White House Sounds Alarm On Climate Change

Global Warming Damage Happening Now, Says Most Urgently Worded Federal Science Study Yet

(CBS/AP)  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.

[totalkaosdave]

If it gets any "warmer" I'm going to need another blanket...

[Aldymac]

With the galaxy heating up, there's really nothing any of us or the environmentalists can do. The enviros simply want power over all people so they can make every one else do what they say, the dynamics of the planet itself are such that humans really don't have much say over what happens. Then when you add the dynamics of the galaxy into the mix, just what is it the enviros really think they can do? play God?
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?

[thotman]

MY Scientist can beat up YOUR scientist!

Dont worry about the climate. You need to pull this country out of the
"cra**per" first, then play superman all you want. Make active volcano's
and melting glaciers illegal. It makes about as much sense.

[pensacola8-2009]

The most effective way to reduce every person's carbon footprint is to start building and inhabiting under-ground homes. When the ground temperature remains a cool 40-68 degrees, there is not much need for air conditioning or heating. This will remove nearly 60% of electrical seasonal requirements for air conditioning, and 90% of seasonal heating oil requirements on most above-ground homes.

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.

[ralpherus]

If all the ice melted right now, the water would run to the sea. The weight on the seafloor would suppress it so that the continents would bob up higher than they are. A few really huge and scary quakes would ensue... Over geologic time though, it would not be noticeable...and if they say three centimeters in a century- well, guess what folks: you are getting played like a violin. They are masters of deceit and obfuscation! They say but just think if we are right- oh it will be awful, and you agree, yeah, if they are right it would be awful...well, at least do that from both sides- what if you fall for it! What if you let cheap scum thieving fascist traitor murder pigs have absolute power over your lives? you honestly think they will do an effing thing FOR you and not TO you? How stupid and feeble are you morons? And, why has letterman not been fired yet? And why is couric still working at cbs and why is that cheap lying wench sawyer still at ABC? EVIL SKANKS ALL!!!

[ralpherus]

The BIGGEST threat to the world and to freedom is to Allow Democrats.

[prohb]

You know, I really wish you nay-sayers were right. I wish I were wrong. I really do. It would be so nice to just blindly go along with a energy wasting lifestyle. I don?t want to worry. I wish you cold stick it in my face that that I am just another namby pamby, Al Gore loving, progress-denying loser. I would grovel at your feet and admit you have won the argument. I really do. But... sadly.... you're not....
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.

[curse914]

by JerryJobes June 16, 2009 1:06 PM PDT
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.

[curse914]

by gulliberal June 16, 2009 4:20 PM PDT
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".

[curse914]

by Libertarian1776 June 16, 2009 12:23 PM PDT
"Globol warming or climate change is hog wash!
Of course the shoddy scientist's will follow money!
It's a new form of tax, a shell game that Al Gore is getting rich with.

[][][][]

So you are ok with paying 3 bucks and more at the pump to enrich Saudi. The very Saudis who sent their sons to knock down the towers.

[ubrew12]

Two years ago, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimated that sea levels would go up 10 inches or so by the end of the century. In making this estimate they didn't include the effect of ice melting off Greenlands ice-pack, or Antarctica's. NOW they admit that including these effects sea level will rise 3-5 feet by the end of the century, pretty much burying southern Florida.

Today estimates of global warming don't include the effect of melting Arctic permafrost or burping of oceanic methane clasts, which is estimated to dump tons of CO2 and methane into the atmosphere tripling any effect the IPCC has currently estimated.

Warming deniers say groups like the IPCC are overestimating the consequences of Global Warming. But recent history shows the opposite. They have consistently UNDERESTIMATED the effects of Global Warming, preferring to paint it with the 'happy face' policy-makers and right-wingers are looking for.

In doing so, they are doing our children and grandchildren NO favors!!

[michael_lyns]

Anyone who tells you they know what sea level will be in 100 years is crazy. Experts can't even agree if it is really warming or not. It all depends on where you take your measurements and how you analyze them. A system as complex as the climate can not be accurately modeled. Nor I believe can we change it, for better or worse.

[troutfishyman]

by stn_sage June 16, 2009 5:58 PM PDT
Finally, we need to see how events play out over the next 3-5 years,
then we can make corrections.



The time for "wait and see" is over. Action is needed NOW.

[michael_lyns]

Isn't that what Bush said just before invading Iraq?

[troutfishyman]

by stn_sage June 16, 2009 5:58 PM PDT
Finally, we need to see how events play out over the next 3-5 years,
then we can make corrections.



The time for "wait and see" is over. Action is needed NOW.

[troutfishyman]

by growlll June 16, 2009 4:53 PM PDT
About the only know fact here is most experts agree to disagree on the issue.




Only if you are talking about the "experts" on Fox "News".

[thisisreality]

Never heard of Freeman Dyson, did you, little guy. He's more of a scientist than all of the global warmers put together. Most of your so-called "experts" on global warming are so incompetent they couldn't turn on a stove without catching their pants on fire. This includes Michael Mann whose "hockeystick" graphs are so beloved by Al Gore but which even the National Academy of Sciences says is not scientifically valid.

