Politics

Climate Change Is Occurring Now, It Is Affecting Our Lives, And We Cannot Ignore It

By Karina

Today, the United States Global Change Research Program, a joint scientific venture of 13 federal agencies and the White House, released a report on the domestic impact of climate change. Key findings include:

Temperatures in the United States have already risen 1.5 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900. That increase is directly linked to human activities

Heavy downpours in the last 50 years have increased 67 percent in the Northeast and 31 percent in the Midwest. Unsurprisingly, this time has been marked by record flooding in those regions

The growing season now starts 2 weeks earlier

Projections of future impacts include:

Global temperatures could increase 11 degrees Fahrenheit, with greater overall increases in the United States

Increased heat, pests, water extremes, weeds and other impacts would have significant impacts on the agriculture and livestock sectors

Sea-level rise would be 3-4 feet by 2100, completely flooding places like the Everglades and Cape Canaveral

Speaker Pelosi on the report:

This national climate science report confirms the conclusions of credible scientists around the world: climate change is occurring now, it is affecting our lives, and we cannot ignore it.

The impact of the climate crisis on the United States and around the world is becoming increasingly severe. We face the threat of droughts in the Great Plains and water shortages in the Southwest, and extreme heat and declining air quality in the Northeast. We can and must address this challenge.

I recently saw the challenges of climate change firsthand in our own country when I led a congressional delegation to China and we stopped in Alaska. We heard from Native Alaskans about villages eroding into the sea, melting tundra, and changes in the health and number of salmon that many villages have relied on as their primary food source.

Climate change is a global security issue, an economic issue, an environmental health issue, and it is a moral issue. Congress is hard at work on a comprehensive solution to global warming that will cut pollution, create new clean energy jobs, save consumers billions of dollars in energy costs, and promote energy independence and security. It will be the impetus for new jobs and a new economic revival for our country.

Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming Chairman Ed Markey announced the Committee would hold a series of hearings on the effects spelled out in the report saying, “this report reinforces the science, renews our dedication to forging a national solution, and relegates the last bastions of climate denial to the dustbin of history.” The first hearing will be held on Thursday on the impacts of a warming world on America?s agriculture and forests.

Visit www.globalchange.gov to read the report and learn more about the impact of climate change where you live>>

Download the full report>>

Full post as published by The Gavel on June 16, 2009 (boomark / email).