The PCL Insider: News From The Capitol

CLIMATE CHANGE: IT'S EVERYWHERE YOU WANT TO BE

Ever notice how once something is on your mind you see it everywhere? It seems that since the release of Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth last month, stories about new climate change research keeps popping up every time you open the paper. Here are three recent examples:

Last Wednesday, researchers announced a new study confirming that greenhouse gas emissions are turning the oceans more acidic, damaging coral and other marine life. According to ice core measurements cited in the study, the earth's oceans are more acidic today than they have been in at least 650,000 years. That's a strong indication that many ocean species will have trouble adapting to the increasingly corrosive water.

Last Friday, The New York Times reported on a study showing global warming as the predominant cause in the rise of wildfires in the American West since the 1980s. Produced by university researchers and published in the online journal Scienceexpress.org, the research predicts that the forest fire season will lengthen with continued warming.

And this morning, oenophiles were greeted with a new report published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences predicting that California's prime grape growing regions may become unsuitable for premium viticulture due to rising temperatures, undercutting our state's $2.9 billion wine industry.

As the science of climate change becomes part of our daily existence, fighting climate change must become part of our daily routine. That's why we're urging everyone to help pass AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, which would require a reduction of California's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Once AB 32 is passed, we'll have to make sure it gets fully implemented. And that means not only reducing emissions from large emitters like power plants, but taking on global warming pollution whenever and wherever we can, in land use decisions, water policy, transportation and transit planning, renewable energy development and green building, the list goes on.

And remember - implementation of AB 32 is predicted to help create 90,000 new jobs in California. That's certainly worth celebrating.  

Please join us in turning the recent media attention into political action. Together we can inspire hope for a better tomorrow!