Posted on 10/24/2005 5:31:40 PM PDT by crazyhorse691
A new report shows the Northwest must change with its warming climate or its economy will wither Monday, October 24, 2005
T he Republicans in the Legislature who keep fighting emission controls to slow global warming continually say they are just trying to look out for Oregon businesses and the state's economy.
A new report by more than 50 Northwest economists shatters that argument. The report argues that unchecked global warming poses an imminent threat to Oregon's $121 billion economy. If you care about jobs, the economists say, you better care about climate change.
Temperature increases, rising sea levels and altered rain and snow patterns are already affecting Oregon's agriculture, forestry, tourism and hydroelectric industries. That's 25 percent of the state's economy. Most of the effects fall on rural areas -- Central and Eastern Oregon, the coast -- represented by the lawmakers who have most strongly resisted efforts to curtail greenhouse gas emissions.
The water content in the snowpack in the Cascades is falling. Sea levels are slowly rising, and will edge higher, threatening coastal developments. The forest products industry will battle more drought, fire and insect infestations. Farmers will face water shortages, rising temperatures and changes in growing seasons. Power costs will jump as reduced streamflows crimp electricity production.
These are all bottom-line issues for Oregon business. They are not what-if scenarios. More than four dozen scientists, the most respected climate-change experts in the region, last year said they were "very certain" the Northwest is warming and is likely to warm three times as fast by midcentury.
So it is no longer "good for business," if it ever was, to ignore climate change. The economists' report shows the wisdom of Gov. Ted Kulongoski's effort to adopt California's tough emission standards for motor vehicles. It also shows the folly of the Legislature's decision to kill a proposal to expand biodiesel production in Oregon.
The emission controls and the biodiesel bill are precisely the kind of steps Oregon should be taking, the economists say. In an open letter to the state's top decision makers, including Kulongoski, they urge the state to address global warming in three broad ways.
First, the state should move strongly to reduce emissions of the pollutants associated with global warming. Second, the state should begin preparing for the impact of higher temperatures and rising sea levels on the state's energy systems, water supplies, salmon, forests, farms and coastal development.
Third, Oregon should take advantage of new economic opportunities associated with warming. That means investing more in energy efficiency, renewable power and other clean technologies. That includes biodiesel, which would create a lucrative new seed crop for farmers, family-wage jobs at biodiesel facilities and an environmentally benign fuel for motorists.
It is now clear that that denying the reality of global warming and pretending that change is unnecessary, or "bad for business," is a dead-end policy. The region's top economists are absolutely right: The future of the Northwest depends on creativity, innovation and aggressive action to confront climate change.
Show me the data please.
As an article goes, this one is full of calamity and devoid of data.
I could right this article and say.
Sea levels are quickly rising, and will rise high, high, high, threatening all blue states and drowning a significant amount of Democrat voters.
" The report argues that unchecked global warming poses an imminent threat to Oregon's $121 billion economy."
Of course, if that's true, the Oregon economy is toast -- There's no approach on the drawing board to change the severity and/or frequency of sunspots, so no solution to global warming is in the offing.
We could, alternatively, commit economic suicide. It wouldn't do a thing to slow global warming, but it would be good for some of us politically and the mass of the population would be too busy dealing with acquiring the true necessities of life to remember that it was us that put them in that situation in the first place.
Sounds like a plan.
right = write
long day. :/
A few years back a "report" about global warming came out. It predicted that global warming would cause the Northwest to become colder and more wet. But now they tell us that it would make the Northwest warmer and more dry. Which is it?
Well, they do have a lot of evidence for that, which simply is that all through human history, coastal developments have been threatened by the sea. Land masses are constantly being eroded, and there are numerous remains of cities on the ocean bed to prove it. Also, other land masses rise, with large areas silted up and the sea retreating.
So, this is an emergency, and we need to change it. We need to stop the laws of geography.
I guess they think the earth is some kind of stable entity that never changes
Well I just checked the news wire and their is nothing about withered economies so they must of doged that nasty old "global warming" problem they were thinking they had today.
How big is the state of OR that if their population do 'the right' thing with cars' emissions, it would halt the rise of sea level?
Yo, Dave!
...but we wouldn't dare think of printing their names because industrious bloggers might find out that they work for questionable institutions like "The Granola and Weed Foundation" and "Save the Armpit Hair Fund".
Gee now that makes ME feel all warm and fuzzy. I am running out right now to burn large quantities of fossils fuel in the hopes of speeding this process up!
I think Global Warming is caused in Oregon (and only in Oregon) by all the Hippie Lettuce they burn on a daily basis.....
Re-name the state "New Florida".
Depends on which group of "experts" release the latest report. Rounding up the wacko left and trying to keep them on the narrow path of "On Message" is like trying to herd wild cats with a broom.
***its economy will wither Monday, October 24, 2005***
TWO DAYS BEFORE THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW!
As reported on SOUTH PARK last week.
I have a better plan. ALL dims and lefties are to pull a kavorkian, and the reduced emissions from kennedy alone will bring on another Ice Age!
LLS
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