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California Sees Success Against Climate Change, But More Still Needed

SACRAMENTO (CBS13) — A new study shows California is on the right track when it comes to reducing the effects of climate change, but the road is far from over.

The California Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment released a study on the state of the climate of California. It looked into the data of 36 climate indicators. It showed that pioneering efforts to reduce climate change are working, but climate change adaptation and mitigation efforts must continue.

The climate change drivers are greenhouse gas emissions, atmospheric black carbon concentrations, atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, acidification of coastal waters. The changes in climate are annual air temperature, cooling and heating degree days, extreme heat events, precipitation, drought, winter chill.

The impacts on physical systems include snowmelt run-off, coastal ocean temperature, snow-water content, sea level rise, dissolved oxygen in coastal waters, glacier change, and lake water temperature.

The impacts on biological systems include humans: diseases, heat-related mortality, and morbidity, wildlife: migratory birds, effects of ocean acidification on marine organisms, Sacramento chinook salmon abundance, California sea lion pup demo, vegetation: forest tree mortality, wildfires, changes in forests and woodlands, fruit & nut maturation time.

The agency hopes that this study will help politicians be able to use this as scientific evidence when making positive environmental policies in the future.

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