Understanding Government

As trapped carbon dioxide raises temperatures around the world, water will become even more scarce in the already arid southwest, according to a report released yesterday by the Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Reclamation, together with the Army Corps of Engineers.

While a story by Bettina Boxall in the Los Angeles Times says California as a whole will end the century receiving about as much water as it does today, though precipitation will be distributed differently. (more…)

A 23-member committee of California business leaders, academics and environmentalists is urging once and future Governor Jerry Brown to create a broad climate risk council to focus and coordinate the new administration’s efforts in regard to global warming, reports Margot Roosevelt in the Los Angeles Times.

Although there is little new in the group’s 70-page report, which avoids advocating any controversial measures, the big story is that the disparate groups are acting in concert. (more…)