White House Sounds Alarm On Climate Change
Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney speaks during a campaign stop at Southwest Office Systems, Tuesday, June 5, 2012, in Fort Worth, Texas. / AP Photo/Evan Vucci
Harmful effects from global warming are already here and worsening, warns the first climate report from Barack Obama's presidency in the strongest language on climate change ever to come out of the White House.
Global warming has already caused more heavy downpours, the rise of temperatures and sea levels, rapidly retreating glaciers and altered river flows, according to the document released Tuesday by the White House science adviser and other top officials.
"There are in some cases already serious consequences," report co-author Anthony Janetos of the University of Maryland told The Associated Press. "This is not a theoretical thing that will happen 50 years from now. Things are happening now."
The White House document - a climate status report required periodically by Congress - contains no new research. But it paints a fuller, more cohesive and darker picture of global warming in the United States than previous studies and brief updates during the George W. Bush years. Bush was ultimately forced to issue a draft report last year by a lawsuit, and that document was the basis for this new one.
One administration official, Jane Lubchenco, called the new report a game changer that would inform policy but not dictate a particular solution.
"This report provides the concrete scientific information that says unequivocally that climate change is happening now and it's happening in our own backyards and it affects the kind of things people care about," Lubchenco said at a White House briefing. Her agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was among the key contributors to the document.
According to the report, in the Northeast by late this century, summer will arrive three full weeks earlier - so hot that in New Hampshire summers will become more like those in North Carolina, reports CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Hartford, Connecticut and Philadelphia will suffer through 100-degree temperatures for up to 30 days a year.
In the Southeast, rising water temperatures will feed ever more intense hurricanes, reports Sieberg. They may not hit land, but if they do, rising sea levels may wipe out wetlands that usually slow storms.
Throughout much of the West, wildfires will increase and animals and plants ranging from monarch butterflies to cactus will be harmed as higher temperatures affect habitats, adds Sieberg. On the west coast, California cities already have the worst air quality in the nation with 8,800 deaths a year. That's expected to get even worse with rising heat levels.
But diehard critics remain unconvinced.
"Somebody has a story they're trying to pitch, agenda that they're selling," James Taylor of the Heartland Institute told Sieberg. "But they're not necessarily basing their report on the best available science."
The "major disruptions" already taking place will only increase as warming continues, the authors wrote. They project the average U.S. temperature could rise by as much as 11 degrees by the end of the century.
"Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems," the study said in one of its key findings, adding that it could affect the survival of some species.
For example in the past few decades, winters in parts of the Midwest have warmed by several degrees and the time without frost has grown by a week, according to the report.
Shorter winters have some benefits, such as longer growing seasons, but those are changes that require adjustments just the same, the authors note.
"We're already seeing impacts across the nation," said co-author Virginia Burkett, coordinator of global change science at the U.S. Geological Survey. "The evidence is much stronger than it has been."
White House science adviser John Holdren said in a statement that the findings make the case for taking action to slow global warming - both by reducing emissions and adapting to the changes that "are no longer avoidable."
"It tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later," Holdren said.
Jerry Melillo, one of the report's authors, said at a White House briefing Tuesday that if action is taken soon to reduce heat-trapping gases, chances improve for avoiding some of the effects detailed in the report.
"There are a lot of things that are potentially possible if we don't bring climate change under control, and we would like to see them avoided," said Melillo, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory.
The report compiles years of scientific research and updates it with new data. It was produced by the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program, relying on government, academic and research experts.
Water - too much or too little - is a dominant theme through much of the report, which says that resource will continue to be a major problem in every region of the country.
"Water permeates this document," Burkett said. She said the U.S. Southwest will get drier and hotter and that will be a crucial issue.
The nearly 200-page report has chapters examining the effects of global warming in each region - from coastal zoning officials who must consider sea rise to Midwestern farmers recalculating their planting seasons.
