Climate change forces Nevada to say goodbye to grass

In Las Vegas, Nevada, climate change has made water increasingly scarce,and under new law in Nevadathe grass must be mowed.``Landscaping, far away, is the largest user of water, and grasses among them,'' said Bronson Mack of the Las Vegas Water Authority. 

The city has uprooted nearly 4 million square feet of lawn onto public land so far this year. "The grass I see behind me won't be long in this world," Mack told correspondent Tracy Smith. "In fact, within the next few months to a year, this grass will be completely removed and replaced by drip-irrigated trees and plants."

And all IVs matter. So water waste inspectors (also called water cups) patrol neighborhoods, keeping track of who is watering when and how much water is going down the drain.

By surviving 22 summers, whether here in dry Nevada or in the seaweed-infested Caribbean, Denying climate change has become difficult. suffocating the beach. Or in Kentucky, too much water caused a tragedy and it's still unfolding.

But it seems that there are still people who can convince us that climate change has become a climate emergency. 

Last spring a group of scientists chained themselves to a bank in Los Angeles"We are going to lose everything. No kidding," said one of the protesters, Dr. Peter Kalmus. "We are not lying, we are not exaggerating. This is very bad, folks."

Smith asked Kalmus. "Do you feel like you're sitting around all this science and trying to share it with the world and no one is listening?"

"Exactly," he said. answered.

Karma, a NASA scientist and father of two, said the current climate should be deadly scary. ``If your house catches fire, the adrenaline kicks in and you panic, get out of the house and put out the fire, and I think it will save your life.''

``So you want to surprise people.

"I want people to freak out. Yes. I don't think people are freaked out enough. Public urgency for this."

First and foremost, Kalmus wants people to know what the world will feel like in the coming summer. 

Smith asked, "If this summer is ridiculously hot, what will next summer be like?"

"In general, it is an upward trend," he replied. "Twenty years from now, when I look back at summer 2022, I wish it was this good. I wish it was this cool. It's not an exaggeration." 131} And for the most part, the scientific community supports him: The report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is basically the last word on our position, The words are harsh,” said Sarah Birch, lead author of the report.

She told Smith the bad news was IPCC The report states, “We are currently not on track to keep warming below 2 degrees, which scientists set as important because it will help avoid the worst impacts of climate change.” It's the limit," he said.

So what does 2 degrees of warming mean?  We asked Neil deGrasse Tyson to explain: It's been eight degrees colder, eight degrees colder and we're going to have an ice age where the glaciers will reach far below the middle of the United States."

"So 0.5 degrees is a big deal. There is a difference," Smith asked.

"What is he 0.5 degrees to you or me in your life? Twice, who cares? Earth, it matters. It matters," Tyson said. I was. "Eight degrees colder, glaciers reaching St. Louis. Two degrees warmer and we'll lose the coastline. Raise it a little higher, I don't want to go see it."  

"How high would the water rise if the ice cap melted?"

"From the ice cap. The sea level would rise and reach the left elbow of the Statue of Liberty – it would It's her left arm holding the papers," Tyson said. "I don't want to think about it. Astrophysicist'Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization' (Henry Holt and Co.) states that the future of our planet is written in the stars. said there may be. Or at least our planetary neighbors. 171}

Tyson said, ``Did you know that Venus is basically the same size as Earth and has the same surface gravity as Earth? No, but something bad happened on Venus, they have a runaway greenhouse effect, 900 degrees Fahrenheit on Venus,  and I calculated this: 16 inches on the windowsill.

"But I would like to know what kind of knobs nature has turned there. The same thing on earth." If you're turning the knobs artificially, that's bad, it doesn't bode well for the future of life on Earth, but the civilizations that have built over the last 10,000 years, especially during periods when our climate has been relatively stable

The problem is that even though more and more people believe we are headed for catastrophe (and polls seem to indicate they are ), the key is to actually do something about it quickly.

Smith asked Sarah Birch.

"Of course," she replied. “We know we need to shift power from coal and highly polluting fossil fuels to solar and wind. What needs to be done to make buildings more efficient? We know we need to insulate our buildings, we need to heat them with heat pumps instead of using natural gas, coal and oil, we need to use clean electricity and switch to EVs.

"So. We have a list of really working solutions that we know work. But accelerating uptake is the trick now. That's the challenge."

Congress is nudging legislation to provide billions of dollars in tax incentives for clean energy and more.

But for now, we've learned to adapt – and in Nevada, it's more than just pulling grass.

Lake Mead, one of the region's primary water sources, is drying up at an unprecedented rate. The white "bathtub ring" indicates its degree.

Part of the intake pipe carrying water downstream already protrudes above the waterline. But when the lake level drops too low to flow downstream, or what they call "Deadpool," Southern Nevadas have a plan: they'll move closer to what was once a waterfront. Built a low lake level pumping station. Connect to a new intake, almost a drain, at the bottom of the huge Lake Pipemead so you can keep pumping water to the last drop available.

Smith asked, John Water Commissioner Entsminger, "You guys knew something had to be done."

"Of course," he replied. "It didn't take a crystal ball to know that we needed to be prepared to defend our communities."

While scientists can predict the worst that lies ahead, they also predict how to move forward. I can do it. Smith asked Birch why there was still hope.

"On the flip side of the coin, we have also seen evidence of real and sustained reductions in greenhouse gases over the past decade," she replied. “That means we have a roadmap. We already have the technology, policies and actions necessary to get us where we want to go.”

"Yes. And move faster. Move faster along that path."

Tyson said, "We We are all of the same race, we are all human, and we would like to think that we can all come together and solve our problems without committing suicide."

     
For more information:

• Las Vegas Valley Water District
• Southern Nevada Water Authority
• Climate scientist Peter Kalmus
• United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
• Neil deGrasse Tyson (Hayden Planetarium)
• "Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization," Neil deGrasse Tyson (Henry Holt and Co.), {available September 2022 via {338}Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Indiebound
• Climate Advertising Project
  

     
Story by John D'Amelio Editor: Steven Tyler 

References: 

• CALL FOR CLIMATE CHANGE: Bringing fossil fuel companies to court ("Sunday Morning")
• Excerpt from book: How to Prepare for Climate Change by David Pogue
• For many, climate change will eventually reach home ("Sunday morning")
• Al Gore's Crusade ("Sunday Morning")
• Sea Change: How the Dutch Confront Rising Seas}

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