New Report
Shows That Climate Change Is Already Having Major Impact
A brand new report was
released Tuesday by the U.S. government saying that climate change is already
having a major impact on us, affecting both the weather and our economy.
It
seems that people who are convinced that if this is a problem at all, it is a
problem for the distant future, are clearly not paying attention. This report
points out serious changes going on all over the country and concludes that
man-made climate change is already causing problems, and it is only
strengthening.
“Climate change is already affecting the American people in far-reaching ways. Certain types of extreme weather events with links to climate change have become more frequent and/or intense, including prolonged periods of heat, heavy downpours, and, in some regions, floods and droughts. In addition, warming is causing sea level to rise and glaciers and Arctic sea ice to melt, and oceans are becoming more acidic as they absorb carbon dioxide. These and other aspects of climate change are disrupting people’s lives and damaging some sectors of our economy.”
One of the major differences between this report and the two
that came before it, is that scientists now are far more convinced that most of
the planet’s warming is being caused directly by humans….specifically, the
burning of fossil fuels. This chart from the report shows where the planet’s
temperatures would be based on natural factors versus human influence.
Here is another graphic that shows ten strong indicators of
global warming. The white arrows show the increasing trends, while the black
arrows show the decreasing trends.
This next chart clearly shows the “clear national trend
toward a greater amount of precipitation being concentrated in very heavy
events, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest.”
In other words, it shows
how we are experiencing massive rain fall.As this latest report shows, the
impacts of climate change are already quite evident, and they are expected to
become more and more disruptive to our daily lives.
If we look at regions of
the U.S. we can easily see things like longer and warmer summer seasons and
shorter winters. This could actually have a beneficial affect on the economy in
some places when you look at longer harvest and growing seasons for farmers, for
example.
But at the same time, these longer and warmer growing seasons
when combined with carbon dioxide levels actually produce far more pollen.
We’ve seen this already with longer and more intense allergy seasons for so
many in this country.
The bottom line of this report is that we can no longer
procrastinate about climate change. The overwhelming scientific
evidence proves that climate change is already affecting the American people
now. And what we decide to do about it will affect our immediate future, along
with the lives of future generations.
