Sacramento Valley
In California’s Fourth Climate Change Assessment, the Sacramento Valley region, from Shasta down to the delta, is home to about 2.4 million people – 6% of the state total. More than half of those people – 1.5 million of them – live in and around Sacramento, our state capital. This episode explores how climate change will affect the Sacramento Valley region.
Questions
How is climate change expected to affect the Sacramento Valley region? Which of these effects will have the greatest impact on people’s day-to-day lives, in your opinion?
How vulnerable are communities in Sacramento to climate change effects? Using the CalEnviroScreen, compare your own neighborhood to neighborhoods in this city.
Learn about Flood Preparedness Week from California Department of Water Resources. While you’re there, click on “At Home” and follow the link to the My Hazards map to see whether your home is located in a flood zone.
Have you had any weather- or environment-related experiences similar to the young people in this episode? If so, how are your experiences similar? If not, why do you think that is?
Voices
In order of appearance, the young people I interviewed for this episode were: Jayson, Juan, and Avonna (all in Sacramento). I also spoke with my scientist-collaborator, Nancy Freitas.
Listening
Want to listen on another platform? You can find Future Imperfect on Apple Podcasts and on Stitcher.
Resources
If you want to dig deeper into some of the topics in this episode, here are some places to begin.
About anticipated climate change impacts:
Efforts at climate change mitigation and adaptation
City of Sacramento Office of Climate Action and Sustainability
Climate Smart Agriculture from CalCAN
“Working Landscapes” from Point Blue Conservation Science (see the section on Rangeland Watershed Initiative)
About heat:
“What Is an Urban Heat Island?” from Climate Kids (NASA)
“About Urban Heat Islands” from Heat.gov
“Using Trees and Vegetation to Reduce Heat Islands” from US Environmental Protection Agency
Treepedia: Exploring the Green Canopy in cities around the world from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
“How Do You Measure Air Temperature Accurately?” from National Institute of Standards and Technology
“Cooperative Weather Observer Program - Equipment Information” from National Weather Service
About precipitation:
“Precipitation” from California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA)
“Effective Groundwater Management in the Sacramento Valley” from Sacramento Valley
About flooding:
Flood Preparedness Week from California Department of Water Resources
My Hazards map from Cal Office of Emergency Services
“What is an Atmospheric River?” from Scripps Oceanography
“Sacramento at Risk: Understanding Its Flood Dilemma” from US Army Corp of Engineers (and others)
“California Expands Floodwater Capacity” from ENR California
“Lower Elkhorn Basin Levee Setback Project” from California Department of Water Resources
“California Megaflood: Lessons from a Forgotten Catastrophe” from Scientific American
“The Coming Megafloods” from Scientific American
“ARkStorm Scenario” from US Geological Survey (USGS)
About wildfire:
“Impact of anthropogenic climate change on wildfire across western US forests” from PNAS
“California Wildfire Mitigation Program” from Cal Office of Emergency Services
Establishing the relationship between specific events and climate change:
“Attribution Science: Linking Climate Change to Extreme Weather” from State of the Planet at Columbia Climate School