U.S. impacts of climate change are intensifying, federal report says
A massive report issued by the Trump administration on Friday emphasizes the dire threat that human-caused global warming poses to the United States and its citizens.
"Earth’s climate is now changing faster than at any point in the history of modern civilization, primarily as a result of human activities," the report states.
The 1,600-page report details the climate and economic impacts U.S. residents will see if drastic action is not taken to address climate change.
"The impacts of global climate change are already being felt in the United States and are projected to intensify in the future," the report notes.
Warming oceans are contributing to global warming and unusual weather patterns.
DURK TALSMA, GETTY IMAGES
The federal report says the last few years have smashed records for damaging weather in the U.S., costing nearly $400 billion since 2015. It also said that in a worst-case scenario, climate change could deliver a 10 percent hit to the nation's GDP by the end of the century.
It also found that climate change threatens the health and well-being of the American people by causing increasing extreme weather, changes to air quality, the spread of new diseases by insects and pests and changes to the availability of food and water.
Report co-author Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University said it shows the dangerous weather that scientists said will happen in the United States is already happening.
The report is officially called Volume II of the National Climate Assessment. As first mandated by Congress in the late 1980s, the assessment is prepared every four years by the nation's top scientists from 13 agencies. It's meant as a reference for the president, Congress and the public.
Volume I was released in 2017.
The White House report quietly issued Friday also frequently contradicts President Donald Trump, who took to Twitter on Wednesday night to again express his doubts about climate change, using the especially cold Thanksgiving forecast as an example.
"Brutal and Extended Cold Blast could shatter ALL RECORDS - Whatever happened to Global Warming?" the president tweeted.
But weather isn't climate, the report said, noting that cold snaps can occur even as the planet warms overall: “Over shorter timescales and smaller geographic regions, the influence of natural variability can be larger than the influence of human activity ... Over climate timescales of multiple decades, however, global temperature continues to steadily increase.”
Environmental groups quickly reacted to the report:
“Any remaining debate on the reality of climate change is over," said Lou Leonard of the World Wildlife Fund. "The Bush, Obama, and now Trump Administrations have all published reports showing the current and future impacts to the United States from climate change. Each report is increasingly dire."
Contributing: The Associated Press
Updated 1 hour ago
U.S. impacts of climate change are intensifying, federal report says
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