Noah Diffenbaugh appointed to California Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group

Noah Diffenbaugh

NOAH DIFFENBAUGH, professor of Earth system science and a senior fellow at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, has been appointed by California Natural Resources Secretary John Laird to the state’s Climate-Safe Infrastructure Working Group.

Diffenbaugh, who is one of 14 members of the group, studies the climate system, including the processes by which climate change could impact agriculture, water resources and human health.

The group is charged with making science-based recommendations to California decision-makers to enable the best infrastructural investment strategies for the state, according to a California Natural Resources Agency press release.

The press release explains, “The impacts of climate change are already being felt in California and include record-breaking drought, wildfires, flooding, sea level rise, coastal erosion and heat waves. These impacts are projected to worsen with a future punctuated by what are now considered extreme weather events. Established by AB 2800 (Quirk, Statutes of 2015-16), the working group will unite experts from multiple scientific and state infrastructure disciplines to bolster the inclusion of climate impacts in state design processes.”

“It’s clear that the climate of California has changed in recent decades, and that our infrastructure has not kept pace with those changes,” said Diffenbaugh. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to help our state think about smart and effective ways to adapt our infrastructure to the ‘new normal’ of climate change.”

The California Natural Resources Agency leads the state’s climate change adaptation efforts under several statutes and executive orders intended to foster change throughout state and local government.

Read more on the Woods Institute website.