U.S. Releases Fourth National Climate Assessment
The U.S. Government released its fourth report on climate change last week over the Thanksgiving holiday break. The report was mandated by the U.S. Congress in the Global Change Research Act of 1990, and it is prepared under the auspices of the U.S. Global Change Research Program. The report concludes that "the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming . . . , that the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats to Americans’ physical, social, and economic well-being are rising."
In addition:
"The warming trend observed over the past century can only be explained by the effects that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, have had on the climate."
"[N]either global efforts to mitigate the causes of climate change nor regional efforts to adapt to the impacts currently approach the scales needed to avoid substantial damages to the U.S. economy, environment, and human health and well-being over the coming decades."
"Climate change threatens to exacerbate existing social and economic inequalities that result in higher exposure and sensitivity to extreme weather and climate-related events and other changes."
As has been widely reported, the report predicts that U.S. gross domestic product will decrease by 10 percent by century's end. Farmers may produce 75 percent fewer acres of corn and 25 percent fewer acres of soybeans; and the incidence of Zika, Dengue fever and West Nile Virus will increase, along with many other potentially catastrophic side effects.
Read more here.