Fearing the Trump administration would bury the report, a group of federal scientists leaked a draft of a sweeping climate change report to the press. The 543 page report, produced by hundreds of scientists in 13 federal agencies, contradicts President Trump’s beliefs that global warming is a hoax. The report (normally) must be approved by the White House before it is released to the public. The deadline for approval was a week away.
The report is required by congress and was reportedly provided to the White House in January. Among it’s findings are:
- Evidence for a changing climate abounds, from the top of the atmosphere to the depths of the oceans.
- Thousands of studies conducted by tens of thousands of scientists around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; disappearing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea level; and an increase in atmospheric water vapor.
- Longer-term climate records indicate that average temperatures in recent decades over much of the world have been much higher than at any time in the past 1700 years or more.
- Many lines of evidence demonstrate that human activities, especially emissions of greenhouse gases, are primarily responsible for recent observed climate change.
- Human activities are now the dominant cause of the observed changes in climate.
- Temperatures globally have risen 1.6 degrees Fahrenheit since the mid-1800s. Much of that increase—1.2 degrees—has occurred since 1951. Of that warming, the draft says, there is at least a 95 percent likelihood that more than half could be attributed to human activity. It says there’s at least a 66 percent likelihood that all of it was caused by people.
The entire report can be found here: Federal Climate Change Report
Both President Trump and EPA chief Scott Pruitt have denied global warming. Trump once tweeted that he believed global warming was a myth created by the Chinese to better compete against the United States.
The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 6, 2012
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