Administration releases climate change report, warns of dramatic warming
June 16th, 2009On Tuesday (June 16) the US Global Change Research Program released its report Global Climate Change Impacts in United States. The report finds that Americans are already being affected by climate change through extreme weather, drought and wildfire trends and lays out how the nation’s transportation, agriculture, health, water and energy sectors will be affected in the future.
The study also finds that the current trend in the emission of greenhouse gas pollution is significantly above the worst-case scenarios that have previously been considered.
Among the main findings:
- Heat waves will become more frequent and intense, increasing threats to human health and quality of life. Extreme heat will also affect transportation and energy systems, and crop and livestock production.
- Increased heavy downpours will lead to more flooding, waterborne diseases, negative effects on agriculture, and disruptions to energy, water, and transportation systems.
- Reduced summer runoff and increasing water demands will create greater competition for water supplies in some regions, especially in the West.
- Rising water temperatures and ocean acidification threaten coral reefs and the rich ecosystems they support. These and other climate-related impacts on coastal and marine ecosystems will have major implications for tourism and fisheries.
- Insect infestations and wildfires are already increasing and are projected to increase further in a warming climate.
- Local sea-level rise of over three feet on top of storm surges will increasingly threaten homes and other coastal infrastructure. Coastal flooding will become more frequent and severe, and coastal land will increasingly be lost to the rising seas.
As Joseph Romm puts it at Climate Progress, if we stay on our current greenhouse gas emissions path, then Americans face hell:
The report puts warming at 9 to 11°F over the vast majority of the inland U.S.
The Northwest Assessment details impacts in Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Western Montana. A warming climate will mean reduced summer stream flows and reduced water availability for agriculture, more and more intense forest fires, coastal damage from rising sea levels and more powerful storms, and even more trouble for endangered salmon.