FRESNO (AP) — As California grows warmer, nowhere will the
increased temperatures be starker than in the arid Central
Valley, where farmers will have to consider whether the crops
grown today will survive in a harsher environment. Rising sea
levels will also flood coastal airports and municipal sewage
systems, while earlier spring melts will hasten snow melt and
reduce the state’s capacity to generate hydroelectric power in
the summer months when it’s needed most. A report released
Tuesday by the state is an attempt to study where California is
most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change so that future
planning decisions can take them into consideration. “We accept
that cigarette smoking causes cancer and that HIV causes AIDS,
and as a state we make decisions based on those scientific
considerations,” said Ken Alex, senior policy adviser to Gov.
Jerry Brown. “We are not in the same place with climate change.”
It’s a follow-up to a 2009 report that said climate change
already is happening across the state