When Charles Goldman speaks people listen. They also laugh.
While Goldman may understand Lake Tahoe’s ecology better than anyone because he’s been studying it since 1958, he is also a master storyteller. A scientist who makes an audience laugh is a rare thing.
Charles Goldman
Goldman was back in Tahoe in June to give a talk about limnology, which is the study of fresh water aquatic systems. This is the 93-year-old’s specialty.
“We can’t talk about climate change without considering the world population is really increasing. It just hit 8.1 billion,” he told the audience at UC Davis Tahoe Science Center in Incline Village on the UNR Lake Tahoe campus. “Between 2012 and 2024 we added a billion people.”
More people means limited resources like water are being consumed in larger quantities. Goldman said the global average water footprint is 1,240 cubic meters per year. This compares to China where individuals on average use 700 cubic meters annually, while people in the U.S. consume 2,480 cubic meters/year.
Goldman said there is little debate anymore among scientists; the majority believe humans are to blame for the changing climate. Government agencies like NASA, NOAA, the pentagon all agree.
“Since 1950, the earth has warmed 2.45 degrees. Almost all of the warming has been caused by human activities,” Goldman said.
Graphics illustrated the disappearance of ice as well as the increase of heat in the world.
Goldman pointed out that in July 2023 world temperatures were the hottest the earth has seen in 100,000 years, adding that for consecutive years the minimum ice volume keeps hitting records.
“The average temperatures in Tahoe are going up. The average lowest temperature are steeper. It’s a wonderful example of greenhouse effect,” Goldman said.
A warmer Lake Tahoe has seen algae rates rise steadily; increasing about 5 percent a year since it was first studied in 1960, according to Goldman.
Development in the basin has been detrimental to the environment—whether it’s paving over a sensitive marsh when the Tahoe Keys was constructed, or having erosion problems when Heavenly Mountain Resort was built. Then there’s the introduction of nonnative plants like Eurasian milfoil, and animals like crayfish and Mysid shrimp.
Goldman said through the years he has been threatened by developers because his science and that of those who studied the lake with him proved builders were polluting the lake with sediment and in other ways.
The overall message was people can and should be doing a better job at protecting Lake Tahoe.
Note: Goldman will read from his children’s book “Tad’s Long Jump” at the inaugural Tahoe Literary Festival in Tahoe City on Oct. 12.
God bless Goldman for his work!
(St) Charles was the first person I met in Tahoe and the inspiration for the unexpected journey this lake took me on. His devotion to this Lake inspired me to learn and connect and once I did, the caring kept growing.
Now, I cry seeing his worse predictions come true. I can’t imagine how painful it must be for him. The first (white) person to stand up for what we needed to do to keep it clean, clear and reflecting the light of blue (while checking his cars for bombs). Yes, that is how much profit and power is at stake at this lake.
A song came to me last year while walking along the East Shore Trail, called “Good Morning Green Water…..You used to be Blue…despite our best thinking…we couldn’t come through”. I was told it was too negative to share and now I may need to revise the color, as south lake is brown, a dog died drinking the water, herbicides are put in the Tahoe Keys, but fertilized lawns with boats parked in front of them is “OK”.
Gratitude to Sierra Club for the lawsuit that shut down the herbicide experiment. But still the chemical company may use it to say ” hey, if this poison is ‘good enough’ for Lake Tahoe…you should be fine”