Global Warming in Texas
Lawmakers place global warming on the agenda - 03/25/2007
Global warming is heating up the Texas Legislature. Lawmakers this session have filed more bills to assess the effects global warming will have on the state and to curb the pollution causing it than at any other time in legislative history, according to a Houston Chronicle analysis.
The bills range from studying how a predicted rise in the Earth's temperature will affect the state and its water resources, to requiring industrial plants to cut emissions of heat-trapping gases believed to be causing the warming trend.
"We have reached a real tipping point in the public's understanding of the issue and the scientific consensus. I don't think there is any question now that it has reached Texas," said Sen. Kirk Watson, D-Austin, one of 10 lawmakers with legislation.
While even the sponsors say most of the bills have little to no chance of passage, the move is still significant because it signals that Texas - the country's largest source of heat-trapping gases - has officially joined the global warming policy debate.
And though Texas is at the forefront of diversifying its energy sources - the state now has more electricity generated by wind than any other - Rabe says that global warming played only a minor role in the state embracing renewable energy.
Global Warming to Increase Heat Related Deaths in Houston - 09/06/2007
The death toll from extreme heat in Houston each summer will increase from about 24 to nearly 32, resulting in 192 additional heat-related deaths by mid-century as global warming drives up summertime temperatures, according to a new report released by Environment Texas and conducted by Applied Climatologists, Inc. experts Dr. Laurence Kalkstein of the University of Miami and Dr. Scott Greene of the University of Oklahoma.
The study's examination of twenty-one U.S. cities found that 23,160 additional heat-related deaths would occur due to global warming-induced temperature increases. The average summer season would see a doubling of heat-related deaths, going from about 908 heat-related deaths per summer to almost 1,900 by mid-century.
"Make no mistake-heat kills," said JJ Karabias, Federal Field Associate with Environment Texas "We need Congress to enact federal policy that reduces global warming pollution to the levels that science says will prevent the worst effects of global warming."
The report uses two measures to show the likely changes. The first measure pinpoints the change in "increased mortality days," which are days that exceed a city's temperature threshold for excess mortality. In Houston that heat threshold is 110 degrees and the city currently experiences 5 days above that threshold, increasing to 12 by mid-century.
"We must commit to cutting our global warming pollution by 80% by 2050 to avoid the worst effects of global warming," said Karabias. "Representatives Gene Green and the rest of the Houston congressional delegation should waste not a minute more in co-sponsoring science-based, emission cutting legislation. If we are to avoid the worst effects of global climate change, the time to act is now. Houston's geographical positioning makes it particularly susceptible to the effects of warming."
Climate expert says drought flooding threaten Texas - 10/25/07
James Hansen, in Houston to speak before the Progressive Forum on Wednesday night, said predictions made two decades ago about the effects of a warming world are now beginning to come true.
"Texas is in the line of fire for double-barreled climate impacts," said Hansen, who heads the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Studies. "What we said in the 1980s, and is beginning to come true now, is that both ends of the hydrological cycle get intensified by global warming."
A warmer climate increases evaporation, he said. It both sucks moisture from the ground, intensifying drought, and increases atmospheric humidity, which causes more rain to fall during extreme events.
Hansen gained attention in the 1980s by testifying to congressional committees about the perils of global warming and again in 2005 and 2006 by claiming that NASA administrators sought to influence his public statements about the causes of climate change. Because of this, he is arguably the world's most well-known climate researcher.
On Wednesday, Hansen again spoke out on a political issue. He expressed concerns about an Associated Press report that the White House had significantly edited a draft of testimony prepared for a Senate hearing on the impact of climate change.
Other States: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, Virginia, Washington.
