Despite the Trump administration’s well-known hostility to science, and especially to acknowledging the existence and causes of climate change, it did not block publication of a report prepared by more than a dozen federal agencies.
The Fourth National Climate Assessment concludes that human activities are the primary causes of climate change.
This assessment concludes, based on extensive evidence, that it is extremely likely that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are the dominant cause of the observed warming since the mid-20th century,” it says. “For the warming over the last century, there is no convincing alternative explanation supported by the extent of the observational evidence.”
“Globally averaged, annually averaged surface air temperature has increased by about 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit, or 1 degree Centigrade, over the last 115 years,” David Fahey, an atmospheric scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and one of the leading authors of the report, told reporters. “This period is now the warmest in the history of modern civilization.”
The report cites “thousands of studies conducted by researchers around the world” that show evidence of a warming globe, including “changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapor.”
It includes dire warnings about the impact of climate change on human activities.
Heavy rainfall, which causes flooding, is expected to increase over the rest of the century, and heat waves will become more frequent.
Severe weather events like forest fires and drought will grow more prevalent, and sea levels will rise “by at least several inches in the next 15 years and by 1–to-4 feet by 2100.”
This underlines warnings from scientists around the globe who say the only way to get climate change under control will be to reduce the amount of greenhouse gas emissions, especially carbon dioxide.
Emission growth has slowed in recent years, but the report concludes it’s not enough to keep temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius, the limit at which scientists expect the worst effects of climate change to be irreversible…
The report is mandated by Congress, with three federal agencies — NOAA, NASA and the Department of Energy — coordinating its publication. It uses research from thousands of scientists around the world.
Another way to look at climate change: by the year 2070, Mar-a-Lago might be underwater.
Rick Perry, Secretary of the Department of Energy, said a few days ago when interviewed on Meet the Press that fossil fuels were a deterrent to sexual assaults. When the lights are on, he said, bad things are less likely to happen. When Perry accepted the offer to be Secretary of Energy, he thought that his job was to promote the sale of fossil fuels; he didn’t realize that the main job of the Secretary is to oversee the nation’s nuclear arsenal. But he is nonetheless promoting fossil fuels. Not the brightest bulb in the Cabinet. Wonder what powers that bulb?
Not the brightest bulb in the Cabinet. Wonder what powers that bulb?
That line has made my day.
I wonder why the good people of Texas put this dim bulb in the governor’s office for two terms?
This report shows up once again the ignorance and arrogance of Trump, Pruitt and Perry.
I had to laugh at: Mar-a-Lago under water. Good one, Diane.
Sink hole in front of Mar-a-Lago: http://time.com/4788455/trump-mar-a-lago-sinkhole/
Maybe tRump will be swallowed. I smile at this image.
The effects of fossil fuels plus the hot air coming out of DC is deadly.
“When Perry accepted the offer to be Secretary of Energy, he thought that his job was to promote the sale of fossil fuels; he didn’t realize that the main job of the Secretary is to oversee the nation’s nuclear arsenal.”
The nuclear weapons states, especially Russia and the U.S., now possess more than 15,000 nuclear weapons, and first Obama and now, Trump, have authorized “modernization” of the U.S. nuclear arsenal, making these weapons “easier to use”. Russia and China are following suit.
But it would take only about 100 nuclear weapons to cause a Nuclear Winter, which would end most life on this planet. See: Multidecadal global cooling and unprecedented ozone loss following a regional nuclear conflict – Mills – 2014 – Earth’s Future
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2013EF000205/full
If we truly care about our children and grandchildren, we should ALL be working not only to reverse catastrophic climate chaos, but to eliminate every last nuclear weapon, as the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize-winning International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) organization has strongly urged, despite the nuclear weapons states ignoring its calls for nuclear weapons elimination, as the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons has required since 1968.
Nuclear weapons are omnicidal and suicidal. Sane, sensible societies eliminate them; they don’t “modernize” them.
To solve the Climate debate just take Rupert Murdoch and tie him down to a certain Miami street on Sunny Day . Should end the debate quickly .
http://www.newsmax.com/MKTNews/global-warming-hoax-facts/2014/10/17/id/601458/
This repudiates the findings. Also, more CO2 is emitted into the atmosphere by both the oceans and volcanoes than by man.
One major thing that Al Gore got wrong is is cause and effect. He has said that temperatures increased after the increase in CO2, historically. If you look at the graphs you’ll see that CO2 increased after the rise in temperatures and not before therefore, the rise in CO2 is an effect of the rise in temperatures and not a cause of same.
Schmitz,
Newsmax has repudiated the findings of NASA, NOAA, and thousands of scientists? Sorry. No sale.
What next? Breitbart?
Reblogged this on David R. Taylor-Thoughts on Education.
Not the brightest bulb in the Cabinet. Wonder what powers that bulb?
Funny, I once had a School Finance professor that said the same thing. He was Little Ricky’s HS Principal…lol