According to a new
report from a combined 13 federal agencies, not yet made public, even if the
entire world stopped emitting greenhouse gases right this instant, we would
still feel half a degree warmer on average over the next hundred years from the
average today.
That’s the primary conclusion of the report, obtained by the New
York Times, that is sitting
in limbo awaiting Trump’s approval for release.
One contributor to the findings, speaking
anonymously, said that he and many of the scientists involved in its production
are concerned that the Trump administration will suppress it.
That would be no
surprise: Donald Trump made it a cornerstone of his candidacy — and a primary point of his presidency — to deny the effects of
global warming.
But this report,
should it ever see the light of day, confirms much of what scientists have been
saying, despite Trump’s denials.
Among the key
findings:
- Global temperature averages have risen drastically since the start of the Reagan years
- Recent decades have been the hottest since at least the early sixth century
- Here in the US, the number and severity of cool nights have decreased, while the number and severity of hot days has increased over the last six decades
- Parts of the West, Southwest, and Southeast are drying up
- Surface, air, and water temperatures in Alaska and the Arctic are warming twice as fast as the global average
Unfortunately, one of
the people who must sign off on this report before it is released as a public
finding is Scott Pruitt, Donald Trump’s appointee to the Environmental Protection Agency.
Pruitt has stated on
far too many occasions that he absolutely does not believe that carbon dioxide
emissions are a primary contributor to global warming.
Although it explains
his position, the irony is that Pruitt has no scientific background whatsoever.
If he did, he couldn’t
possibly disagree with this basic scientific fact — regardless of your
political position on climate change, CO² absolutely warms any environment it’s
found in.
Knowing what we do now about the government censoring climate change data in other agencies, it feels like too much to expect
this report to come out, or at least unredacted. But at least we have the leaks
from our reliable press to keep us in the loop.
Author Andrew hates long walks on the beach, glitter, and men's rights
activists. He can usually be found with his long-suffering wife, who can
usually be found asking him to please not order onions on that burger, babe.