“It’s the end of the world,” my neighbor remarked last week as we marveled over the layer of hail covering the staircase leading to our apartments.
I heard similar comments from friends in November as temperatures hovered above 90 for nearly a week.
California is famous for its mild climate, and whenever our precious pleasant weather changes, you can be sure that Californians will be the first to complain.
As the weather becomes increasingly bizarre, it makes sense to think about what’s making it so strange, and what we Californians can do about it. If we take our complaints to Washington, D.C., and Sacramento, politicians, believe it or not, are actually able to help us out.
Increasing temperatures and intense precipitation events (though not necessarily the cold ones) are a result of global climate change, and policy makers in Sacramento are now putting forth some interesting initiatives attempting to combat it.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed an executive order last week aimed at cutting carbon emissions from cars and trucks ““ a leading cause of global warming ““ by 10 percent over the next 13 years.
This impressive initiative comes on top of last year’s landmark bill passed by the Legislature to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in California by 25 percent by 2020.
These new policies are coming none to soon.
Last year was the warmest on record in the 48 states, according to government climatologists. Later on, winters were so incredibly mild that bears in some places forgot to hibernate.
And while it’s getting warmer on average, intense precipitation events, such as the record rainfall of two winters ago and perhaps even snow on Strathmore, are becoming more frequent the world over.
Floods, rainstorms, avalanches and mudslides ““ such as the one that killed residents of La Conchita two years ago ““ are all predicted to increase over this century, according to the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
But some Californians, and one in particular, are at risk of muddling Sacramento’s attempts to turn the thermostat back down.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., “Di Fi” to her admirers, is considering adding a clause to a bill she introduced last Wednesday that would exempt power plants from any state laws regulating greenhouse gases.
The clause has caused a furor in Sacramento, but Feinstein has said she’s still open to including it.
Her bill is an attempt to bring power utilities under a broad blanket of federal emissions regulation, which in itself is a good idea.
There’s no national policy aimed at rolling back carbon emissions, and we need one to fight global warming.
Power plants, especially coal-burning ones, are responsible for a sizeable percentage of carbon emissions, and uniform national regulations will make sure that plants can’t evade emissions limits by just hopping a state border.
Feinstein’s clause, however, would exempt utilities from state regulations that are more stringent than federal ones. Not surprisingly, power companies have pushed for such a clause, the Los Angeles Times reported.
But that approach is just wrong. California decided on its own last year to regulate emissions from power plants, and we’re already on track to reduce electricity-sector emissions by 15 percent. We don’t need federal regulation taking the teeth out of our laws.
Gov. Schwarzenegger is styling the state this year as the global leader in everything, and while we’re breaking ground in the fight against global warming, we shouldn’t let one of our own make a poor decision disruptive to our progress.
Next time the weather gets wacky, don’t complain to your neighbors, complain to Feinstein. The time after that, complain to your congressperson. And the time after that, complain to the president.
If our politicians hear as much about the weather as we’ve been hearing from our friends, they’ll be more apt to work harder on global warming.
Imagine the call: “It’s the end of the world, and what, congressman, are you going to do about it?”
You can reach Feinstein here: 202-224-3841.
After you’ve told your representative, send your weather woes to Reed at treed@media.ucla.edu. Send general comments to viewpoint@media.ucla.edu.