State Needs Strategic Plan For Climate Change

By Ed Joyce / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published November 18, 2008 at 3:10 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

A new report looks at how prepared California is for the predicted effects of climate change. Those effects range from sea level rise to droughts, heat waves and wildfires. KPBS Environmental Reporter

A new report looks at how prepared California is for the predicted effects of climate change. Those effects range from sea level rise to droughts, heat waves and wildfires. KPBS Environmental Reporter Ed Joyce has details.

The Public Policy Institute of California says the state needs an integrated plan to prepare for climate changes that will affect the economy, environment and the daily lives of residents.

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PPIC research fellow Louise Bedsworth co-authored the study.

She says habitat protection is one example of how planning now can prevent future species extinction.

Bedsworth: We're making planning decisions today that affect species and how species can move around. And that's going to change over time as the climate changes. So if we don't start thinking about it today, we're going to have a lot more difficult problem to deal with down the road.

The report says some state institutions, such as water agencies, are doing more to prepare for climate change than others.

But Bedsworth says more preparation is needed in other areas - including flood management, ecosystem conservation, public health, and air quality planning.

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Ed Joyce, KPBS News.

Ed Joyce

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Ed Joyce was the environment reporter and afternoon news anchor for KPBS-FM. Before joining KPBS, he worked as an editor/columnist with Copley News Service in San Diego. Ed has an extensive background in newspaper, radio, web and TV journalism. After graduating with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Washington in Seattle, Ed began a career in broadcast journalism. His work has included stints in public broadcasting, commercial broadcasting and education -- working as an affiliate professor of communication and reporter at the University of Idaho and Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. During the past 20 years he has worked in radio, TV and print as a news reporter, anchor, writer, editor and producer. Along the way he has won numerous awards for general news reporting, newswriting, feature and issue reporting and breaking news reporting from The Associated Press, The Society of Professional Journalists, San Diego Press Club and other organizations. During the mid-1990s, while working for Oregon Public Broadcasting, he was a frequent contributor to National Public Radio, including a feature report on the memorial service for 14 U.S. Forest Service "hotshots" who died fighting a wildfire in Colorado (the crew was based in a central Oregon town). He’s also filed reports with Marketplace, KQED’s California Report and Climate Watch and with national and regional networks throughout the United States. At KPBS, Ed continues his contributions to National Public Radio and other national and regional news organizations. He has won awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and San Diego Press Club for his environmental reporting at KPBS-FM-TV and for producing and anchoring radio newscasts. In 2007 he was selected a National Press Foundation fellow for Understanding Violent Weather II program. The seminars were held at the National Weather Center in Norman, Okla. In 2008 he spoke at a UC San Diego conference on U.S. National Security as part of the school’s Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation. Ed led a discussion with the 18 foreign government officials and academics about the political debate over climate change. In 2010, Ed was elected to a three-year term on the board of the San Diego Press Club.

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