[stn_sage]

INTERESTING! No new research, but a much more severe analysis and findings!

First, this is the report that SHOULD HAVE been released under the Bush administration, but they were too busy trying to suppress the truth!

Second, I believe global warming is occurring; but, it's NOT due to excessive coal-burning and auto emissions, etcetera. Those contribute,
but they're not the primary culprit!

Third, the whole galaxy is warming up! We are swinging into alignment
with the center of the Milky Way Galaxy and receiving higher levels
of incoming radiation. The other planets in the solar system are
warming up, too.

Fourth, what can we do? Protect the ionosphere for sure! It wouldn't
hurt to lower levels of auto and coal-burning assets, either!

Finally, we need to see how events play out over the next 3-5 years,
then we can make corrections.

[Void_Master]

The whole galaxy is heating up? Possibly. But that is a process that would happen so slowly that it would take literally hundreds of millions of years to have a noticeable effect on an ecosystem.

The only ongoing astronomical anomaly that has any direct impact on our environment is precession.

[Void_Master]

I too would like to believe that global warming is a myth. But there is just too much evidence demonstrating otherwise. Being in denial about it will just allow it to get worse.

Think about this: there are really only 3 groups of people who keep insisting that global warming is made up.

First and most vocal are those who stand to lose money if they are made to stop polluting. Switching to coal is not an answer. Actually, it will likely exacerbate the problem.

Next are those who simply will not think for themselves long enough to set tradition aside. They've always burned gasoline in their cars and by god they intend to continue the practice if it kills us all. This is probably the largest group of all -- and the most prone to embrace pure, stupid denial about the matter.

The third and possibly the most potentially dangerous group are those who refuse to accept global warming as a possibility because the premise behind it contradicts their religion.

Regardless what a person's reason is for rejecting global warming, it is real, it is dangerous and it has already reached a point wherein civilization can no longer survive in its current form.

The other side of the coin is this -- though I will qualify this part by pointing out that it is more an opinion than verifiable science.

I feel that global warming is mostly part of a larger cycle that this planet goes through continuously. We as a species may have accelerated the process, I doubt that we did so by more than a couple thousand years or so. In other words, had we stayed in the stone age, this would still have happened eventually.

[cattlekate1]

by -----One-American----- June 16, 2009 12:09 PM PDT

Uh, and your ranch is where? What are your irrigation rights? Storage rights? Do you have beetle kill? Have you noticed your peak flows changing? Perhaps your crops budding first with the early warm weather, and then being wiped out with a sudden storm?

Nope -can't answer - guess not. You have no clue as to where your food comes from, do you? You are just a pawn of the rich Limbaughs and Hannities who are mouthpieces of the Elite Big Oil.

Climate change is real.

[coolndwn]

Um when is the climate not changing? Hey libs, if you don't want us burning oil fine, come up with something better... I'll buy that, but I won't buy man made global warming. Free market works but you gotta get off your a** and create something that works better then good ol' petrol.

[ubrew12]

coolndwn said: "if you don't want us burning oil fine, come up with something better"

Burning oil is fine, just plant more trees, especially in the tropics. You'll have a problem with peak oil, of course, but that's really your kid's problem, and fvck them, eh?

[growlll]

About the only know fact here is most experts agree to disagree on the issue.

[ubrew12]

The experts don't disagree. Here are the national academies of science that explicitly endorse the science of climate change and the conclusions of the IPCC:
Academia Brasiliera de Ciências (Bazil), Royal Society of Canada, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academié des Sciences (France), Deutsche Akademie der Naturforscher Leopoldina (Germany), Indian National Science Academy, Accademia dei Lincei (Italy), Science Council of Japan, Russian Academy of Sciences, Royal Society (United Kingdom), National Academy of Sciences (United States of America), Australian Academy of Sciences, Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Sciences and the Arts, Caribbean Academy of Sciences, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, Royal Irish Academy, Academy of Sciences Malaysia, Academy Council of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences

[ubrew12]

In addition to these national academies, the following institutions specializing in climate, atmosphere, ocean or earth sciences have endorsed the science of Climate Change and think it is time to take action:

NASA's Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Academy of Sciences (NAS), State of the Canadian Cryosphere (SOCC), Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Royal Society of the United Kingdom (RS), American Geophysical Union (AGU), American Institute of Physics (AIP), National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR), American Meteorological Society (AMS), Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society (CMOS).

So when you talk about disagreement, what the h*ll are you talking about??? Glen Beck???

[rheola-2009]

Same old sad story from the same old head in the sand deniers, praying fervently that their gross over materialistic lifestyle will not be taken away from them, by those who are forward enough thinking, to see the enormous danger we are placing our future generations in.

The evidence is overwhelming. put your fool brains into gear.

[trshack-2009]

The evidence is overwhelming that there are many factors other than man made greenhouse gases affecting our climate. Learn some actual science.

[rheola-2009]

by trshack-2009 June 16, 2009 6:19 PM PDT

Of course, unlike head in the sand deniers, Iam aware there are many factors involved, however the undeniable evidence appears to be, that man's influence is the greatest factor in global warming/climate change.