{"id":334,"date":"2009-02-18T18:21:54","date_gmt":"2009-02-19T02:21:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=334"},"modified":"2009-02-18T18:21:54","modified_gmt":"2009-02-19T02:21:54","slug":"the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/","title":{"rendered":"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-349\" src=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2009\/02\/sunheat_sm.jpg\" alt=\"sunheat_sm\" width=\"240\" height=\"167\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2009\/02\/sunheat_sm.jpg 240w, https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2009\/02\/sunheat_sm-160x111.jpg 160w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 240px) 100vw, 240px\" \/>Much of the debate over addressing climate change hinges on the cost of proposed mitigation efforts.\u00a0 Some say we can&#8217;t afford the extraordinary measures required to cut greenhouses gases, particularly in the current economic train wreck.\u00a0 What gets less attention is the cost of doing nothing.<\/p>\n<p>This has been a\u00a0controversial idea since the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.hm-treasury.gov.uk\/sternreview_index.htm\">Stern Review<\/a> called attention to\u00a0the issue in 2006. That report concluded that unless one percent of global GDP was diverted to mitigate the worst effects of climate change, the world could <em>lose<\/em> up to 5% of\u00a0 global GDP each year and the total damage could claim as much as 20%.<\/p>\n<p>A\u00a0set of new reports out of the <a href=\"http:\/\/comm.uoregon.edu\/\">University of Oregon<\/a> inserts fresh numbers\u00a0into\u00a0the debate. According to researchers, three western states are each likely to lose more than $3 billion a year in climate change-related costs by 2020, if nothing is done to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.\u00a0 By 2080, the projected annual costs range from $9-to-$18 billion for each state.<\/p>\n<p>The reports, which focus on <a href=\"http:\/\/comm.uoregon.edu\/archive\/news-release\/2009\/2\/what-if-washingtonians-dont-address-climate-change\">Washington,<\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/comm.uoregon.edu\/archive\/news-release\/2009\/2\/what-if-oregonians-decline-address-climate-change\">Oregon<\/a>, and <a href=\"http:\/\/comm.uoregon.edu\/archive\/news-release\/2009\/2\/what-if-new-mexico-doesnt-address-climate-change\">New Mexico<\/a>, assume a business-as-usual scenario where both carbon emissions and temperature continue to rise at rates similar to those seen in recent years. Under these conditions, these states (and California, according to the prevalent research) can expect more severe droughts and floods, less snowfall,\u00a0 more wildfires and habitat loss, and a higher incidence of climate-associated health problems and deaths.<\/p>\n<p>In New Mexico, the study&#8217;s authors expect summer temperatures to climb 12.6 degrees above current averages by 2080,\u00a0 spiking air-conditioning costs, health-care complications, and the state&#8217;s death rate.\u00a0 By 2020, annual climate-related health care costs in New Mexico alone are expected to top $1.3 billion.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.climatechoices.org\/ca\/site\/our-changing-climate.html\">California&#8217;s temperatures,<\/a> under business-as-usual scenarios, are widely expected rise between six and ten degrees by the end of century.\u00a0\u00a0Even in a relatively cool state like\u00a0Washington,\u00a0health care impacts would make up\u00a0$421 million, or 32%, of total annual climate-related costs, under this pr0jection.<\/p>\n<p>The study attributed the largest costs (more than $1 billion annually in each state) to inefficient consumption of energy, a projection that might not pan out, given the Obama Adminstration&#8217;s focus on green technology and clean energy efforts.<\/p>\n<p>Other costs cited by the study include reduced salmon populations and food production, lost recreational opportunities (sell your snowboard now), and more intense and frequent wildfires and storms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Much of the debate about addressing climate change revolves around the cost of proposed mitigation efforts.  Some say we can&#8217;t afford the extraordinary measures it will take to cut greenhouses gases. Now, researchers have put some fresh numbers on the cost of doing nothing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11413,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[19,181,193,265,384,435],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-334","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","category-power","tag-air","tag-ecosystems","tag-emissions","tag-greenhouse-gases","tag-new-mexico","tag-policy"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.13 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change | 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=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change | Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Much of the debate about addressing climate change revolves around the cost of proposed mitigation efforts. 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Now, researchers have put some fresh numbers on the cost of doing nothing.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Climate Watch\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-02-19T02:21:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/54\/2009\/02\/sunheat_sm.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gretchen Weber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Gretchen Weber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/\",\"name\":\"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change | Climate Watch\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-02-19T02:21:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2009-02-19T02:21:54+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b8aa644ab929c00fff60cc0fd340f5\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/\",\"name\":\"Climate Watch\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/f9b8aa644ab929c00fff60cc0fd340f5\",\"name\":\"Gretchen Weber\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/e524b6febe575d1cb1233bc6fc23c0de\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b3bceed2622b2e3939de1b6f09681f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9b3bceed2622b2e3939de1b6f09681f9?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Gretchen Weber\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/author\/gweber\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change | Climate Watch","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2009\/02\/18\/the-cost-of-ignoring-climate-change\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Cost of Ignoring Climate Change | Climate Watch","og_description":"Much of the debate about addressing climate change revolves around the cost of proposed mitigation efforts. 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