Chu chu.

Energy Secretary Steven Chu, about whom I’ve heard nothing but good things, was quoted as follows in the L.A. Times:

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 a worst case, Chu said, up to 90% of the Sierra snowpack could disappear, all but eliminating a natural storage system for water vital to agriculture.

“I don’t think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen,” he said. “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.

Can someone point me to a study suggesting that there will be no more agriculture or cities in California by 2100?

Though I don't have a cite to hand, it has long been said that there would be more water in the Sierras due to warming climate, but that there would be less snow and less accumulated snow pack. The long discussed response to this is to increase water storage rather than relying in part on snow melt to dole out water over time.

It will be costly to raise dams and/or build new ones, but far less costly than loss of a multi-billion dollar industry in California and the demise of its cities. The dams will be needed for flood control as well as for storage. More rain in California during the wet season would require them even if the snow pack grew too.

Many see this as an opportunity to implement other desirable systems such as seasonal cachements that would help recharge aquifers. It will take management effort, but more water in a semi-arid place like central and southern California is nothing to fear. Rather, it's yet another golden opportunity for the golden state. (BTW, golden in this usage often refers to the color of the hills for most of the year, with their dry and dormant grasses dotted with oaks.)

This will be at least partly bungled due to the obstruction of environmental opportunists, like Steven Chu, who would like to see great suffering in hopes that this would allow them to seize more power. They are anti-humanists who long for a great die off or at least severe poverty as punishment for laughing too much and generally enjoying life.

We really screwed up this time. We are now ruled by church ladies.

Update:

More on the Die Off

U.S. Energy Secretary Stephen Chu announced his resignation this morning amid new reports that Alameda County workers had unearthed more than a dozen additional dead hobo bodies at his former home in Berkeley, California. The Nobel Prize-winning physicist had been the subject of a week-long controversy after he amended his White House application form to declare "3 or 4" hobo corpses in his crawl space, but after this morning's discovery, Chu said he felt he could no longer serve as an effective spokesman for Administration energy policy.

"Getting America on the road to energy independence requires a secretary who is focused full time on developing comprehensive strategies for alternative fuels, rather than a political distraction over a handful of decomposing drifters," said Chu. "I'm afraid I am no longer that person."

Chu said he would return to Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, where he will resume his scientific work investigating particle dynamics and local homeless shelters. President Obama said he would accept the resignation with regret, and expressed hope that a new Secretary could be named within the week.

"It was an honest mistake on Dr. Chu's part," said the President. "The section of the screening questionnaire about dead hobos has been confusing for a lot of nominees. In his defense it only specifies 'basement/crawl space/storage shed,' so I can somewhat understand why he didn't mention the ones discovered by the backhoe yesterday. That said, it's important that we move forward with revitalized American energy leadership. I'd like to thank Dr. Chu for his service and delicious home-made beef jerky, and wish him well in his future endeavors."