Climate change makes the mainstream

Who's deluded enough to think that anything good will come from this?

Climate change wreaking havoc in America's backyard, scientists warn

•  Scientists hope to spur US to action with dire warning
• Obama plans push to amplify findings of definitive report
• What are the worst impacts facing America?

The Guardian,

6 May, 2014

Climate change has moved from the corners of the earth into the American backyard, the country's leading scientists warned on Tuesday, releasing a landmark report they hoped would spur action on climate change.

The 840-page National Climate Assessment was seen as the definitive account of the effects of climate change on America, and of the country's efforts to deal with climate change.

The findings were immediately embraced by the White House as “actionable science” which would guide Barack Obama as he moves to cut carbon emissions from power plants next month and for the remaining two years of his presidency.

“I think this National Climate Assessment is the loudest and clearest alarm bell to date signalling the need to take urgent action to combat the threats to Americans from climate change,” John Holdren, the White House science advisor, told a conference call with reporters.

Scientists who worked on the report said its main messsage was that climate change was already disrupting the lives of Americans – now and in real-time – and was doing so much more strongly than scientists had expected.

Climate change was already registering in the form of extreme weather, sea-level rise, and the thawing of Arctic sea ice, a shift in growing seasons, and other indicators, the report said.

“What this report shows is that climate change is happening now in our own backyards,” Thomas Karl, the director of the climatic centre at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, told the Guardian. “There are a number of changes that have become faster and more apparent and stronger than we first anticipated.”

The report for the first time looks at what America is doing to cut the emissions that cause climate change, and to protect people from its consequences in the future. It said all Americans are experiencing and will continue to experience the effects of climate change.

"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the report said. "Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers in Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent experience."

The report is a compilation of published peer-reviewed science of the last several years, and details the effects of climate change on eight regions in the US. It notes that average temperature in the US has increased by about 1.5F (0.8C) since 1895, with more than 80% of that rise since 1980. The last decade was the hottest on record in the US.

Temperatures are projected to rise another 2F over the next few decades, the report says. In northern latitudes such as Alaska, temperatures are rising even faster. Some parts of the country will be harder hit than others.

Record-breaking heat – even at night – is expected to produce more drought and fuel larger and more frequent wildfires in the south-west, the report says. The north-east, midwest and Great Plains states will see an increase in heavy downpours and a greater risk of flooding. The north-east saw a 70% rise in heavy rainfall events in the last 60 years, the report said.

Sea-level rise, which could reach 4ft by the end of the century, was already causing dangerous flooding in low-lying areas like Miami, Norfolk, Virginia, and Portsmouth, New Hampshire, the report said. Florida alone could face a $130 billion bill for flooding damage by the year 2100.

Drought and high temperatures were already baking California and Arizona and prolonging the fire season in other parts of the south-west.

In California, warmer winters have made it difficult to grow cherries. In the midwest, wetter springs have delayed planting. Invasive vines such as kudzu have spread northward, from the south to the Canadian border.

Some of the effects on agriculture, such as a longer growing season, are positive. But "by mid-century and beyond the overall impacts will be increasingly negative on most crops and livestock."

The report also warned of a growing risk of contaminated water supply because of sea-level rise and flooding, and poor air quality as hotter temperatures cook the smog, and soot from wildfires drifts across the country. Those with allergies are facing longer pollen and ragweed seasons – by as much as 24 days in North Dakota and Minnesota, the report said.

“I think maybe this report will be the turning point when people finally realise that this is about them,” Susan Hassol, the chief science writer on the report, told the Guardian. “It's about them and their lives … Earlier, they had seen it as a distant threat – distant in time, distance in space, this is about poles, this is about island nations. They haven't seen it as a threat in their own backyard.”

The White House moved to capitalise on that new sense of immediacy, organising a series of events on Tuesday and this week to showcase the findings of the report, including a series of interviews with TV weather forecasters. "We want to emphasize to the public, this is not some distant problem of the future. This is a problem that is affecting Americans right now," Obama told NBC's Today show forecaster, Al Roker. "Whether it means increased flooding, greater vulnerability to drought, more severe wildfires — all these things are having an impact on Americans as we speak."

Environmental groups and Democratic members of Congress also rallied to support the report.

John Podesta, the White House counsellor, said Obama would rely on the report's findings as he moves ahead on the most ambitious phase of his climate change plan in June – a proposal to cut emissions from the current generation of power plants, responsible for nearly 40% of US carbon dioxide emissions.

The White House acknowledged Obama would continue to face strong pushback from Republicans and industry. Podesta said the most Obama could expect from Congress in the way of climate action was a modest energy efficiency bill.

Some Republican members of Congress continued to dismiss the findings of the report. Deb Fischer, a Republican Senator from Nebraska, attacked the science as "politically charged" and "far from settled" as well as Obama for bypassing Congress and using his executive authority to act on climate change.

Meanwhile, a leading coal industry lobby group, the American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity, dismissed the report as “unsubstantiated scare tactics and hyperbole” and lashed out at Obama for moving ahead on power plant regulations.

CNN: Climate change is here but let' deal with the russkies first!

Climate change is here, action needed now, says new White House report

CNN,

7 May, 2014

Washington (CNN) -- Climate change is here and will only worsen. Get used to more flooding, wildfires and drought, depending on where you live. Cities and states across America already are spending lots of money to respond.

