“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” Energy Secretary Steven Chu told the Los Angeles Times. “We’re looking at a scenario where there’s no more agriculture in California.” And, he added, “I don’t actually see how they can keep their cities going” either.
The Los Angeles Times reported February 4 on an interview with Steven Chu, the new U.S. Secretary of Energy (excerpt):
Reporting from Washington — California’s farms and vineyards could vanish by the end of the century, and its major cities could be in jeopardy, if Americans do not act to slow the advance of global warming, Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said Tuesday.
In his first interview since taking office last month, the Nobel-prize-winning physicist offered some of the starkest comments yet on how seriously President Obama’s cabinet views the threat of climate change, along with a detailed assessment of the administration’s plans to combat it.
Chu warned of water shortages plaguing the West and Upper Midwest and particularly dire consequences for California, his home state, the nation’s leading agricultural producer….
“I’m hoping that the American people will wake up,” Chu said.
See previous posts:
When Obama says climate change is “a matter of urgency and of national security” he needs to say why
Our questions for Energy Secretary nominee Steven Chu at his Senate confirmation hearing
Western water shortages: “Clearly, we’re on a collision course between supply and demand.”