{"id":23802,"date":"2012-08-17T14:27:06","date_gmt":"2012-08-17T21:27:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=23802"},"modified":"2012-08-17T14:27:06","modified_gmt":"2012-08-17T21:27:06","slug":"12-million-californians-highly-vulnerable-to-climate-change-now-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/17\/12-million-californians-highly-vulnerable-to-climate-change-now-what\/","title":{"rendered":"12 Million Californians ‘Highly Vulnerable’ to Climate Change — Now What?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Color-coding climate risks in the Golden State
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Wildfires can leave little to salvage for homeowners caught in harm's way.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Climate change will disproportionately affect California\u2019s most disadvantaged and isolated communities, according to a recent report from the Pacific Institute<\/a>.<\/p>\n

By looking at a broad array of factors \u2013 from social indicators such as income and birth rates, to environmental ones such as tree cover and impervious surfaces \u2013 the Oakland-based think tank has found that 12.4 million Californians live in census tracts with high \u201csocial vulnerability\u201d to climate change.<\/p>\n

This vulnerability can play out in various ways, says\u00a0Heather Cooley, co-director of the institute’s water program and a lead author of the report.\u00a0\u201cIn low-income communities, many people may not have insurance,\u201d Cooley told me. \u201cSo when a flood or fire hits their homes, they may not be able to rebuild. If they\u2019re suffering from a heat-related illness, they may not be able to seek treatment and their health may deteriorate as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other vulnerable populations such as students and the elderly, she pointed out, are less likely to have access to a car and are therefore more vulnerable in an event such as a wildfire or flood requiring immediate evacuation.<\/p>\n

While the interplay between climate and demographics is complex, the report finds that many of the state\u2019s poorest and most isolated communities \u2013 such as the unincorporated agricultural towns in the Central Valley<\/a> \u2013 will be especially hard hit by rising temperatures. Another Pacific Institute study released this week found that climate change could increase California water demand by eight percent by 2100<\/a> — a scenario that will surely exacerbate problems for all California communities.<\/p>\n

The vulnerability rankings can also be viewed in a color-coded map<\/a> broken into individual census tracts. Green areas indicate zones of lowest hazard; yellow, medium; and red, high.<\/p>\n

\"\"
A new report and from the Pacific Institute plots California's most vulnerable communities to climate change.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A glance at the Bay Area section of the map reveals familiar patterns. The region\u2019s industrial cities and neighborhoods \u2013 Richmond, Vallejo, West Oakland, Bayview-Hunters Point, San Leandro, East Palo Alto, for example \u2013 are mottled with red, indicating high vulnerability to a shifting climate.<\/p>\n

It’s well known that residents in these low-lying areas — many of them poor people of color — live today amid heavy industrial emissions<\/a>. In the years ahead, however, they will be faced with disproportionate risk of flooding from rising sea levels, according to the report. Elevation and income are not always predictors of future flood risk, however. Cooley points to Los Angeles.\u00a0 There, she says, areas at greatest threat from sea level rise are in higher-income neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

Other studies have used similar social vulnerability indices including the work of University of South Carolina professor Susan Cutter<\/a>, but none have gotten it down to such fine detail, says Cooley.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s been a lot of focus on how we\u2019re going to be impacted by climate change,\u201d she said. \u201cThis takes it to the next step and looks at who<\/em> is going to be impacted by climate change. It helps us to better understand what policies need to be put in place and who we need to be thinking about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Color-coding climate risks in the Golden State.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6335,"featured_media":23872,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,6],"tags":[14,118],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-23802","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government-business","category-thescience","tag-adaptation","tag-climate-impacts"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\n12 Million Californians 'Highly Vulnerable' to Climate Change -- Now What? | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/08\/17\/12-million-californians-highly-vulnerable-to-climate-change-now-what\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"12 Million Californians 'Highly Vulnerable' to Climate Change -- Now What? 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