快活app

Skip to Content

New Climate Change Report Highlights Warming in Colorado Cities

Back to Article Listing

Author(s)

Madeline Phipps

快活app professor of environment says the trend could lead to several surprising consequences

Feature  •

Temperatures in Colorado are on the rise, and they won鈥檛 be falling anytime soon. Fort Collins, Greeley and Boulder are three of the cities nationwide that have had the biggest temperature increase in the last 40 years.

While those are the three Colorado cities singled out in a,听, associate professor in the听says that Denver has also experienced these warming trends. One section听of the report predicts that summers in Denver will feel like summers in southern Texas, where temperatures average nearly 100 degrees.

Kerwin points听out some of the economic consequences of this warming trend. 鈥淐urrent Denver residents should expect听to air condition their home or business 600 hours per year to maintain an acceptable temperature level,鈥 he says. 鈥淩ight now, the hours of cooling required in Texas are double those in Denver. As the temperature here begins to mirror what you would find in Texas, so will the cooling required. That鈥檚 going to have a tremendous impact on the cost of utilities in Denver.鈥

Thankfully, we can find ways to be more sustainable and make better choices. But the reality is that this type of climate change is already happening. Prof. Michael Kerwin, Department of Geography and the Environment
Climate change in Denver

Warmer temperatures also have an impact on water levels because they听decrease snowpack in the mountains. 鈥淚n the future, a lot of the moisture that falls as snow will fall as rain,鈥 Kerwin says, 鈥渁nd by midcentury, the snowpack could be reduced by 30-50 percent.鈥 That听lessening snowpack will affect not only Colorado, but also California and other southwestern states that get their water from the Colorado River basin.

Despite these negative consequences, Kerwin says it鈥檚 important to have a measured response to the findings. 鈥淭he point of the report is just presenting data to explain that it鈥檚 getting warmer," he says. "Thankfully, we can find ways to be more sustainable and to make better choices. But the reality is that this type of climate change is already happening and will continue to happen.鈥

To that end, 快活app has undertaken a number of sustainability initiatives听to reduce its carbon footprint, resulting in a 27 percent decrease since 2006. Reducing the consumption of certain products has听also contributed to 快活app鈥檚 effort听in combating warming trends in Colorado. For example, Chad King, the university鈥檚 sustainability coordinator says that between 2006 and 2014, paper purchases were down more than 123 tons.

Other reductions that听help offset 快活app鈥檚 carbon footprint come from recycling and composting and greater use of public transit and bicycles for commuting. Much of 快活app鈥檚 effort is coordinated out of the听Center for Sustainability, with the vision and help of the student-, staff- and faculty-led听Sustainability Council.