California Senate Declares Climate Emergency
Senate resolution declares that a “climate emergency threatens the state, the nation, the planet, the natural world, and all of humanity.”
The California State Senate passed a concurrent resolution declaring that a “climate emergency threatens the state, the nation, the planet, the natural world, and all of humanity.” SCR 53 also declared the need for the state to commit to “ensuring that its actions remain in alignment with the most current scientific findings regarding climate change, and do everything in its power to encourage a swift conversion to an ecologically, socially, and financially sustainable economy.”
Reasoning and Legislative Analysis
The authors of the resolution justify the use of the phrase “climate emergency” by stating that global climate change has worsened “air pollution, fire, flood, storm, epidemic, riot, drought, cyberterrorism, sudden and severe energy shortage, plant or animal infestation or disease.” The worsening of these conditions gives rise to a “state of emergency” under state law.
The authors state that California “is particularly susceptible to the harmful effects of climate change, including an increase in extreme heat events, drought, wildfire, sea level rise, and more.” They cite the Fourth California Climate Change Assessment, which projects that, by 2100, and with only moderate reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, “the average annual maximum daily temperature is projected to increase by 5.6-8.8 °F, water supply from snowpack is projected to decline by two-thirds, the average area burned in wildfires could increase by 77%, and 31-67% of Southern California beaches may completely erode without large-scale human intervention.”
The authors also cite the costs of climate change, pointing to the $148.5 billion in damages from the 2018 wildfires, potential increases in the cost of water and other resources, health costs, as well as food security, displacement, and migration. They note that the high cost of climate change mitigation should be compared to “the monumental costs of inaction leading to increased warming, more frequent and intense disasters, and greater human health impacts.”
Additional Provisions
The resolution states that “California has been profoundly affected by several natural disasters made more severe by climate change, including droughts, record-breaking wildfires, flooding, and coastal sea rise with impacts on coastal nearshore ecosystems.” The resolution makes several other notable statements:
Climate change impacts human health, making illnesses ranging from allergies to heart and lung diseases, kidney problems, pregnancy complications, and skin cancer worse;
Marginalized communities worldwide, such as women, LGBTQIA+ communities, people of color, immigrants, indigenous communities, low-income people, those with disabilities, and those experiencing homelessness, are already disproportionally affected by climate change and must benefit from a just transition to a sustainable and equitable economy;
California’s coastline could experience as much as seven feet of sea level rise by 2100, which could have extensive impacts on the state’s residents, economy, and natural resources;
Over the past century, California has warmed by about 3 degrees Fahrenheit, which has led to longer and warmer summers, delayed rainfall, and created drier air and vegetation that, when fires spark, enables fire to spread more quickly and burn more intensely and longer; and
The warming and acidification of marine and freshwater systems are creating the perfect conditions for harmful algal blooms to thrive, algal blooms that produce toxins, including liver and neurotoxins, that sicken humans and wildlife, and that impact drinking water sources.
Government Capacity to Address Climate Change
Perhaps most contentiously, the resolution cites California’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic as proof of the state’s ability to address global climate change. The resolution states that during the pandemic, California “demonstrated a remarkable capacity to protect human health in the face of a crisis, based on early and preventative actions in response to evidence and warnings issued by scientists.” It noted that “[w]e must apply those lessons by heeding to scientific expertise and planning for the future in order to protect our communities from the similarly devastating effects of climate change.”