Climate change in Washington
Visible impacts from climate change in Washington State can be seen in glacier reduction, declining snowpack, earlier spring runoff, increase in large wildfires, and rising sea levels which affect the Puget Sound area.
Visible physical impacts on the environment within Washington State include glacier reduction, declining snowpack, earlier spring runoff, an increase in large wildfires, and rising sea levels which affect the Puget Sound area.
Collectively, these changes are negatively affecting agriculture, forest resources, dairy farming, the Washington wine industry, electricity, water supply, and other areas of the state.
Washington's gross state product is the sum of twenty-one economic sectors ranging from mining ($400 million in 2004) to real estate, rental, and leasing ($38.8 billion) in 2004.
[citation needed] Global warming threatens to disrupt the natural habitat of three national parks in Washington State—Olympic, Mount Rainier, and North Cascades.
The Northwest Power and Conservation Council predicts a 300 megawatt (about 1% of Washington's generating capacity) reduction in electricity demands during the winter for each degree the temperature rises.
[8][not specific enough to verify] Summer demands would probably increase due to more widespread need for air conditioning in order to keep homes and businesses cool, although estimates are still unknown.
[18] Studies that focus on the water availability to the 370,000 acres (1,500 km2) of orchards, vineyards, and food crops within the Yakima River Valley exploit the effects of a climate change in the region.
They reported potential consequences as changes in oceanic circulation patterns, currents that bring nutrients and remove waste from fisheries, rising surface temperatures that are expected to bleach and kill as much as 80% of the world's coral reefs – major tourist attractions and nurseries for many juvenile fish, and finally, the possible acidification of the ocean's waters as warmer water absorbs more atmospheric carbon emissions.
Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director, said: In Dead Water has uniquely mapped the impact of several damaging and persistent stresses on fisheries.
The decrease in snowpack levels will lead to earlier peak flows in area streams and rivers, increased flooding, and loss of irrigation and drinking water.
The effects of climate change on fisheries will impact a sector that is already characterized by full utilization of resources, large overcapacity and conflicts among fishers, and others, vying for alternative uses of marine ecosystems.
It is estimated that rising temperatures played a major part in the disappearance of roughly half the sockeye salmon returning to the Cedar River watershed through the Ballard Locks and Lake 4Washington in 2004.
Fish & Wildlife Service[34] and a 2001 report by the American Sportfishing Association[35] estimates that the economic impact in 2001 of restored salmon habitat on recreational fisheries in the state of Washington could potentially have yielded $1 billion in revenue and 9,400 jobs.
[2] Though increases in average yearly temperatures is the hallmark of global warming, human activities are the cause of greenhouse gases like emissions from cars, power plants, and airborne particles from human-caused forest fires.
These waves will destroy infrastructure that is near the coast including roads, railways, and water treatment systems and will cost the Washington State tax payer untold sums of money to both fix and prepare for.
The areas that are to be affected first by the increased pattern of flooding include Willapa Bay and the Skagit River Delta [58] Ecological impacts are expected to be severe, with many indicators already visible.
However, current findings suggest that most lower elevation non-vascular plant communities will increase in biodiversity due to invasion from southern species moving north.
In contrast, many higher elevation non-vascular plants are considerably more sensitive to changes in the environment and are expected to suffer from reductions of growth and range, as has already been seen in the Alaskan tundra.
Likewise, forest expansion at lower elevations into sagebrush steppe and grassland regions are also predicted as a result of increased water-use efficiency, due in part to greater atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.
[citation needed] The greatest impacts upon invertebrate land animals, such as butterflies or grasshoppers, will be seen in the areas of northward and vertical migration as well as a variety of phenological changes.
As an example, during the past thirty years, the Sachem Skipper butterfly of California extended its northernmost edge 420 miles (680 km) north into WA State.
The greatest ecological impact concerning invertebrates as a result of climate change will likely be seen in the destruction caused by insects whose populations expand in both range and lifespan, as can be seen with the mountain pine beetle throughout the northern United States and Canada.
(P. 23) Amphibians stand to be some of the worst affected by climate change, due largely to the dependence on water regimes and need for specific microhabitats, as well as their limited dispersal abilities.
23–24) The greatest impact upon reptilian species will be seen in changes in phenological events, but their limited dispersal abilities may also prove detrimental in conjunction with their specific physiological temperature constraints.
Seattle will also provide incentives for taxicab owners to use gas-electric hybrids, and will also work in conjunction with taxi companies to decrease the amount of GHG emitted from their vehicles.
Seattle Steam Company, which provides heat and hot water to customers, will convert one of its fossil fuel boilers to an urban wood waste biofuel that will cut GHG emissions by 50,000 metric tons a year.
The bill SHB 1032, which would tax families and businesses to generate financial support for new renewable energy sources, has raised several concerns for taxpayers and ratepayers, and also questions as to whether this will efficiently reduce CO2.
The Preparation and Adaptation Working Groups (PAWGS) proposed proactive approaches to decrease or accommodate the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels.
One year later, in 2005 contractors and inspectors placed notice tags on garbage cans and dumpsters that contained significant amounts of recyclables as an advanced fair warning.
