Effects of Global Warming are Felt Locally

by Charlie Brown

Charlie Brown, WEC Board Member

July 29, 2026

Global warming is a global issue with global effects. Some of those effects are being felt regionally and locally. Solving the problem will require local, regional, state, and national action from individuals, companies, organizations, regulators, and legislators.

Increasing greenhouse gas concentrations upsets the overall global energy balance by reducing radiant energy loss to space and trapping it here on Earth. This causes accumulation of energy, warming, and climate change.

The data for Figure 1 illustrates that the local warming trend is consistent with global temperature warming. Blue temperature spikes are yearly differences from the baseline average temperature over the last 100-plus years.

Figure 1. Local temperature data from 4 stations from Vancouver to Seattle (blue) are consistent with the global warming trend (red). Source: The University of Queensland Institute for Learning and Teaching Innovation interface for data from the Global Historical Climatology Network database managed by the National Center for Environmental Information, https://tools.uq.edu.au/temperature/index.html

The Climate Impacts Group at the University of Washington’s College of the Environment produced a comprehensive report (Mauger, et al., 2015) summarizing research on the likely effects of climate change on the lands, water and people of the Puget Sound region:

Looking to the future, the University of Washington’s Climate Impacts Group predicts that increased warming will result in more frequent and more severe climate change impacts in Washington.

Warming is causing glaciers in the North Cascades to melt. Declining glaciers have been measured and documented by the work led by Dr. Mauri Pelto, Science Director for the North Cascade Glacier Climate Project. From the Project’s web site:

All glaciers are losing mass rapidly and this has led to the retreat of all 47 glaciers we monitor, with five of those glaciers having disappeared. The reduction in volume and area is reducing summer contributions to streamflow.

Streamflow from glaciers, along with snowpack and rain, are the sources of water for residential, farming, and industrial applications. Warming temperatures and increasingly variable weather are affecting all three.

The “atmospheric river” event of November 2025 that flooded rivers in the Pacific Northwest, including the Nooksack, is one example of an extreme weather event made more probable by increasing temperature and evaporation in the Pacific Ocean and increasing variability in meteorological conditions. It followed another extreme rainfall and flooding event of the Nooksack in November of 2021, as well as another in November in 1990. The effect of global warming on the Nooksack is now well known, having been summarized in a nice 2-page “Quick Reference Guide for Local Decision Makers” by UW’s Climate Impact Group in 2018. This Guide describes the increased winter streamflow contributing to 100-year floods as well as reduced summer streamflow contributing to drought. A quick keyword search will produce more references on this topic that has been well-studied.

Despite the excess rainfall event last November on the western coast, western states have experienced drought and a very low snowpack during the winter of 2025-26. The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Services provides snowpack data illustrated in Figure 2 with Whatcom County at about 60% of the median snow water equivalent. That is better than most western states, which have values significantly less than 50% of the median.

Figure 2. Western United States snowpack was well below normal at the end of March. Data source and Figure credit: USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service. https://nwcc-apps.sc.egov.usda.gov/imap

The “heat dome” of June 2021 was an extreme event that was thoroughly studied by several researchers. An estimated 868 excess deaths were attributed to this event (White, et al., 2022). McKinnon and Simpson (2022) used advanced statistical analysis for variability of other regional temperature events, and modeling, to determine whether regional norms had shifted enough to explain the heat dome. Using the “Community Earth System Model version 2 Large Ensemble [CESM2-LE],” they concluded that “[i]n general, CESM2 can simulate temperature anomalies as extreme as those observed in 2021, but they are rare.”

In other words, science shows that extreme weather events such as floods, heat, and drought are becoming more common. And the use of probability statistics combined with sophisticated computer models has developed attribution science that links the probability of rare events, like extreme floods, heat, and drought, to causes that increase the probability of those events. (Swain, et al., (2020) provides an excellent primer of the developing science of attribution. A report on the subject recently was prepared by the National Academy of Sciences (2026).)

Another form of heat wave is ocean temperature. From 2014 to 2016 the Northeast Pacific experienced unprecedented warm temperatures that disrupted fisheries from Alaska to California. Of high concern is the threat of these heat waves to Chinook salmon, the primary food source for Southern Resident orca. Dr. Crozier, et al., (2021) found that not just warmer streams and rivers, that affect spawning fry and juvenile smolt, but also warmer open ocean threatens the survival of adult salmon. “Our results indicate that as one symptom of a changing ocean, rising SST (sea surface temperature) puts all of our study populations at high risk of extinction . . . .”

