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In a recent report cited by Reuters News, planning for global warming is now an imperative. Tens of millions of people are expected to be displaced as sea level rises. Anyone who is not now even remotely familiar with the ramifications of global warming must be from another planet.
Paralysis and politicization of something so obviously devastating to the planet is no longer an acceptable option. In other words, we need to get off our butts.
Within nearly every municipality, county, region, one can find scores of professional planners - natural resource planners, cultural resource planners, recreation planners and traffic planners. But now we must call for the creation of a new kind of planner: the global warming planner. Ironically, if global warming kicks in as it is predicted, all this other "planning" will possibly be time and money wasted.
Global warming planners should be hired on a local or at least regional level. Their job will be to first familiarize themselves with the scientific research on global warming as thoroughly as possible and to remain current on this information.
These planners will meet with global warming scientists and with one another with the goal of outlining contingencies not for if, but when, the effects of global warming become manifest. The global warming planner would meet with planners in other disciplines so their approach is a holistic one.
Their charge, though admittedly daunting, is to predict how global warming will affect their region or city. I live in the foothills of the Sierra and it is well known that the Sierra snow pack is shrinking and likely will be gone within the next 50 years. The loss of the Sierra Nevada snow pack will be catastrophic. Rather than ignore it or stay in a state of denial or paralysis, we must start planning now. Measures cannot be implemented without public tax dollars and millions of dollars may be needed to implement these measures.
Measures could include mandating water conserving water systems in all new homes, paying to retrofit old water systems with more up to date plumbing, identifying and maintaining all existing retention ponds in the area, and installing rainfall collection systems at every home.
In coastal areas, we must start planning now. Millions of people are predicted to be displaced from rising sea levels. The task of the global warming planners would be to identify and map areas that will most likely be flooded from rising sea levels. Then a program could be set up to inform all affected landowners of this possibility.
These landowners could be offered options to sell their homes at fair market value or even physically move their home to higher ground. The land can then be placed into a land trust with the idea of not re-populating the area but leaving it uninhabited.
Similarly, plants and wildlife that will most likely go extinct in these areas can be identified, then the seeds and even whole plants of these species can be collected to preserve the gene pool. Native wildlife species can also be identified, collected and preserved.
There is a chance if we start this process now, we could at least minimize the chaos and catastrophe yet to come and save human lives.
The bottom line is we cannot ignore this, but that's exactly what we are doing. As Carl Sagan said, perhaps the tragedy of the human species is it has evolved the ability for foresight but refuses to use it. It's time to use it.
ooo
Virginia Moran is a resident of Grass Valley.
Paralysis and politicization of something so obviously devastating to the planet is no longer an acceptable option. In other words, we need to get off our butts.
Within nearly every municipality, county, region, one can find scores of professional planners - natural resource planners, cultural resource planners, recreation planners and traffic planners. But now we must call for the creation of a new kind of planner: the global warming planner. Ironically, if global warming kicks in as it is predicted, all this other "planning" will possibly be time and money wasted.
Global warming planners should be hired on a local or at least regional level. Their job will be to first familiarize themselves with the scientific research on global warming as thoroughly as possible and to remain current on this information.
These planners will meet with global warming scientists and with one another with the goal of outlining contingencies not for if, but when, the effects of global warming become manifest. The global warming planner would meet with planners in other disciplines so their approach is a holistic one.
Their charge, though admittedly daunting, is to predict how global warming will affect their region or city. I live in the foothills of the Sierra and it is well known that the Sierra snow pack is shrinking and likely will be gone within the next 50 years. The loss of the Sierra Nevada snow pack will be catastrophic. Rather than ignore it or stay in a state of denial or paralysis, we must start planning now. Measures cannot be implemented without public tax dollars and millions of dollars may be needed to implement these measures.
Measures could include mandating water conserving water systems in all new homes, paying to retrofit old water systems with more up to date plumbing, identifying and maintaining all existing retention ponds in the area, and installing rainfall collection systems at every home.
In coastal areas, we must start planning now. Millions of people are predicted to be displaced from rising sea levels. The task of the global warming planners would be to identify and map areas that will most likely be flooded from rising sea levels. Then a program could be set up to inform all affected landowners of this possibility.
These landowners could be offered options to sell their homes at fair market value or even physically move their home to higher ground. The land can then be placed into a land trust with the idea of not re-populating the area but leaving it uninhabited.
Similarly, plants and wildlife that will most likely go extinct in these areas can be identified, then the seeds and even whole plants of these species can be collected to preserve the gene pool. Native wildlife species can also be identified, collected and preserved.
There is a chance if we start this process now, we could at least minimize the chaos and catastrophe yet to come and save human lives.
The bottom line is we cannot ignore this, but that's exactly what we are doing. As Carl Sagan said, perhaps the tragedy of the human species is it has evolved the ability for foresight but refuses to use it. It's time to use it.
ooo
Virginia Moran is a resident of Grass Valley.
