Climate change will be deadlier, more destructive and costlier for California than previously believed, state warns
LOS ANGELES - Heat waves will grow more severe and persistent, shortening the lives of thousands of Californians. Wildfires will burn more of the state's forests. The ocean will rise higher and faster, exposing California to billions in damage along the coast.
These are some of the threats California will face from climate change in coming decades, according to a new statewide assessment released Monday by the California Natural Resources Agency.
The projections come as Californians contend with destructive wildfires, brutal heat spells and record ocean temperatures that scientists say have the fingerprints of global warming.
"This year has been kind of a harbinger of potential problems to come," said Daniel Cayan, a climate researcher at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and one of the scientists coordinating the report. "The number of extremes that we've seen is consistent with what model projections are pointing to, and they're giving us an example of what we need to prepare for."
State leaders vowed to act on the research, even as the Trump administration moves to unravel climate change regulations and allow more pollution from cars, trucks and coal-fired power plants.
"In California, facts and science still matter," Gov. Jerry Brown said in a statement. "These findings are profoundly serious and will continue to guide us as we confront the apocalyptic threat of irreversible climate change."
