’s $68 billion agricultural industry. In fact, during the period 1951 to 2000, the growing season lengthened by about a day per decade, which increased crops’ exposure to heat (“degree days”). Such changes threaten many of the State’s most valuable crops, including stone fruits, grapes, tomatoes and lettuce. Global warming also threatens livestock. The 2006 summer heat wave killed thousands of dairy cows in California’s Central Valley and caused a decrease in milk production in surviving animals. Williams, Dairy producers regroup after cow deaths, Bakersfield Californian (Aug. 5, 2006)
Habitat Modification and Destruction. While it is difficult to generalize what impacts the changing climate has on the State’s varied ecosystems, it already is clear that rising temperatures, altered water supplies, and other environmental variations make some habitats less hospitable for sensitive plants and animals. For example, some local populations of the threatened checkerspot butterfly already have disappeared due to changes in the weather. Levy, Extreme climate variance sped extinction of local butterfly populations, researchers say, Stanford Report (May 14, 2004). A similar fate could await other species, such as trout and salmon, which favor cold water and are extremely sensitive to slight changes in temperature. Natural Resources Defense Council and Defenders of Wildlife, Effects of Global Warming on Trout and Salmon in U.S. Streams (May 2002). Further, marine algae blooms, associated in part with increases in ocean temperatures, have proliferated in the past eight years and may help explain the alarming increase in beachings and mass die-offs of whales, dolphins, and other ocean mammals that the federal government has documented over the last quarter century. In California alone, more than 14,000 seals, sea lions and dolphins have landed sick or dead along the shoreline in the last decade. Weiss, Altered Oceans, Sentinels Under Attack, Los Angeles Times (July 31, 2006).
Eroding Coastlines. As sea levels rise, there is increased erosion along California’s coastlines and seawater intrusion into the State’s delta and levee systems. Already, beaches are eroding, and engineers and planners are addressing the State’s levees to deal with rising sea level and salt water infiltration. USEPA, Climate Change and California (Sep. 1997), California Bay-Delta Authority, Cal-Fed and the Delta Today.
Higher Risk of Fires. Pest infestation and increasing temperatures make forests more vulnerable to fires. Besides the obvious impacts to local communities and wildlife, forest fires are costly to combat and they adversely affect air quality.
Increased Demand for Electricity. Rising temperatures lead to increased demand for electricity and pressure on the State’s supply system. During last summer’s heat wave, power usage in Los Angeles rose so dramatically, that it caught power officials completely off guard. Bernstein & Covarrubias, Heat Wave Caught DWP Unaware, Los Angeles Times (July 28, 2006). Furthermore, as climate change alters the timing and availability of water for hydroelectric power, generation costs increase.
The Cost of Responding to The Impacts of Global Warming in California
Apart from the potentially devastating impacts that climate change will have on California’s natural resources, public health, and its economy, global warning already places a tremendous strain on the State fisc. The State must pay for programs to re-build levees that protect agricultural lands against salt water infiltration; to study and respond to the impacts of a reduced Sierra snow pack on California’s water supply; to protect wildlife and habitats from climate-related degradation; to respond to coastal erosion; to prepare for the increased risk of wildfires; to respond to the increased health risks associated with rising temperatures and declining air quality, and more.
In 2006, California was forced to allocate nearly $37 million of its budget for actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and hundreds of millions of dollars for infrastructure improvements needed to combat the impacts of global warming. Legislative Analyst’s Office, Major Features of the 2006 California Budget (July 7, 2006) page 21. As the problems associated with global warming grow, so too will the costs of responding to, monitoring, studying, and preparing for its impacts.
1. Except where noted, this discussion of impacts is based on California Environmental Protection Agency, Climate Action Team Report to Governor Schwarzennegger and the Legislature (March 2006);
California at Risk, California Magazine (Sep./Oct. 2006); Redefining Progress,
Climate Change in California: Health, Economic and Equity Impacts (Jan. 2006); and The Union of Concerned Scientists & The Ecological Society of America,
Confronting Climate Change in California: Ecological Impacts on the Golden State (Nov. 1999).