Wildfire risk is enhanced by drought, high temperature, wind, and the availability of fuel. Pine bark beetle infestations, enhanced by warm winters and trees that are stressed by drought, have created a vast amount of dead fuel in the region. Wind brings unhealthy smoke from wildfires in British Columbia to Whatcom County. While wildfires in central and eastern Washington are more common, western Washington is now seeing major wildfires more frequently. Recent major fires on the west side of the Cascades include the Bolt Creek fire near Skykomish in King County in 2022 and the Bear Gulch fire on the Olympic Peninsula in 2025.

In addition to the physical impacts, there are economic impacts due to preventing, repairing, and compensating for damage. Burke, et al., (2026) found that the damage cost from one ton of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions will accumulate to $1,840 by 2100, far above the allowance pricing under the State’s carbon cap-and-invest program. The warming effect and cost are cumulative because CO2 emissions accumulate and last a long time in the atmosphere, having risen from 280 ppm before the industrial revolution to the current value of 430 ppm and rising. In addition, the concentration of methane (CH4), a greenhouse gas and is the primary component of natural gas, is increasing at a higher percentage rate than CO2. One ton of methane emission has about 80 times more global warming potential than one ton of CO2 emission over a 20-year period.

There are an increasing number of legal efforts to demand accountability. The 2021 PNW heat dome brought suits by Multnomah County, OR, and by the estate of Juliana Leon. Two separate suits in Washington are filed by the Makah and Shoalwater Bay Tribes. A key ruling in the case of Held v. Montana rejected the State's argument that greenhouse gases from Montana fossil fuel projects are minuscule on a global scale, so reducing them would have no effect on climate change. This concept of accountability proportional to contribution was also recognized by the Appeals Court of The Hague in Milieudefensie v. Shell. As reported by Tigre and Hesselman (2024), the international court “[e]stablished that companies have an obligation to reduce CO2 emissions and failing to take adequate reduction measures may constitute a violation of human rights and lead to liability.”

As greenhouse gas emissions continue and concentrations rise, the local and global effects and costs of global warming and climate change will get worse. It is well past time to pay attention to and act upon the solid science of global warming and the resulting effects of climate change.

References

Burke, et al, “Quantifying climate loss and damage consistent with a social cost of carbon,” Nature, March 2026.

Climate Impacts Group, “Climate Change in the Nooksack River: A Quick Reference Guide for Local Decision-makers,” University of Washington, 2018.

https://cig.uw.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/10/FbD_Nooksack-climatechange_web.pdf

Crozier, et al., “Climate change threatens Chinook salmon throughout their life cycle” Communications Biology, Feb 2021.

Mauger, et al., “State of Knowledge: Climate Change in Puget Sound,” Climate Impacts Group, University of Washington, 2015.

McKinnon and Simpson, “How Unexpected Was the 2021 Pacific Northwest Heatwave?”, Geophysical Research Letters, 2022.

National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, “Attribution of Extreme Weather and Climate Events and Their Impacts,” 2026.

Pelto, “North Cascade Glacier Climate Project,” Nichols College, 2026. https://glaciers.nichols.edu/

Swain, et al., “Attributing Extreme Events to Climate Change: A New Frontier in a Warming World,” One Earth, June 2020.

Tigre and Hesselman, “Milieudefensie v. Shell: 3 Takeaways and Challenges on the Appeal’s Court Decision,” Sabin Center for Climate Law, Columbia Law School, Dec 2024. https://blogs.law.columbia.edu/climatechange/2024/12/12/milieudefensie-v-shell-3-takeaways-and-challenges-on-the-appeals-court-decision/

White, et al., “The unprecedented Pacific Northwest heatwave of June 2021,” Nature Communications, June 2022.

City and County Comprehensive Plans: A Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

By David Stalheim and Cynthia Mitchell July 14, 2026

Whatcom County is in the final stages of updating

its Comprehensive Plans in

David Stalheim, WEC Secretary-Treasurer

compliance with the State’s Growth Management Act (GMA). Bellingham completed their update in December 2025. Picture a huge jigsaw puzzle framed to manage population growth, fitting together the often-competing pieces of economic development, and protection of natural ecosystems, air and water quality, and open spaces and recreation. Add to that puzzle the 2023 state law that cities and counties develop strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and urban sprawl, with priority attention to overburdened communities.

Bellingham Plan

In February, WEC filed an appeal of the Bellingham Plan to the Growth Management

Hearings Board on the grounds that

Cynthia Mitchell, WEC Board Member

the Bellingham Plan failed to comply with GMA requirements -- falling short of preventing sprawl and encouraging denser development in the city’s core, protecting Lake Whatcom watershed, and reducing VMT via affordable, transit-oriented development. WEC also believes that Bellingham’s Plan does not adequately account for climate-related hazards by demonstrating a reduction of emissions, particularly at its Post Point wastewater treatment plant.

