Climate Science, Change And Our Daily Lives Part 3: Recap And Exploring Potential Solutions
Updated: Oct 28, 2021
As you read this, you may want to understand where Texas stands.
Texas has not yet developed a statewide climate adaptation plan. Individual cities have, such as Austin, Dallas, Galveston, Houston and San Antonio. A coastal resiliency master plan exists, too. Check out the Texas Climate/Energy profile.
The Big Picture
According to the new State of the Climate in 2020 report from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Earth is in bad shape.
To capture why in simple terms, we highlight what humans have done to this good Earth we have been stewards of over the last 200 years. Essentially, we have:
taken billions of tons of fossil fuels out of the ground and sent as CO2 and other greenhouse gases into our atmosphere, upsetting the planet’s delicate energy transfer system. This has accelerated global warming and climate change in every region of our world, and
polluted our air and water, destroyed local ecosystems and caused weather extremes that have led to tragedies.
In parts 1 and 2 of this series, we looked at factual data on how this trend has affected our air and water. The various gloom-and-doom scenarios articulated in response to predictions do not have to be our future – if we take concentrated action now.
The Little Picture: Closer to Home
Locally, we have felt most of the effects of global warming in our water supply systems and weather extremes. In a drought less than 10 years ago, the Highland Lakes reached near record low levels caused by a persistent shortage of rainfall, lack of inflow into the lakes and continued demands of cities like Austin and rice farmers downstream from the late 2000s through 2014. The La Nina effect played a role, as well. The last time the lakes were considered to be full was 2007.
In a period like October 2010 through July 2011, the area received slightly less than 11 inches of total rainfall, 17.45 inches below average. Water flowing into the Highland Lakes was just 10% of the annual average. 2011 was Texas’ driest year on record.
In the summer of 2011, Lake Travis and Lake Buchanan, the two major reservoirs, were at 40% full and dropping. By the summer of 2014, they were 30% full. You can see what Lake Travis looked like in the summer of 2011 here.
As a result, many of us in the Highland Lakes lost access to daily water and folks in Austin were put on rationing. The situation reached a new level of urgency in January 2012 when wells in Spicewood Beach officially ran out of water. Some 1,100 residents had to depend on water delivered via tanker trucks to the town’s storage tank.
The drought also fueled wildfires, ruined crops and put a real strain on the state’s fragile electric grid.
In 2011, Texas suffered a year like no other when it came to wildfires. The Forest Service reported more than 4 million acres and more than 2,900 homes lost to wildfires, including 67 in Spicewood. That fire burned 6,500 acres in Burnet and Travis counties. A combination of brisk winds of 17-24 mph, high temperatures reaching 108 degrees and low humidity created a recipe for disaster, officials said – possibly sparked by power lines.
Today, officials have identified more than 14,000 communities within the state that are vulnerable to “potentially devastating fires within the wildland urban interface.” (Texas A&M Forest Service)
Air and water quality have also been a problem, as well as extreme weather events like the Big Freeze of 2021. In fact, the American Lung Association ranked Austin as the 69th most polluted city in the country.
From Problems to Solutions
On the brighter side, scientists have shared improved knowledge of climate processes, giving us useful tools to alter the trajectory of our Earth’s changing climate – individually and collectively.
What we can do Individually
Columbia Climate School offers 35 ways to reduce your personal carbon footprint; a few are below. You can use the EPA’s Carbon Footprint Calculator for your own household. (Savings are based on models.)
Change a light. Replace a regular light bulb with a compact fluorescent one. Savings: 150 pounds of CO2 a year.
Recycle more. Recycle half the stuff you throw away at your house. Savings: potentially 2,400 pounds/year.