The UW Climate Impacts Group has released a brief discussing the implications of a 1.5°C increase in average temperatures for Washington State. No Time to Waste summarizes The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C, and projects the impacts likely to be realized in Washington as soon as 2030.
The brief assesses the current state of warming globally and outlines the most profoundly felt impacts likely to affect communities in Washington, including disruptions to transportation, infrastructure, public utilities and port operations.
Washington’s prosperous agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors are also particularly vulnerable to climate change. The brief identifies local tribes, economically disadvantaged communities and those dependent on natural resource economies in Washington as existing at “the front lines of climate change.”
The brief touches on local and global efforts to both reduce and prepare for climate change, and stresses the need for these to be rapidly scaled to adequately prepare Washington state for the changes underway.
Read more from UW Climate Impacts Group »