The iconic Highway 1, which runs through Big Sur, is in a battle against climate change and scientists say it’s losing.
That part of the highway recently reopened after landslides forced its closure three years ago. However, climatologists warn that climate change will cause more costly closures.
“Highway 1 is amazingly beautiful and scenic, and it's because it's this little ribbon that sits right along a mountainside near some incredibly active surf,” Michael Beck, with UC Santa Cruz, told KNX News’ Karen Adams. “So we've got rain, and mudslides, increasing atmospheric rivers and events like that.”
He said in an analysis from UC Santa Cruz, wave energy of the most extreme events has been increasing by about two to three percent every 10 years. Beck explained it's going to take ongoing investments in California's coastal infrastructure to slow it down.
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“The state is a leader in climate mitigation efforts, and we are going to need to step up even more on those efforts because overall we're slowing some aspects of climate change, but we're not keeping up with how fast it's growing,” he said.
Beck said climate change is not a future problem, it’s a now problem.
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