Federal law requires comprehensive reports on global warming's effects every four years. An environmental group sued to force the Bush administration to issue an early draft of this report last summer because one had not been written since 2000. Since that time, the language has become stronger, but mostly because of fresher research, scientists said.
"The emphasis has shifted from just looking at the physical climate science to adapting to change," Burkett said in an interview.
© 2009 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Global warming has already caused more heavy downpours, the rise of temperatures and sea levels, rapidly retreating glaciers and altered river flows, according to the document released Tuesday by the White House science adviser and other top officials.
"There are in some cases already serious consequences," report co-author Anthony Janetos of the University of Maryland told The Associated Press. "This is not a theoretical thing that will happen 50 years from now. Things are happening now."
The White House document - a climate status report required periodically by Congress - contains no new research. But it paints a fuller, more cohesive and darker picture of global warming in the United States than previous studies and brief updates during the George W. Bush years. Bush was ultimately forced to issue a draft report last year by a lawsuit, and that document was the basis for this new one.
One administration official, Jane Lubchenco, called the new report a game changer that would inform policy but not dictate a particular solution.
"This report provides the concrete scientific information that says unequivocally that climate change is happening now and it's happening in our own backyards and it affects the kind of things people care about," Lubchenco said at a White House briefing. Her agency, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was among the key contributors to the document.
According to the report, in the Northeast by late this century, summer will arrive three full weeks earlier - so hot that in New Hampshire summers will become more like those in North Carolina, reports CBS News science and technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg. Hartford, Connecticut and Philadelphia will suffer through 100-degree temperatures for up to 30 days a year.
In the Southeast, rising water temperatures will feed ever more intense hurricanes, reports Sieberg. They may not hit land, but if they do, rising sea levels may wipe out wetlands that usually slow storms.
Throughout much of the West, wildfires will increase and animals and plants ranging from monarch butterflies to cactus will be harmed as higher temperatures affect habitats, adds Sieberg. On the west coast, California cities already have the worst air quality in the nation with 8,800 deaths a year. That's expected to get even worse with rising heat levels.
But diehard critics remain unconvinced.
"Somebody has a story they're trying to pitch, agenda that they're selling," James Taylor of the Heartland Institute told Sieberg. "But they're not necessarily basing their report on the best available science."
The "major disruptions" already taking place will only increase as warming continues, the authors wrote. They project the average U.S. temperature could rise by as much as 11 degrees by the end of the century.
"Thresholds will be crossed, leading to large changes in climate and ecosystems," the study said in one of its key findings, adding that it could affect the survival of some species.
For example in the past few decades, winters in parts of the Midwest have warmed by several degrees and the time without frost has grown by a week, according to the report.
Shorter winters have some benefits, such as longer growing seasons, but those are changes that require adjustments just the same, the authors note.
"We're already seeing impacts across the nation," said co-author Virginia Burkett, coordinator of global change science at the U.S. Geological Survey. "The evidence is much stronger than it has been."
White House science adviser John Holdren said in a statement that the findings make the case for taking action to slow global warming - both by reducing emissions and adapting to the changes that "are no longer avoidable."
"It tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later," Holdren said.
Jerry Melillo, one of the report's authors, said at a White House briefing Tuesday that if action is taken soon to reduce heat-trapping gases, chances improve for avoiding some of the effects detailed in the report.
"There are a lot of things that are potentially possible if we don't bring climate change under control, and we would like to see them avoided," said Melillo, a biologist at the Marine Biological Laboratory.
The report compiles years of scientific research and updates it with new data. It was produced by the interagency U.S. Global Change Research Program, relying on government, academic and research experts.
Water - too much or too little - is a dominant theme through much of the report, which says that resource will continue to be a major problem in every region of the country.
"Water permeates this document," Burkett said. She said the U.S. Southwest will get drier and hotter and that will be a crucial issue.
The nearly 200-page report has chapters examining the effects of global warming in each region - from coastal zoning officials who must consider sea rise to Midwestern farmers recalculating their planting seasons.
