Federal report sounds alarm on growing impact of climate change

[Mrs. Overall]

Source: The Hill

A new climate report from the federal government released Friday warns that current global and regional efforts to stave off the devastating effects of climate change are insufficient.

The report, the first of its kind released under the Trump administration, finds that climate change is expected to interrupt the way people live day-to-day as it ravages infrastructure, impacts human health, poses challenges to the global economy and threatens the world's energy supply.

The Global Change Research Act of 1990 mandates that the federal government releases a report about global warming and climate change every four years. This report, the Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), is the latest fulfillment of that mandate. It is the counterpart to the Climate Science Special Report, which was released last year.

The damning report, which analyzes the effects of climate change by U.S. region, comes as President Trump has continued to cast doubt on the scientific consensus that global warming and climate change are caused by human activity. Trump on Wednesday seemed to scoff at the idea of global warming, tweeting: "Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?"

Read more: https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/418036-federal-report-sounds-alarm-on-growing-impact-of-climate-change?__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true&__twitter_impression=true

[jcmaine72]

1. All the more reason to pursue impeachment of this madman.

He's insane. It's bad enough we have to endure Trump's idiocy, but does the rest of the world, including the planet itself, have to suffer because about 45% of our electorate are drool-dripping imbeciles?

This isn't a game. His Orangeness needs to be impeached. The Earth herself demands it.

[pangaia]

9. tell congress critters,

-write letters to them
-letters to editors
-emails
-phone calls
-stand on street corners
- add your own
...

[Mrs. Overall]

2. CNN headline: Climate change will have dire consequences for US, federal report concludes

https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/23/health/climate-change-report-bn/index.html

[Saviolo]

3. Another alarm bell ringing.

There are so many now that they all just blend together into background noise. Anyone who's paying attention is deafened by the din and begging those in power to do something, but the people who want to ignore it can't even hear any particular alarm over the general noise, so they just ignore all of it.

[tclambert]

13. He predicts "endless wildfires" in this clip.

Kind of spot on.

[appalachiablue]

4. K&R. What more will it take? How many will see this, Good Fri. news drop.

[Dorn]

5. Link to GlobalChange.gov -- summary report

Here is the link:
Summary Report

Summary of the summary: Climate change creates new risks and exacerbates existing vulnerabilities in communities across the United States, presenting growing challenges to human health and safety, quality of life, and the rate of economic growth.

Note to my mom: wake up!

[Mrs. Overall]

6. Bloomberg: Climate May Force Millions to Move and U.S. Isn't Ready, Report Finds

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-11-23/climate-may-force-millions-to-move-and-u-s-isn-t-ready-report

[tclambert]

14. This might make Michigan a growth state.

We're way above sea level, yet have long shorelines on the Great Lakes. That means pretty good access to fresh water. Of course, when Republicans run the state you have to worry about lead levels in your drinking water. But we just elected a Democrat to be our new governor.

Warmer temperatures may mean less snow. Lately, we've been training our snow to fall only on the lawns and not on the streets or driveways.

If a lot of people move here from Florida things could get weird. We may have to institute some sort of quota system for people migrating back from Florida, or require some sort of sanity test.

[NRaleighLiberal]

7. link to story in NYT - broke there half an hour ago

U.S. Climate Report Warns of Damaged Environment and Shrinking Economy



https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/climate/us-climate-report.html


WASHINGTON — A major scientific report issued by 13 federal agencies on Friday presents the starkest warnings to date of the consequences of climate change for the United States, predicting that if significant steps are not taken to rein in global warming, the damage will knock as much as 10 percent off the size of the American economy by century’s end.

The report, which was mandated by Congress and made public by the White House, is notable not only for the precision of its calculations and bluntness of its conclusions, but also because its findings are directly at odds with President Trump’s agenda of environmental deregulation, which he asserts will spur economic growth.

Mr. Trump has taken aggressive steps to allow more planet-warming pollution from vehicle tailpipes and power plant smokestacks, and has vowed to pull the United States out of the Paris Agreement, under which nearly every country in the world pledged to cut carbon emissions. Just this week, he mocked the science of climate change because of a cold snap in the Northeast, tweeting, “Whatever happened to Global Warming?”

But in direct language, the 1,656-page assessment lays out the devastating effects of a changing climate on the economy, health and environment, including record wildfires in California, crop failures in the Midwest and crumbling infrastructure in the South. Going forward, American exports and supply chains could be disrupted, agricultural yields could fall to 1980s levels by midcentury and fire season could spread to the Southeast, the report finds.


snip - more at the link - behind the paywall, unfortunately

[olddad56]

8. I'm so shocked.(not)

[SunSeeker]

10. Trump was forced by law to release this report, so they wait until Friday of a 4-day holiday weekend

[BigmanPigman]

11. Good point.

[tclambert]

12. Trump will demand immediate action . . . to silence the authors.

Who dares speak truth while Trump is in power must face the wrath of the twitter machine!

[moondust]

15. Trump's crime against humanity.

Opinion: Trump's failure to fight climate change is a crime against humanity

Al Gore says Trump administration seeks to "bury" climate report by releasing it on Black Friday

[Eugene]

16. Climate report: Trump administration downplays warnings of looming disaster

Source: The Guardian

Climate report: Trump administration downplays warnings of looming disaster

Democrats ramp up pressure to act in wake of most sobering government analysis yet

Oliver Milman
Sat 24 Nov 2018 17.40 GMT Last modified on Sat 24 Nov 2018 18.14 GMT

The Trump administration attempted to downplay the stark findings of its own climate change assessment, as Democrats sought to pressure the White House to avert looming economic and public health disaster.

The US National Climate change assessment, the work of 300 scientists and 13 federal agencies, was released on Friday afternoon. It found that wildfires, storms and heatwaves are already taking a major toll on Americans’ wellbeing, with climate change set to “disrupt many areas of life” in the future.

The voluminous report, which warns of hundreds of billions of dollars lost, crop failures, expanding wildfires, altered coastlines and multiplying health problems, represents the most comprehensive and sobering analysis yet of the dangers posed to the US by rising temperatures.

Climate change could slash up to a tenth of US GDP by the end of the century, the report found, with $1tn in coastal real estate threatened by rising sea levels and storms. Heatwaves are set to cause thousands of extra deaths and worsen conditions such as asthma and pulmonary disease through increased air pollution.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/nov/24/climate-change-report-trump-administration-democrats-reaction

[ck4829]

17. Kick