Wildlife conference highlights global warming threat to S.C.

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An AP article covering a South Carolina Wildlife Federation conference in Spartanburg where environmentalists warned about global warming's threats to the state, including stronger hurricanes, rising sea levels, and potential extinction of brook trout. Speakers included a National Wildlife Federation science adviser, a Clemson professor, and U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis, who said the nation should begin switching from fossil fuels. The article was forwarded internally by Valerie True of SACE, but SACE is not named in the article body itself.

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Wildlife conference highlights global warming threat to S.C.
Published Sunday, January 22, 2006

SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) - Environmentalists at a wildlife conference here warned that global warming could cause more intense hurricanes, rising sea levels and the possible extinction of brook trout in South Carolina.

The mountain streams and Lake Jocassee are just cool enough for the fish and even the slightest temperature increase could wipe out their habitat in South Carolina, said Tom McInnis, state chairman of the conservation group Trout Unlimited.

The trout's existence in South Carolina could disappear with an increase of as little as two degrees Celsius, and that disappearance could be an early indicator of the impact of global warming in the state.

"It may in fact be one of the earliest impacted in the nation," McInnis, also a botany professor emeritus from Clemson University, said Saturday during a South Carolina Wildlife Federation conference.

Global warming occurs when "greenhouse" gases such as carbon dioxide prevent the sun's heat from escaping into space. Plants give off carbon dioxide naturally, but many scientists think fossil fuels burned to run cars and other machines have significantly added to the atmospheric mix.

The Earth's surface temperature has risen about one degree in the past century and at an accelerated rate in the past 20 years, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.

South Carolina can expect warmer temperatures, especially at night and during the winter, said Doug Inkley, senior science adviser for the National Wildlife Federation. Hurricanes will be stronger, last longer, and combined with rising sea levels, coastal residents can expect larger storm surge, Inkley said.

"It will affect South Carolina, just as it will affect the rest of the world," Inkley said.

U.S. Rep. Bob Inglis said he was skeptical of global warming in his first term, but now says the nation should start switching from fossil fuels to batteries or hydrogen. That would reduce the country's dependence on the Middle East for oil, and create high-tech jobs within the state, said Inglis, R-S.C.

"We may as well begin to take action, because what's the downside?" Inlgis asked.

The congressman recently visited a climate research station at the South Pole.

"Something is happening by way of climate change - something we should be concerned about and be taking action on," he said.

Mark MacLeod, special projects director for the group Environmental Defense, predicted that the power plants built in the next 30 years will double the amount of emissions released into the atmosphere since the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.

"That's why it's so important to adopt policies now," he said.