Once touted as the region with the “second best climate in the world,” the state of Jalisco faces a much altered future if the warnings of some local scientists are to be accepted.
Average temperatures in Jalisco will increase between 0.6 and two degrees centigrade by 2020 and between four and 4.5 degrees by 2050, according to a joint study by the University of Guadalajara (UDG) and the Universidad Autonoma de Guadalajara (UAG), financed by the state Science and Technology Council (Coecyytjal).
The researchers say the changes in climate will produce prolonged droughts in some parts of the state (Los Altos region, in particular) and severe storms in others, including metropolitan area Guadalajara. Temperatures in Jalisco have increased between 1.2 and 1.3 degrees over the past 30 years, said Hermes Ulises Ramirez, the director of the UDG’s Astronomy and Meteorology Institute, who led the study.
If a transition is not made soon to renewable and sustainable energy, Jalisco will suffer serious consequences as the century progresses, Ramirez warned.
Maurice Alcocer of the UAG said 56 percent of greenhouse gases emitted in the state come from motor vehicles.
Climate change is now widely recognized as the major environmental problem facing the globe. An overwhelming scientific consensus maintains that climate change is due primarily to the use of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the air. The gases trap heat within the atmosphere, which can have a range of effects on ecosystems, including rising sea levels, severe weather events and droughts.