Whatcom County’s Draft Plan

Similarly, WEC finds that the County’s Draft Plan draft falls short of meeting the requirements of the GMA to reduce GHG emissions and VMT and prioritize GHG reductions that benefit overburdened communities. In a letter for the Whatcom County Council’s July 16^th public hearing, WEC recommends that the County:

·       Adopt the 2021 Climate Action Plan (CAP) by reference into the Comprehensive Plan.

Specifically, the 2021 CAP recommended that industries such as Cherry Point refinery (accounting for 51% of Whatcom County’s GHG emissions, 2017) need to use new greener technologies for refining processes now, and plan to respond to future demands by reducing the production of refined petroleum products as internal combustion engine (ICE) technology and gasoline continue to lose market share.  The Draft Plan fails to incorporate these policies to require greener technologies and to reduce the production of refined petroleum products. Even though Cherry Point receives free GHG credits through 2035 and is not subject until then to the cap on emissions, Cherry Point should begin the process of transitioning away from fossil fuels to renewable energy. The CO2e data 2017-2022 indicates that industrial gas use has increased 153%. Going forward, that number should come down.

·       Revise and adopt actions to ensure that the Draft Plan meets GMA requirements to reduce GHG and VMT.

The GMA requires, not suggests, that the Draft Plan reduce GHG emissions and per capita vehicle miles traveled. The Draft Plan needs to be revised to include strong, directive policies with specific dates and targets to ensure compliance. The Draft Plan does not comply with the GMA because it will increase, not decrease, GHG and VMT.

The Draft Plan is filled with aspirational policies that are not directive or measurable. The policies fail to establish how and when policies will be implemented, and what entity is responsible for implementing the policies. For example, key goals and subsequent policies do not alter the Final Environmental Impact Statement conclusion that all alternatives will increase per capita vehicle miles traveled. The Draft Plan’s statement that the County will “support” efforts and various ways to reduce per capita vehicle miles traveled is not directive or measurable. “Support” needs to be replaced by “require”, with directives as to how and when the County will implement policies. 

·       The County should not approve the Draft Plan because it incorporates Bellingham’s adopted Comprehensive Plan (Bellingham Plan), which fails to meet GMA requirements for GHG and VMT reduction.   

GHG emissions in Bellingham increased 38% from 2022 to 2023, with yearly emissions increasing every year since 2015. The Bellingham Plan does not ensure that GHG emissions will be reduced in compliance with the GMA. The Bellingham Plan shows an increase in per capita vehicle miles traveled. The Bellingham Plan failed to adopt any reduction targets or milestones to monitor progress, instead relying on vague aspirational policies in the hopes that reductions would occur.

Whatcom County is responsible for ensuring that its Comprehensive Plan results in a reduction of GHG emissions and per capita VMT. This responsibility is coupled with the requirement to designate urban growth areas (UGAs). Bellingham also must comply with GMA climate requirements, and the Bellingham Plan’s failure to meet those requirements implicates the County’s actions with respect to Bellingham’s Urban Growth Area.

The Bellingham Plan failed to identify any targets or milestones for reducing GHG emissions. The City’s 2018 Climate Action Plan (CAP), which is not adopted by reference into the City’s GMA Plan, did set targets. The 2023 inventory shows that the City failed to meet 2020 targets and a significant change must take place to meet the 2018 CAP targets.

For the Draft Plan to meet the requirements of GMA, it must show that GHG emissions and per capita vehicle miles traveled will be reduced. WEC believes that Whatcom County should require the City to demonstrate compliance before it designates an urban growth area for the city. The City’s failure to comply with the GMA constitutes a substantial burden on the Draft Plan and helps to ensure that the Draft Plan similarly fails to reduce GHG and VMT.

For Those Who Fight

by Rick Eggerth

Rick Eggerth, WEC Board Member

May 13, 2026

In the beginning, all we knew was abundance. Azure skies, with little taint of industry, freshened and stimulated our lungs and strengthened our bodies with every breath. Rivers and lakes, clean and pure, offered water that tasted like nectar of the Gods. Trees tickled the clouds and spread to a limitless horizon. And so many creatures lived along us, breathing the same air and drinking the same water, in beneficial coexistence. And our magnificent Pacific Northwest yielded salmon, the multitude of multitudes, that fed and nurtured soul and being and spirit and life for millennia, in ways we could not comprehend but that was more than sufficient for all those who accepted the natural system. And orca, our brethren people in the water, helped us comprehend how to live as Mother Earth intended.

Colonials bid farewell to the old world and set out to a new world, an unfathomable paradise, Eden unbound, unlike anything seen before, an efficient system of coexistence and symbiosis, finely honed and tuned to fulfill every need, every desire. But when we ate of this metaphoric tree of knowledge, we saw not that we were naked; rather, we saw that paradise could be unmade, exploited, and re-purposed to service insatiable ambition and avarice.