Federal law requires comprehensive reports on global warming's effects every four years. An environmental group sued to force the Bush administration to issue an early draft of this report last summer because one had not been written since 2000. Since that time, the language has become stronger, but mostly because of fresher research, scientists said.
"The emphasis has shifted from just looking at the physical climate science to adapting to change," Burkett said in an interview.
Popular in SciTech
- Microsoft announces Xbox One
- Microsoft's new Xbox: What to expect, where to watch
- The 7 weirdest things made by 3D printing
- Microsoft announces Xbox One 16 Photos
- Power of Okla. tornado surpassed Hiroshima bomb
- NY official: Airbnb stay illegal; host fined $2,400
- Watch: NASA captures Okla. tornado from space Play Video
- Calif. teen wins Intel Science Research competition Play Video
Six and a half billion people placed together in one spot will only take up a little over 500 square miles, about the size of L A, compare that with the size of the planet, then with the size of our small galaxy, ain't very big is it?
"cra**per" first, then play superman all you want. Make active volcano's
and melting glaciers illegal. It makes about as much sense.
A concrete wall, roof, and floor will eliminate further need for exterior paint, timber, or asphault composite shingle roofing. Curb appeal will certainly be redirected to landscaping and lawn care.
Home insurance will go down since simple sprinkler systems can be installed to extinguish fires.
Coastal cities can re-zone and move all under-ground homes further inland where high enough elevations exist to prevent flooding.
With a combination of more fuel efficient vehicles and undergroud homes and reduced community carbon footprints, ozone levels can be reduced to low or even negligable levels and improve air quality for entire regions.
The answer to global warming is in underground homes and electric vehicles.
Now with that depressing thought that doesn't mean for the rest of us to do nothing. Yes, Congress and the President can pass some laws and set the tone of where this country could go with its infrastructure, BUT?.. ultimately..... it is WE THE PEOPLE who will pull us out of this environmental and economic mess by improving our own lifestyles. We have to become a responsible and resilient people.
A Resilient People:
* would be a frugal and energy conservation minded not because it's the latest green fad but because it?s wise and efficient and part of their lifestyle.
* answer the call for SERVICE rather than just SHOPPING.
* A Resilient People will say in shape and eat the right foods so they better themselves AND so as not to jack up health care and energy costs ?.which affect other people too!.
* know and understands their civic responsibility. They have an understanding what our Constitution is all about and they VOTE!
* have a can do attitude, they problem solve and they don't shy away from the tough decisions.
That is the kind of people we need to deal with any crisis be it climate change or what not.
The current global warming cycle began at the end of the last Ice Age approximately 15,000 years ago.
Like most Americans, I'm for clean air, clean water and the protection of our wildlife habitat.
The United States population has increased from 150 million in 1952 to 300 million in 2008. When the human population doubles - the human waste doubles, water and food consumption doubles, trash doubles, fuel use doulbles and human pregnancy doubles. The Obamas and Gores are using scare tactics to control their social agendas on the American citizens. Has anyone considered reducing our population?
[][][][][]
Buddy, you hit the nail on the head. Any new economic model that comes from the implosion of our current perpetual growth economic model will need to factor in Zero Population Growth.
The planet is FINITE, so an infinite economic growth model is DOA.
Nevermind the FACT that the earth is moving toward and will cross the galactic equator in about 3 years - this happens roughly every 25000-26000 years - try google for more information. Nevermind the FACT that ice is melting on planet MARS at a faster than average rate - not too SUV's on MARS. Liberalism = junk science and chicken little scare tactics - whatta JOKE!!!
[][][]
We are in an unusually long solar minimum, nimrod. The earth should be cooling not warming. That would indicate some other factor is modifying the climate. Even very presence of a city creates its own micro-climate. But somehow it is beyond the comprehension of the average god worshiper that we could be responsible for Climate Change.
Give me a link to your supposed "science".