It’s Texas.
Last year, 100 days of 100+ F temperatures and a record-setting drought.
The reservoirs are drying up – like this one:Lake EV Spence, reported in this PBS NewsHour series, Coping with Climate Change:
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Or here’s another perspective: a view of the reservoir on Google Maps. Go here to the 2-mile elevation. It looks like this:
Then scroll in to 1-mile elevation and see what happens. Other examples here.
The drought and high temperatures have changed some people’s attitude about ‘global warming’ – yes, even Texans – and forced them to face a reality that many wanted to dismiss or deny. But reality bit.
And if Texas changes its attitude and actions with respect to climate change, then imagine what might follow.
As the reality of a changing climate becomes ever more apparent, expect the conversation to change – especially as it affects how oncoming generations perceive the world they will be inheriting and how they may react if the current leadership continues a strategy of de-facto denial.
[That Texas story also seems to indicates a change at PBS too. Last year they did a story on the Texas Drought without every mentioning climate change – an astonishing omission in a state with a governor who was running for president and in full denial. (I and several others placed comments online afterwards, questioning their journailism. Maybe it had an effect.) However, much of the media seen to have decided that rather than get into a dispute over the reality or severity of climate change, the best course is simply not to mention it – no matter how evident the connection. (More here at this Price Tags post last year.)]
Here is a working link to the 2 mile zoom on the lake:
http://maps.google.ca/maps?q=Lake+E+V+Spence,+Coke,+TX,+United+States&hl=en&ll=31.927107,-100.560608&spn=0.213877,0.422974&sll=31.904084,-100.499496&sspn=0.21393,0.422974&oq=lake+EV+&t=h&hnear=Lake+E+V+Spence&z=12
Zooming in is shocking–is there no other reason for that change?
“Last year they did a story on the Texas Drought without every mentioning climate change – an astonishing omission ”
Um, about half of Texas has low annual rainfall and is considered arid or semi-arid. So how does a drought in a place with low rainfall qualify as a change in climate?
A drought in Texas is as unusual as a snowstorm at the North pole.
All it takes is a bit of clicking. The drought was not a normal drought – it was one of the biggest (if not the biggest) in recorded history for the region.
As for your North Pole reference, take a look at this article that talks about rain falling near the north pole in April, 2010.
Source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/story/2010/04/29/north-pole-rainfall.html
So you might be more correct saying that this Texas drought was about as unusual as rainfall at the North Pole.
What I find fascinating about this story is the lawns. At 4:11, the camera rolls past homes with green lawns, followed by a resident of the town of Robert Lee saying how people now turn off the tap while brushing their teeth.
O…Kay.
Even more striking, at 7:20 we see green front lawns in the retirement town of Spicewood Beach, which depends in part on water from a reservoir now 50 feet below normal and is the first Texas town to run out of water. Households are limited to 50 gallons a day, with water delivered four times a day by a 7,000 gallon tanker truck. So what’s at 8:38? A golf cart rolling along Spicewood’s green grass golf course, followed by a resident saying, “you’ve lost your property value now…”