As the US and China struck a deal in Beijing this past week to slash carbon emissions by 2030, the effects of climate change can still be felt in Texas Tech's back yard, the director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech says.
Katharine Hayhoe, who was named to TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list earlier this year, said the changes brought about by greenhouse gas emissions have been felt in the South Plains.
"We can measure the impacts that are happening, not just at the North Pole, or in the South Seas, but right here in Texas where we live," Hayhoe said. "At the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech, we study what climate change means to us here in West Texas – what it means to our farmers and our ranchers, what it means for our water resources, what it means to our unique ecosystem and species like the prairie chicken, and what it means to our economy and our lives."
Texas Tech's Vice Provost for International Affairs and former US ambassador to Guinea and Ethiopia Tibor Nagy said as the two largest economic powerhouses and carbon emitters, the deal was a significant step forward for both climate change and broader US-Chinese relations.
"Even if there are not too many details yet regarding this agreement, I think the symbolic value is tremendous."
