New Mexico In Depth (https://nmindepth.com/tag/climate-change/page/3/)
Climate change won’t just affect rivers and forests. It’ll have widespread impacts on communities and cultures. As parents, teachers, and community members, there’s a lot we can do to make sure all New Mexico’s young people are learning about climate change, the challenges the state is facing, and paths toward possible solutions.
Watershed ecologist Krista Bonafantine wants to reduce political discussions around climate change and just get to the science of the matter. She think it’s possible to do that with students, teachers – and the public – by focusing on changes in the places people live and care about, learning from the past, and using science to make better management decisions.
According to maps published last week by the New York Times, by 2060, temperatures in Albuquerque will exceed 100 degrees on 32 days each year. By 2100, that number more than doubles to 73 days.
Whether these are rural newspapers, daily weather reports on television, or the state’s largest paper, not giving readers information about climate change – and what scientists are anticipating will occur in New Mexico as the region continues warming – does a great disservice to the public.
On the latest episode of Blue Corn Live, a new podcast exploring food in New Mexico, farmers from the Albuquerque area talk about some of the challenges they face, including when it comes to climate change.
Officials aren’t talking about New Mexico’s efforts to cut carbon emissions under the federal Clean Power Plan.
Los Alamos scientists are looking at how climate-driven impacts such as drought, wildfire, and insect outbreaks will affect ecosystems and regional water supplies. Halfway through a three-year, $3 million project, the team’s research already shows that climate-driven disturbances could reduce annual flows in parts of the Colorado River Basin by 20 percent.
New report from the Union of Concerned Scientists lays out impacts of climate change in New Mexico and offers policy suggestions on how to deal with the changes. Many of those policy changes, however, would require buy-in on climate from the Martinez administration and the New Mexico State Legislature.
State climatologist Dave DuBois collects and shares scientific information related to the state’s climate. He also feels the tug of a moral responsibility.
New map shows county-by-county data related to weather-related disasters such as severe rain events, floods, snow and ice storms, and drought.