Environmental Impact

Terrestrial Habitats

• Immediate effects of climate change on the cryosphere and hydrosphere:
  • Reduction in Polar Ice Caps
  • Rising Sea Levels
  • Depleted snow pack
  • Depleting of glaciers

Secondary Effects

• Reducing polar ice caps
• Raising sea levels
  • Inject significant amounts of water into the hydrosphere causing excess precipitation
  • Inundation of low lying areas near the ocean, including islands
• Depletion of snowpack and glaciers will initially inject additional water into the hydrosphere while reducing the amount of meltwater available to areas previously reliant on it

Specific Effects of Climate Change

• Excess precipitation will cause soil erosion which may lead to flooding
• High sea levels create coastal erosion, storm surges, flooding, saline contamination of groundwater affecting plant life and agriculture, also may initially prove beneficial to drought plagued areas
• Depletion of snowpack and glaciers will briefly increase meltwater, coupled with a heavy risk of flooding
• Eventually meltwater supplies will be reduced leading to increased water stress impacting crop production and water availability.

West Coast Governors Launch Ocean Action Plan

• Clean coastal waters/beaches
• Protecting and restoring healthy ocean coastal habitats
• Reducing adverse development
• Consequences:
  • Increased funding asked of Fed
  • Possibly nicer looking beaches
  • No good answer to actually “restore” beaches

Resolution to Reduce Ocean Litter

• Prevent/control litter and plastic debris
• Reduce single-use packages
  • Promote sustainable packaging
• Cleanup and Remove Ocean Litter
• Consequences
  • Change to Individual behavior
  • Change to producer behavior
  • Change community efforts

Recommendation

• Resolution is a positive program
• Oceans can only be restored with:
  • Government (semi helping)
  • Industry (not enough)
  • Local (semi helping)
  • Individual (not enough)

Climate Change and Coastal Ecosystems

• Effects of Climate Change
• Change in water temperature
  • Melting polar ice-caps
  • Thermal expansion of water
  • More frequent and stronger coastal storms
• Rising Sea Levels
  • Land Loss
  • Loss of water resources
• Land Loss
  • Coastal Erosion

Storms

• Less natural defenses
• Warmer water equal stronger storms
• More space for hurricanes

A never ending cycle?

• Rising sea levels
• coastal erosion
• less defenses
• stronger storms

Implications

• People’s homes at risk
• Loss of life
• Cost of property

Environmental Impact in California

• Cyclical evolution of climate change
• Sharp Increase in last 100 years
• Increase in CO2, methane, nitrous oxide
• 200 years + 31%, 151%, 71%
• Global Temp Increase 1.1° F

Damage to State

• Higher altitude for snow pack
• Less snow pack
• Less water for summer months
• Decrease hydroelectricity output
• Decrease in recreation
• Increase in forest fires

Future Efforts at Mitigation

• Energy efficient buildings and appliances
• Solar homes incentive
• Reform Water use
• State Water Project
• Landfill Gas recovery