• Listen to this segment

GUEST: Dr. Amy Luers, UCS Climate Impacts Scientist and co-author of the Our Changing Climate report

Yesterday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and British Prime Minister Tony Blair reached an environmental accord aimed at fighting global warming. The agreement seeks to curtail greenhouse gas emissions, yet stops short of imposing mandatory cap-and-trade programs such as those implemented in Britain. Coinciding with the meeting between Schwarzenegger and Blair, the state of California unveiled a new report entitled, “Our Changing Climate.” The study warns Californians of heat waves, fires, water shortages, and air pollution in coming decades if no action is taken to curtail greenhouse gas warming emissions. Meanwhile, California legislators will be considering the, “Global Warming Solutions Act,” when they return to Sacramento next week. Assembly Bill 32 would reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. A recent survey conducted by the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California shows that two-thirds of likely voters in California would support the legislation. California is the sixth largest economy in the world and the twelfth largest greenhouse gas polluter.

For more information, visit www.ucsusa.org and www.climatechange.ca.gov.

Read the report, “Our Changing Climate.”