water usage

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Central Valley Dries Up

Knickmeyer, E. (2015, August 20). Study sees wildlife die-offs, bigger wildfires, dry farm towns if California drought persists. Retrieved August 23, 2015, from http://www.usnews.com/news/science/news/articles/2015/08/20/study-sees-dying-wildlife-bigger-fires-if-drought-lasts

Due to the drought, more than a dozen species that relied on the central California streams have gone extinct and the riverbeds lay dry. Cal Fire is battling some of the toughest fires they have ever dealt with. Climate change is projected to help these conditions proliferate. Fires will increase, poor towns will run out of water, more species will begin to die off. By the 2060s, California is projected to be in a semi-permanent drought state.

These conditions relate to environmental science because of the effect climate change has on species, ecosystems, and the whole of California. It is imperative that immediate action is taken to prevent the state of California from becoming a giant desert. I think that small communities in the central valley are going to go through the Mayan collapse on a miniature scale as they continue to use the nonrenewable groundwater until they are left with nothing left, and the communities will be abandoned and the valley will overtake them.

 

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Drought Worsened By Climate Change

Gillis, J. (2015, August 20). Climate Change Intensifies California Drought, Scientists Say. Retrieved August 20, 2015, from http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/21/science/climate-change-intensifies-california-drought-scientists-say.html?_r=0

California Governor Brown has been imposing restrictions on the severe drought that has been building for the past three years, as he has been given research showing that, although droughts are common in California, climate change has increased the effects of the drought by 8-20%. The article states that scientists can give concrete examples to how the drought is worse due to climate change, as the warmer air is able to hold over 8.5 trillion more gallons than it was in 1895, when the temperature was 2° cooler. With similar rates of increase of greenhouse gas emissions, it is reasonable to assume that California will get 5-6° warmer in the next hundred years, “turn[ing] even modest water deficits into record-shattering droughts”

This article shows that climate change is related to environmental science because the increase in temperature creates a much dryer California. The main issue about the drought and its relation to climate change is that future water shortages will be seriously aggravated by the higher capacity of the air to hold air. I think that we need to think both short term and long term by conserving water and finding ways to increase the positive effects of the El Niño.