White House report highlights climate change impacts on freshwater
This week, the administration released a report entitled, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States” which outlines the value of “early, aggressive action” in the form of mitigation (limiting emissions that trap heat) and adaptation (measures to deal with harmful impacts). The report confirms what many of us already know – that the most marked effects of climate change will be seen in freshwater systems, so we ought to gird up resilience in those systems as fast as we can. We can’t really hug a glacier, but we CAN improve rivers.
Fact is, if we stopped the carbon economy today, we would still be 100+ years out from the crescendo effects of climate change on freshwater. And traditional conservation cannot correct our trajectories on any timeline for any dollar figure.
Let’s be honest: we have gained little to no ground on freshwater health since the mid 1980s. It isn’t a money problem—billions of dollars are spent annually in the U.S on this stuff. It isn’t a people problem—a cast of thousands are engaged in the work. It isn’t really a science problem—there are less than 20 ways to fix a stream. What we have is a systems problem. By virtue of a fragmented and process-heavy funding and permitting apparatus, we have effectively slow-tracked restoration efforts and time is running out. We need to move from process to performance to gain acceleration. This week’s report just amplifies the problem.
- Joe Whitworth's blog
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