The Swamp: CHU: Carbon dioxide is a global problem. The cost of the carbon emissions are things that, number one, won't show up immediately in one year, or even in 10 years. They have begun to appear. The real costs are hard to estimate because we don't know to what extent, how bad it's going to get, in all honesty.... [I]t's all about the risk, the potential risk, the downside risk of not doing something, or maybe doing it in a very moderate way.
The analogy I like to use is, suppose you buy a house, and then in the inspection, the structural engineer says, well, this House is a fine house, but understand, you have to rewire the house.... Suppose... the next person comes and says, essentially, I think the wiring is shot. I can't guarantee if it's going to be this year or five years from now, but you run the risk of an electrical fire.... You can continue to shop for the answer you want: your house is safe. Or you can say, I know the solution....
[W]ill there be a cost in trying to control carbon emissions? Well yes.... [W]ith the population we have today... we don't want to go backward in terms of the prosperity of developed countries, and we see developing countries wanting to do [the same]. We've got to figure out a way to use the energy we have more efficiently, and the get newer, cleaner sources. And to get better technical solutions, better technical options...
I don't think the American public has grasped in its gut what could happen. So let me give you one example. It's local to California. California's major part of its water storage system is in the Sierra Mountains.... [R]ight now, California spends about 20 percent of its electricity moving water. What is being predicted in climate change, there are two bracketed scenarios. The more optimistic one ... by mid-century... we will have decreased our snow pack by 20 percent on an average basis.... In the pessimistic scenario, the snow pack will decrease by 70 to 90 percent.... [That is] a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. When you lose 70 percent of your water in the mountains, I don't see how agriculture can continue. California produces 20 percent of the agriculture in the United States...
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