NTB: You did a presentation on this for the State of California, didn’t you? So you’ve done some work in this area.

Dr. Hipskind: Yes, and the State of California is looking at spending billions of dollars in water projects and those are going to be highly dependent on expected regional climate impacts. I think that’s really where the major focus of our research is going to need to go – on trying to understand regional climate impacts.

NTB: I’m no scientist, but I would imagine if we can work out the problem and understand how it works at the regional level, the big picture – global – will take care of itself. Am I correct in that assumption?

Dr. Hipskind: The big question on the global scale is whether we’re going to be able to turn back global warming through some of these mitigation policies – changing our fuel usage, etc. – or whether we’re really going to have to focus more effort and resources on adaptability, i.e. adapting to inevitable climate change. The regional impact studies will really help in both of those arenas.

For more information, contact Steve Hipskind at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it