Meet Steven Chu. The appointed U.S Energy Secretary has shaped the climate change dialogue in much more dire terms than we’ve heard before. In his first interview on the job, he told the Los Angeles Times, "I don't think the American public has gripped in its gut what could happen. We're looking at a scenario where there's no more agriculture in California. I don't actually see how they can keep their cities going."

Certain polls support his theory: The American public hasn’t come to grips with the impacts of climate change. But Chu, a Nobel laureate and former Berkley professor, citing California is an appropriate example of new dangers. California’s year round wildfires have been blamed on a decline in spring run-off and their department of water resources said the state's snow-pack was currently at sixty-one percent of normal levels as agencies impose rations early. "We may be at the start of the worst California drought in modern history," department director Lester Snow said. "It's imperative for Californians to conserve water immediately at home and in their businesses."

Across the Western region you can see the reduction as demonstrated by this image. According to the journal Science, sixty percent of the changes in the West's water cycle are due to a rise in atmospheric greenhouse gases.

These are valid associations with climate change which inevitably raise public awareness, all part of what Chu hopes will "wake the American people up," though in California there’s evidently not much choice.

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