Environment & Energy
Related: About this forumScientist leaks massive climate change report to NYT
Government Report Finds Drastic Impact of Climate Change on U.S.
WASHINGTON The average temperature in the United States has risen rapidly and drastically since 1980, and recent decades have been the warmest of the past 1,500 years, according to a sweeping federal climate change report awaiting approval by the Trump administration.
The draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which has not yet been made public, concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. It directly contradicts claims by President Trump and members of his cabinet who say that the human contribution to climate change is uncertain, and that the ability to predict the effects is limited.
Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans, a draft of the report states. A copy of it was obtained by The New York Times.
The authors note that thousands of studies, conducted by tens of thousands of scientists, have documented climate changes on land and in the air. Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse (heat-trapping) gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change, they wrote...
More at link.
Why would a scientist leak a draft report? Because, as this twitter thread explains, here are the heads of the thirteen agencies who would have had to sign off on it before it went public:
Link to tweet
NRaleighLiberal
(59,940 posts)on the front edge of experiencing how things are changing, and how rapidly
JackintheGreen
(2,036 posts)A colleague of mine just completed a USAG research project on this connected to his PhD in the upper Midwest down into northern Illinois. Using a huge data set comprising large and small farmers...and they (the farmers) just don't see it that way. That's what the data suggests, at any rate.
NRaleighLiberal
(59,940 posts)Weed pressures are far more extreme.
I know many who won't admit it. Doesn't fit their belief system
JackintheGreen
(2,036 posts)A lot of it has to do with memory and lifespan and its collision with belief (or the danger of admitting the evidence). Most of us from farm country remember or have been told stories about bad years. The changes we see now, while quantitatively different, fit the pattern of oral history. It's often easier to believe that things will simply cycle out than to admit that difficult change is required.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)
no one would ever have planted anything before Memorial Day
Check out this handy animation: https://www.arborday.org/media/mapchanges.cfm
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)We live in an area that on that map is yellow but I know things have changed since than partially because I can now grow some Zone 5 plants up here that I couldn't when we moved into this 'Zone 4' area 12 yrs ago plus we have weeds, birds, etc from warmer zones increasingly moving up into this one.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)I gave the other for the animation, showing how the zones had changed.
WePurrsevere
(24,259 posts)You can compare and see the differences but seeing the change animated seems to hit home a bit harder IME.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)...no go, which is why I used the one I did.
trixie2
(905 posts)Here is just a snippet:
Human survival, for urban and rural communities, depends on other life on Earth, the experts write in their analysis published in the journal Science. Climate change is impelling a universal redistribution of life on Earth.
Here is an interesting map.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)trixie2
(905 posts)What I meant was, in the general public, even those who are with us on climate change tend to disregard animals and plants and the ramifications that are being observed now.
Nice to see another eco-geek like myself.
OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)Read the Draft of the Climate Change Report
A draft report by scientists from 13 federal agencies, which has not yet been made public but was obtained by The New York Times, concludes that Americans are feeling the effects of climate change right now. The report was completed this year and is part of the National Climate Assessment, which is congressionally mandated every four years.
SeattleVet
(5,468 posts)This massive study needs to be distributed far and wide. Just finished the Summary section, and it is very scary - and extremely well researched.
SunSeeker
(51,378 posts)It is a measure of how desperate our situation is that scientists are stepping up like this.
femmedem
(8,188 posts)Glad to have you here.
shanny
(6,709 posts)OKIsItJustMe
(19,933 posts)Theyve been getting more politically active in the past few months
Rhiannon12866
(203,041 posts)And welcome to DU! We're glad to have you with us!
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)I saw that earlier. Beautiful.
I think there was a time the NYT would not have published it without giving the President the opportunity to review and comment. However, in these dangerous times, they have to move fast, before it is too late, blocked or something.
BigmanPigman
(51,432 posts)to the public. I am glad this got out already. I noticed that they released it now for fear it will be suppressed by the admin. What fucking country am I living in?! Suppressing scientific data so that his greedy oil soaked buddies can get even richer. I HATE HIM! I HATE THEM!
Our country has to rely on scientists in other countries and their data. No wonder so many are resigning in the various agencies. They have self respect and integrity.
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)NYC won't get that sea wall built from bake sale revenues.
PoliticAverse
(26,366 posts)The Times issued a correction on page A17 of its Wednesday edition.
"An article on Tuesday about a sweeping federal climate change report referred incorrectly to the availability of the report," the paper wrote. "While it was not widely publicized, the report was uploaded by the nonprofit Internet Archive in January; it was not first made public by The New York Times."
femmedem
(8,188 posts)Embarrassing for the NYT, but it means no one is going to lose their job over it.