Posted on 05/24/2006 6:33:41 AM PDT by Cat loving Texan
Within the next century, hotter weather in Central Texas will lead to longer droughts, the amount of water making its way into the Edwards Aquifer will drop, crops may wither, and the tree line that divides lush East Texas and bone-dry West Texas — it now sits just along Interstate 35 — might push east. Austin, in short, could start looking a lot like San Angelo.
Those predictions are part of a report on global warming and Texas published today by Environmental Defense, an advocacy group. The report's authors say they wrote the report to urge lawmakers to make rules that cut down on emissions of greenhouse gases, which contribute to global warming.
Texas can expect "more heat waves, worse air quality, increased risk of disease, droughts, wildfires and coastal erosion," warned the report, titled "Fair Warning: Global Warming and the Lone Star State."
The report acknowledges that the scenarios it presents are "not a guaranteed list of date-certain predictions," and, indeed, the report is peppered with woulds, coulds, likelys and mays. But the authors say that global warming itself has already begun, and climate change will not be stopped unless there is local and international action to curtail emission of greenhouse gases.
"As the nation's leading carbon emitter," conclude the authors, "Texas has a moral responsibility to its citizens and its neighbors to show leadership by reducing our carbon footprint and doing what we can to slow the consequences of global warming."
The report suggests that the Legislature assemble a task force to examine how the state can lower greenhouse gas emissions and turn the fight against global warming into a business opportunity, such as boosting state help for investment in renewable energy; offering incentives to companies that offer cash rebates to employees who forego a parking spot and take other forms of transportation to work; encouraging auto insurance rates based on miles driven; and boosting energy efficiency standards for new buildings.
The report paints a bleak picture of Texas' future, especially along its coastline. The sea level will rise, threatening low-lying communities along Texas' coast and destroying species that rely on coastal ecosystems. A 1-foot increase in sea levels would cover about 400 square miles of Texas coast, displacing many of the 1.6 million coastal county residents and flooding barrier islands, according to the report.
But while there is wide consensus in the scientific community that the Earth is undergoing significant climate change, and most scientists think humans are partly responsible, many warn that climate models are not finely enough tuned to predict global warming's effect on a state-by-state basis.
"Climate models are not capable of giving you useful information (about global warming) on a state-size basis," said John Christy, the climatologist for Alabama.
"The sea level has been rising since the last ice age, 18,000 years ago," said Christy, who said the Gulf sea level is rising at the rate of 1 inch per decade, "and it will continue to rise until next one."
"A lot of things we have done to the natural environment have had a bigger impact than global warming," said John Nielsen-Gammon, the climatologist for Texas. "We've had groundwater pumping, oil pumping and changing of the coastline. They've had a much bigger effect than we would expect global warming to this point would have."
But many environmental groups have made global warming their main issue, and they claim major weather events — like Hurricane Katrina or a record-setting 100-degree day in April in Austin — are tied to global warming.
"Not every day is going to be warmer than every day in the past," said Colin Rowan, one of the report's authors. "But it's going to be warmer and drier for most of the state of Texas."
The higher temperatures would strain water resources and electric utilities, many of which draw their power from plants that emit greenhouse gases in the first place.
"More power from dirty plants is going to make it worse," he said.
Scientists warn that increasing temperatures will lead to higher water evaporation rates around Central Texas, ultimately affecting even the tiniest of species.
"Ponds and lakes and streams will have less water in them," said John Matthews, a University of Texas graduate student who studies ecology and who spoke at a recent conference sponsored by Environmental Defense. "You have some unusual groups of organisms in these bodies of water that will be very seriously stressed and some years may disappear from the region."
Dragonflies, for instance, are vulnerable to rapid decline. The insects sit near the top of the food chain in aquatic systems and are instrumental in regulating animals like mosquitoes, Matthews said.
Change may be visible for Austinites, as well, said Gerald North, a climate scientist at Texas A&M University.
"West Texas will simply be drier than it is now, if that's possible," he said. "The tree line will simply move to the east." College Station will look like Austin, and Austin will look like cities to the west.
"Water will become increasingly expensive," he predicted. "But it doesn't mean the end of Austin: A lot of people live in Phoenix."
Since 5am the temperature has risen 10 degrees. At this rate, we will all be dead by the end of the day. EVERYBODY PANIC
Some are freezing their cuzzips off in places, but Texas is in global warming mode!!!!! It's great for golfing.
New buzz words for eco-hysterics.
Oh woe is me....... Texas has never been hot and dry before....... woe!
A lib variation of the old "women and children hardest hit."
Wheres the "GAG" alert?
I would sure hate for College Station to look like Austin.
Apparently you are in West Texas, here in the East, it is a Brasilian Sauna..
Build a man a fire, and he will be warm for a day. Set a man on fire, and he will be warm for the rest of his life.
from about May thru August , the other months we have global cooling
These people are educated far beyond their intelligence...
{YAWN}
HELL IN TEXAS by anon 1836
Oh, the Devil in hell they say he was chained,
And there for a thousand years he remained;
He neither complained nor did he groan,
But decided he'd start up a hell of his own,
Where he could torment the souls of men
Without being shut in a prison pen;
So he asked the Lord if He had any sand
Left over from making this great land.
The Lord He said, "Yes, I have plenty on hand,
But it's away down south on the Rio Grande,
And, to tell you the truth, the stuff is so poor
I doubt if 'twill do for hell any more."
The Devil went down and looked over the truck,
And he said if it came as a gift he was stuck,
For when he'd examined it carefully and well
He decided the place was too dry for a hell.
But the Lord just to get the stuff off His hands
He promised the Devil He'd water the land,
For he had some old water that was of no use,
A regular bog hole that stunk like the deuce.
So the grant it was made and the deed it was given;
The Lord He returned to His place up in heaven.
The Devil soon saw he had everything needed
To make up a hell and so he proceeded.
He scattered tarantulas over the roads,
Put thorns on the cactus and horns on the toads,
He sprinkled the sands with millions of ants
So the man that sits down must wear soles on his pants.
He lengthened the horns of the Texas steer,
And added an inch to the jack rabbit's ear;
He put water puppies in all of the lakes,
And under the rocks he put rattlesnakes.
He hung thorns and brambles on all of the trees,
He mixed up the dust with jiggers and fleas;
The rattlesnake bites you, the scorpion stings,
The mosquito delights you by buzzing his wings.
The heat in the summer's a hundred and ten,
Too hot for the Devil and too hot for men;
And all who remained in that climate soon bore
Cuts, bites, stings, and scratches, and blisters galore.
He quickened the buck of the bronco steed,
And poisoned the feet of the centipede;
The wild boar roams in the black chaparral
It's a hell of a place that we've got for a hell.
He planted red pepper beside of the brooks;
The Mexicans use them in all that they cook.
Just dine with a Greaser and then you will shout,
"I've hell on the inside as well as the out! "
It's just Global Smarming! If you invented the internet, you can't grasp it, because two such large concepts are too much for one mind.
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