Mother nature could be raped and abused for minerals and fossil fuels, fouling air and water as they were re-made into unnatural substances that pollute and sicken and kill.

Trees could be cut, and burned and shaped, and the Earth, scalped and deprived of its lungs and nervous system, like Samson shorn of his locks, is made weak and ill.

Creatures could be hunted and killed and disposed of as annoying because they fell in the way of exploitation and occupied exploitable lands or resources.

And so we became modern, technological, educated, and so far removed from Eden that in our hubris we saw what we have made and somehow thought it was God’s ultimate creation. A creation made from unnatural parts obscenely stitched together, obscenely ceding power and wealth and honor to those who took the most. Empowering them even more with laws favoring not the world made to love and support us, but rather those who controlled the machinery and systems that reward plundering our natural home and family.

Though misuse and abuse is nothing to be proud of, those most responsible for the worst damage revel in taking ever more. Thus the damage continues, lessons unlearned, grace lost, compassion hard to find. As the powerful constantly assault and degrade our environment, resistance demands swimming upstream against a raging floodtide.

What can be done? How can anyone, or any one group, stand against such unrelenting pressure and power, much less beat it? How can we not be fatigued and dispirited and depressed by constant attacks, lies, disinformation, regulatory rollback, court defeats, and not feel that resistance is indeed futile?

And yet, in the face of such overwhelming force, hope abides. Not because any one community or organization can change the course of Federal ravage on the national stage. But local action is still possible. And sometimes, in some ways, local action becomes local impact that can evolve into local change. Especially impacts flowing from people and groups joining together with shared purpose that magnifies their efforts. And as local change accumulates, the results may eventually extend beyond local communities, maybe even to the national arena.

While some may call this fanciful thinking, it had much to do with creating the Whatcom Environmental Council. In the full fury of a Force-5 hurricane of Federal pressure, in 2024 the Whatcom Environmental Council was born. In what some may view as the equivalent of spitting into a gale blowing full in our faces, a group of retirees assembled to pool their experience, expertise, knowledge, and passion, to declare their intent to try to make a difference. A difference for those living and working in Whatcom County. A difference for those who care about this special place that we all are lucky to call home.

But, inevitably, gathering together to try to make a difference raises the question: Have we succeeded? Somewhat startlingly for such a young organization, we have. We wrote dozens of advocacy letters to cities and the county on a myriad of subjects, at least a few of which actually helped facilitate a change of mind into better local governance. We hosted social/educational events on wonky-yet-critical subjects like why further developing Bellingham’s south Samish Crest area makes no sense and why shutting down incinerators at Post Point will help us all breathe easier.

And then, when the need was greatest, we did not fear litigation. We were one of six environmental non-governmental organizations that appealed the County’s decision to permit 31 projects built by AltaGas at its Cherry Point transshipment facility, despite AltaGas ignoring the laws demanding project permits—all while County Council had imposed a moratorium against such expansion by Cherry Point industries. And despite the County, once learning of the 31 unpermitted projects, not objecting to what had surreptitiously been done. And we won! The Whatcom County Hearing Examiner roundly criticized the County for accepting without independent thought what AltaGas whispered in its ear and ordered the County to go back and give independent environmental review to the projects.

Nor was WEC a silent bystander during the three-day proceeding before the Hearing Examiner. A key witness—perhaps the key witness—was WEC’s own David Stalheim, a retired municipal planner, former head of Whatcom County’s planning department, who thoroughly dissected the flaws in the County’s conduct, and why those actions require remediation. Without him, who knows who would have been found to stand as an opposition witness against the political power and weight of the County and the corporate power and money of AltaGas?

And now litigation has again found WEC, as we appeal to Washington State’s Growth Management Hearing Board the City of Bellingham’s Comprehensive Plan Update, approved by City Council just last December. This Update fails to curb sprawl, does not limit greenhouse gas emissions or traffic congestion, and does not promote maximum development limitations at Lake Whatcom, literally the water from which we drink.

Lake Whatcom (Source: Julia Tellman, Cascadia Daily News)

Unfortunately, the truism that lawyers ain’t cheap still holds true, so to do the work WEC was created to do for the people of Whatcom County, we now must ask for help from those very people. As noted above, people and groups joining together with shared purpose can work to yield benefit for all. So we ask that, if these issues WEC is confronting for the benefit of all are important to you, please let us know with your financial support. Here’s a donate button: 

Donate

We literally cannot do this work without you. If helping to plant a small immoveable object in the path of an unstoppable force feels important, please, let us know by introducing us to your wallets. Meanwhile, we will continue to advocate, educate, and litigate as best we can. Because now, perhaps more than ever before, local change matters.