Those are the take-home messages of a new White House report released Tuesday that is part of President Barack Obama's second-term effort to prepare the nation for the impacts of a changing climate such as rising sea levels and increasingly erratic weather.

The National Climate Assessment update said evidence of human-made climate change "continues to strengthen" and that "Americans are noticing changes all around them."

"This is not some distant problem of the future," Obama told NBC, while John Holdren, who directs the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said climate change "already is affecting every region of the country and key sectors of the economy."

The Obama administration wants the report to ignite awareness of the need for government and communities to respond now to climate change in the face of fierce political opposition, mostly from conservatives.

Unrelenting political opposition

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A relentless campaign backed by the fossil fuel industry and its allies challenges whether climate change is real, and if so, whether human activity such as increased carbon emissions from power plants, factories and cars contributes to it.

In a statement coinciding with the report's publication, the White House said the findings "underscore the need for urgent action to combat the threats from climate change, protect American citizens and communities today, and build a sustainable future for our kids and grandkids."

Breaking down the report by region

John Podesta, a Democratic operative who now counsels the President, told reporters that Obama will kick off a broad campaign this week to publicize the report, while Cabinet members and other administration officials would be "fanning out" across the country to spread the word about how climate change impacts specific regions.

Republican critics immediately pounced on new report as a political tool for Obama to try to impose a regulatory agenda that would hurt the economy.

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky mocked what he described as the hypocritical stance of "liberal elites" who demand strong action on climate change while failing to reduce their own carbon footprint.

"Even if we were to enact the kind of national energy regulations the President seems to want so badly, it would be unlikely to meaningfully impact global emissions anyway unless other major industrial nations do the same thing," McConnell said in arguing against proposals to reduce industrial pollution.

He called the debate "cynical" because Obama knew that "much of the pain of imposing such regulations would be borne by our own middle class."

Changing attitudes?

To Podesta and Holdren, the reality of climate change will win out over opponents of new energy policies to combat it.

"Public awareness has been going up and will continue to go up," Holdren told reporters, predicting increased public support for government action to reduce U.S. carbon emissions and for America to take a leadership role on climate change in the international arena.

Recent polling indicates most Americans believe human activities cause climate change, but also shows the issue is less important to the public than the economy and other topics.

A Gallup poll in March found that 34% of respondents think climate change, called global warming in the poll, posed a "serious threat" to their way of life, compared to 64% who responded "no." At the same time, more than 60% of respondents believed global warming was happening or would happen in their lifetime.

More than 300 experts helped produce the report over several years, updating a previous assessment published in 2009. Podesta called it "actionable science" for policymakers and the public to use in forging a way forward.

Scientists categorize the response to climate change into two strategies -- minimizing the effects by reducing the cause, which is known as mitigation, and preparing for impacts already occurring or certain to occur, which is called adaptation.

The report breaks the country down by region and identifies specific threats should climate change continue. Major concerns cited by scientists involved in creating the report include rising sea levels along America's coasts, drought in the Southwest and prolonged fire seasons.

Sea levels rising

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It predicts sea levels will rise at least a foot by the end of the century and perhaps as much as four feet, depending on how much of the Greenland and Antarctic ice shelf melts.

Such an outcome could be catastrophic for millions of people living along the ocean, submerging tropical islands and encroaching on coastal areas.

Low-lying U.S. cities already experience high flooding, with Miami planning to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to address the problem, noted Jerry Melillo of Marine Biological Laboratory, who chaired the advisory committee that produced the new assessment.

The Great Plains could experience heavier droughts and heat waves with increasing frequency, while more wildfires in the West could threaten agriculture and residential communities, the report notes.

Obama's week-long focus on climate change continues Wednesday, when the White House convenes a summit focused on green building tactics. Later in the week, Obama will announce new solar power initiatives, according to Podesta.

In his first term, the President faced opposition by Republicans and some Democrats from states with major fossil fuel industries such as coal production to significant climate change legislation.

He pledged to renew his efforts on the issue in his final four years, including using executive actions that bypass Congress. Obama has introduced new regulations on vehicle emissions and created "climate hubs" that help businesses prepare for the effects of climate change.

A major upcoming issue is a proposal under consideration by the Obama administration to build the Keystone XL pipeline, which would transport tar sands oil from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico.

Environmental groups say the project would contribute to climate change because tar sands oil is dirtier than conventionally drilled crude, and importing it would maintain the country's dependence on fossil fuels. Republicans and some Democrats from oil industry states want the pipeline approved to create jobs and bolster exports from a strategic ally and U.S. neighbor.

The new assessment calls for continued mitigation steps including regulations and programs to reduce carbon emissions, as well as necessary planning and investment to deal with the known impacts.

Melillo cited some adaptation measures already underway, noting a "terrific plan for extreme heat events" by the city of Philadelphia.

"Things are starting to happen," Melillo said, adding that the continued efforts over time will "ultimately present a very positive picture" about Americans taking action on climate change.

Things you can do (sic):

• Change your light bulb
• Move to higher ground
• Don't make waves (politically)
• Keep consuming at all costs
• Go back to sleep

5 things you can do about climate change