The US government is creating seven new 鈥渃limate hubs鈥� that will help everyday people, particularly farmers, handle the effects of global warming.
The hubs are essentially a combination of real-world and online networks that will operate out of the offices of the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) to connect existing government agencies more effectively. The hope is that the hubs will help minimise the harmful effects of climate change, such as excess storms and droughts, by helping scientists, farmers, ranchers and forestland-owners talk to each other. Without that communication, farmers may not be aware of new solutions to their problems, while scientists may not fully appreciate the problems that still need to be addressed.
Seven major hubs will be dotted , centred in Raleigh, North Carolina; Durham, New Hampshire; Ames, Iowa; Fort Collins, Colorado; El Reno, Oklahoma; Corvallis, Oregon; and Las Cruces, New Mexico. All will be overseen by the USDA.
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The hubs will 鈥減repare folks for what we know will happen, so they鈥檒l have a better ability to cope鈥�, says of the USDA Forest Service Southern Research Station in Raleigh, who will direct the Raleigh hub.
Help for farmers
McNulty says climate change is ravaging the US. In 2007, the south-east battled a major drought like the one California is facing now, with cities such as Atlanta almost running out of water. The 2011 Texas drought has been linked to climate change. In other years, storms like Katrina and Sandy caused havoc, though climate change鈥檚 role in those events is hard to pin down.
But things could be better when the next drought or storm comes, says McNulty. There are already techniques to protect the timber industry and cattle farmers in the south-east of the US from a water shortage, including drip irrigation and better early warning systems.
The hubs are spread around the country because each region experiences climate change differently. While the south-east deals with winter storms, the south-west is in the midst of a drought, and other areas are seeing more frequent severe floods.
鈥淯SDA鈥檚 climate hubs are part of our broad commitment to developing the next generation of climate solutions,鈥� said agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack in a on Wednesday.
鈥淭he nation is recognising that climate change is real,鈥� says , co-leader of the north-eastern hub. 鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just this week or this month. This is redirecting a significant portion of USDA resources to address the problem.鈥�
Treating the symptoms
However, others think the climate hubs are, at best, a partial solution to the problems of climate change. It would be nice to react well to unpredictable changes in the weather, they say, but climate change needs to be curbed by cutting greenhouse gas emissions.
鈥淭he climate hubs are not really about addressing climate change. They鈥檙e more about adapting to climate change,鈥� says , a science-policy researcher at Harvard University.
It may be that the climate hubs will play both defensive and offensive roles. For instance, north-eastern farmers could start using 鈥渃over crops鈥�, plants that are grown on farmland in the off season, says , director of Cornell University鈥檚 New York State Agricultural Experiment Station. Such plants can protect against incoming pests, a side effect of climate change. But simply by growing they also lock carbon in the soil, stopping it escaping into the atmosphere.
鈥淐limate change is all hands on deck,鈥� says Hoffmann. 鈥淲e need all the partners we can get.鈥�
