The Macon Telegraph
Climate change dangers aired
S. Heather Duncan
May 7, 2008 Wednesday
May 7--ATLANTA -- Scientists and policy experts at the first ever Georgia Climate
Change Summit on Tuesday forecast more
severe storms, droughts, floods and less
Georgia coastline.
The biggest challenge in dealing with this
onslaught, experts say, is building the political will to try and do something about it.
Georgia is one of only 12 states that isn't
at least developing an action plan for climate
change, similar to the recently completed state
water and energy plans. Georgia Tech, which
hosted the conference, is hoping to kick-start
conversations about creating that kind of policy framework. It could be used to help the
state make more cohesive decisions about
everything from water use to permitting new
coal-fired power plants, said Michael Chang,
Georgia Tech researcher and conference organizer.
Environmental advocates at the conference repeatedly questioned proposals for two
new coal-fired plants, which release large
amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. One of the two would be located in
Washington County and would supply many
Middle Georgia power customers.
But the event drew people from many interest groups, ranging from the British Consulate to the Episcopal Diocese of Atlanta. Presenters from industry and government discussed how global warming is most likely to
affect Georgians' health, pocketbooks and
jobs.
Global warming is caused by an increase
in "greenhouse gases," such as carbon dioxide, which hold heat in the earth's atmosphere.
"There will be significant health effects
for us and our families from climate change,"
said Dr. Jeremy Hess of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Among them:
increased heat-related illness and death, malnutrition, and respiratory diseases from worsening ozone and wildfires as temperatures
rise.
Hess said Georgia's hotspots for the health
affects of climate change include cities,
coastal areas and the historically driest area of
the state, which is centered in the Montgomery/Treutlen county areas of Middle Georgia.
Hess warned that the nutritional value of
crops may also change in response to increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
University of Georgia professor Marshall
Shepherd said recent spiking food prices are
caused partly by climate change, as crops
such as corn and sugar are diverted from the
food supply to supply demand for cleanerburning fuels such as ethanol.
Some conference participants noted that
Georgia legislators holding hearings about
global warming in the last year continue to
express skepticism about whether it's real.
Shepherd said some point out Georgia's cooling trend over the last century as their trump
card.
State climatologist David Stooksbury said
Georgia temperatures have cooled slightly,
probably because of the replacement of vast
swaths of farmland with trees. Despite the
state's current drought, which started in March
2006 and set records for modern times, the
number and intensity of droughts have not
increased either, he said.
But regional variations don't change the
overall pattern, and there's no guarantee
Georgia's cooling trend will continue, Shepherd noted.
Shepherd, who served on the International
Panel for Climate Change, said that panel of
more than 2,000 scientists projected a mean
increase of 2 to 4 degrees in Georgia's temperatures during the next century.
That's not much on the average day. But
extreme temperatures are likely to get more
extreme. For example, he said by 2100, "We
could expect a fairly common occurrence of
days over 100 degrees in Georgia."
Georgia also is likely to see more damage
from hurricanes, said Shepherd and Peter
Webster, professor of earth and atmospheric
sciences at Georgia Tech. A few degrees
global temperature difference changes convections over the ocean, increasing storm intensity.
Georgia's coast faces a higher risk from
these storms due to the shallow Continental
Shelf jutting out underwater from the coast,
which creates a potential for larger-thanaverage storm surges of the kind that made
Hurricane Katrina especially devastating for
the Gulf Coast, Webster said.
And even hurricanes that make landfall
from the Gulf Coast are expected to have
more intense effects as they cross Georgia in
the form of tropical storms, generating more
tornadoes and flooding due to global warming.
The Atlantic Ocean is also the only area
where cyclones are expected to increase not
only in intensity but also frequency, Webster
said.
Panelists did not agree on the best way for
Georgia to address climate change, but energy
production was a focus.
"The climate change problem is an energy
problem," said Marilyn Brown, Georgia Tech
public policy professor, saying that 88 percent
of greenhouse gas emissions are energyrelated.
Danny Herrin, manager of climate and
environmental strategies at Southern Company, said the company is researching new
technology related to sequestering the carbon
dioxide created when burning coal, perhaps
injecting it underground instead of releasing it
into the atmosphere.
Southern Company is the parent of Georgia Company, which owns the coal-fired Plant
Scherer outside Macon. The company has
chosen to upgrade rather than replace the
plant ever since the Clean Air Act was passed.
Scherer remains one of the biggest carbondioxide emitters in the country.
Herrin predicted that if the toughest proposed environmental restrictions pass Congress, there will be a short-term spike in the
amount of energy generated by current coal
technology. At first, his presentation indicated
that less restrictive legislation would result in
the company's replacement of older, dirtier
coal plants with newer ones using carbon sequestration. Upon further questioning, he said
the company would probably not retire all its
older plants.
Georgia is more reliant on coal for energy
than the nation as a whole or surrounding
states.
Brown said Georgia could cut its energy
use significantly by using it more efficiently
at little cost -- and, in many cases, considerable savings. But she said Southern Company
has no incentive to help customers conserve
because the more power they use, the more
money the company earns.
Chris Clark, executive director of the
Georgia Environmental Facilities Authority,
said conservation and cleaner energy sources
like wind and sun power can't meet the state's
growing energy needs, and more coal-fired
power plants remain necessary. He agreed
with British Consulate and industry officials,
however, that more incentives are needed for
solar-powered or otherwise sustainable buildings and plants.
© 2008 Macon Telegraph