Home | About Natural News | Contact Us | Write for Natural News | Media Information | Advertise with Natural News
NaturalNews.com

California's Agriculture Could Disappear this Century Due to Global Warming, Warns Energy Secretary

By Mike Adams, February 4, 2009 | Key concepts: California, Agriculture and Global warming

Bookmark and Share   Read Comments | Post Comments

U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu, a Nobel prize-winning physicist, is publicly warning that if efforts are not made to halt the progression of global warming, California could lose most of its agriculture that now depends on snow melt from the Sierra mountains.

A warmer average temperature in California -- even just one or two degrees -- means less snow falling on the mountains and less water for agriculture.

"I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen," Chu said in an LA Times report. He then went on to explain that the effects of global warming could make California's cities largely uninhabitable due to water shortages.

Much of the American Southwest depends on snow melt for its water supply, and with water supplies already tapped out in the region, any reduction in water from snow melt would likely have disastrous consequences. California already spends a huge portion of its state budget just pumping water to cities and farms. If the snow melt diminishes, the state would be forced to either scale down its population and farms, or build expensive desalination plants and pipe in water from the ocean (at very high cost).

There's no question that global warming would be devastating to human civilization. The bigger question, though, concerns whether or not global warming is actually happening and how quickly it might accelerate. Bush Administration officials outright denied any evidence of global warming as a matter of policy, but with a more progressive administration now in Washington, it looks like we'll be hearing more warnings on the topic.

The difficulty with global warming is that we're trying to measure a long-term phenomenon in the short term, before all the data are available. It's a no-brainer to see the trend after it's happened, but accurately predicting the trend in advance is far more complex.

If the global warming deniers are wrong, and we do nothing to stop runaway global warming, the very future of human civilization is at risk. If they're right, however, and we spend a lot of money reducing CO2 emissions around the world but there's no warming anyway, then we take a big economic hit but end up with cleaner air as a result.

The risk vs. reward equation on this situation demands that we take this issue seriously and look closely at the incoming data to determine what's really happening to the best of our ability.

Click to read:
California's Agriculture Could Disappear this Century Due to Global Warming, Warns Energy Secretary


From Latimes.com: In the course of a half-hour interview, Chu made clear that he sees public education as a key part of the administration's strategy to fight global warming -- along with billions of dollars for alternative energy research and infrastructure, a national standard for electricity from renewable sources and cap-and-trade legislation to limit greenhouse gas emissions.... more

Link to this breaking news item: (copy and paste the following HTML code to your website)

Related Feature Articles:


Receive our Natural Health Newsletter for FREE

Subscribe now to receive a summary of each day's most important natural health stories, plus get full, free access to the entire archives of books on HealthBookSummaries.

You'll also get access to 20+ free downloadable reports and exclusive interviews here on NaturalNews.com. Join over 1.2 million monthly readers. Unsubscribe anytime. Your email privacy is protected. We absolutely do not sell or share email addresses with anyone!
  • Receive breaking news alerts on natural health solutions, renewable energy, the environment, global warming and more.
  • Get instant access to over 20 downloadable health reports and exclusive interviews.
  • Get full access to the entire archives of downloadable book summaries from HealthBookSummaries.com.
Your Email Address:
100% free of charge. Unsubscribe anytime.
Absolutely no spam. We respect your email privacy.

"I'm so impressed with the work that you're doing and the information you're disseminating, it's just vital for people to get this sort of information."

- Michael T. Murray, author of The Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine

"Mike Adams has one of the best websites on the Internet. His articles, podcasts and books will improve your life, and possibly save it."

- Suzy Cohen, R.Ph., author of The 24-Hour Pharmacist


FREE Natural Health Newsletter

Receive natural health product reviews, recommendations and alerts. Instant download of 20+ free health reports and exclusive interviews. Over 1.4 million monthly readers.

100% free of charge. Unsubscribe anytime.
Absolutely no spam. We respect your email privacy.


Learn the Outrageous Truth about Big Pharma and Natural Cures

The Health Ranger takes on conventional medicine in this top-rated book that dares to tell the truth about natural cures, FDA censorship and Big Pharma domination. See why readers rave about Natural Health Solutions...

Click here to learn more »

Still eating salmon for omega-3s? See why GLM oil is far superior

Learn why so many NaturalNews readers are switching from fish oil to THIS. What is THIS? See the details...

Click here to find out more

Click the link for full details + the science + user testimonials.


How to protect yourself from financial loss when the dollar collapses

This eight-CD audio seminar by the Health Ranger reveals hard-core financial protection strategies for surviving the next wave of the global financial crisis.

Click here to protect yourself now

"Guaranteed to deliver the most powerful financial protection advice you've ever seen or your money back!" - Mike Adams, the Health Ranger


Discover on NaturalNews NaturalPedia™

California
Agriculture
Global warming

Free Health Reports!

Amazon Herb Company review
The pH Nutrition Guide to Acid / Alkaline Balance
Pet Food Ingredients Revealed! (shocking)
Medicine From Fish
The Water Cure
The Healing Power of Sunlight and Vitamin D

Related CounterThink Cartoons

Honeybees Go on Strike


How to Buy Organic Apples


Human Roundup



This site is part of the Natural News Network © 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 All Rights Reserved. Privacy | Terms All content posted on this site is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech. Truth Publishing International, LTD. is not responsible for content written by contributing authors. The information on this site is provided for educational and entertainment purposes only. It is not intended as a substitute for professional advice of any kind. Truth Publishing assumes no responsibility for the use or misuse of this material. Your use of this website indicates your agreement to these terms and those published here. All trademarks, registered trademarks and servicemarks mentioned on this site are the property of their respective owners.