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Energy & Climate
Change
Mayor of City of Boulder, Colorado, USA, responds
to Daily editorial
By Will Toor, Letters, News (OPINION), Colorado Daily,
August 26, 2002
I would like to respond to the August 23 Daily editorial
criticizing the city of Boulder for voting to join a
lawsuit asking that the federal government be compelled
to analyze the global warming impacts of government
loans for coal and oil extraction in developing
countries. The editorial does not really make a coherent
argument against the lawsuit, other than a claim that
the city should not be spending city funds on this, when
we face local needs.
First, I would point out that the only expenditure will
be the city attorney's time spent reviewing materials,
estimated at up to $7000 of time. Is it worth this
expenditure to try to get the federal government to
address global climate change?
Well, let's take a look at the likely impacts of climate
change on our citizens. According to both the National
Synthesis Report of the US Global Change Research
Program and the recent analysis of the impacts of
climate change on the US released by the Bush
administration's Environmental Protection Agency, we can
expect the following:
Increased interannual variability of precipitation --
meaning more drought years and more flood years.
A greater percentage of precipitation in the form of
rainfall, and less in the form of snow -- and our entire
water supply system is based on gradual melting of the
snow pack.
This year's drought gives us a preview of the kind of
impacts we can expect -- ranging from watering
restrictions to severe fire risks. The impact of these
on the city budget can be expected to be in the millions
of dollars, by the time one accounts for reduced
revenues from water sales, increased firefighting costs,
and the cost of replacing damaged landscaping.
Individual citizens will also face costs for replacing
drought-damaged landscaping. An increased frequency of
severe droughts will impose these kinds of costs more
often in the future. Flooding can also impose millions
of dollars of damages on our citizens, and an increased
frequency of extreme weather events means greater flood
risks.
Beyond these direct economic damages, there are many
other negative impacts our citizens can expect. As
wintertime and nighttime temperatures increase, we can
expect many pest species and disease-carrying organisms
to expand their range into Colorado. These warmer
temperatures will also affect natural ecosystems. How
great a value do we place on the existence of mountain
meadows in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area or Rocky
Mountain National Park?
In the face of these changes, I think it is incumbent on
all of us to take actions to stabilize the atmospheric
concentrations of greenhouse gases. The City of Boulder
has recently adopted the Kyoto protocol emissions goals,
and is developing an action plan to meet these targets.
But we can't do it alone. As long as the government of
the world's largest greenhouse gas emitter refuses to
address this issue, it cannot be solved. If this lawsuit
helps to prod the Bush administration to do something
about global climate change, it will be well worth it.
Will Toor
Mayor, City of Boulder
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