Water issues are already emerging as a result of climate change.  In the fragile and often dry climates of the American West, the potential impacts on fresh water as a result of a changing climate are profound.

This spring, the U.S. has experienced the deadliest single tornado on record and the deadliest single day of tornadoes on record — and, no, they weren't the same event. Yesterday brought still more tornadoes and still more deaths.

Paul Epstein, M.D., of Harvard’s Center for Health and the Global Environment, is perhaps the premier medical researcher working on human health in the changing climate. He has co-written, with journalist Dan Ferber, a new book called Changing Planet, Changing Health: How the Climate Crisis Threatens Our Health and What We Can Do About It. I had the opportunity to ask him some questions about the book earlier this week.

Because California is so far ahead of other states in preparing for climate change, it may actually benefit economically from their failures as those states' residents go west.

A new study conducted by Patricia Romero-Lankao at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, suggests that cities around the world are failing to take necessary steps to protect residents from the likely impacts of climate change. 

In its 15th Biennial Report on Great Lakes Water Quality, the International Joint Commission — a collaboration between the U.S. and Canadian governments — marks the re-emergence of eutrophication in the lakes as its chief concern.

The Pacific Council on International Policy — a big player with former Secretary of State Warren Christopher on its board — released a report last month called “Preparing for the Effects of Climate Change: A Strategy for California.” Here, we hoped, was a cache of information on how climate change would affect the people of California. But a search for the word “health” in the document only turned up references to “healthy ecosystems.”

Two back-to-back editorials from the Sacramento Bee — a centrist paper — really make clear that a, ahem, sea change in the way we think about climate change is upon us.

Our work at the Center for Public Health & Climate Change rests on the notion that climate change doesn't just affect polar bears; it affects humans by spreading disease in new and unexpected ways, impeding air and water quality and jeopardizing crops.

Lame duck Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is at UC Davis today, leading the third annual Governors' Global Climate Summit. The Republican is pushing for state and regional governments to act to limit greenhouse gases to fill the national and international leadership void on the issue.

As the Governator put it, "There are people who may not believe in global warming, but everyone, regardless of party, wants their kids to breathe clean air and drink clean water. Let's not get stuck on one thing we disagree on, rather let's talk about what we do agree on."