11/2/2017
A comprehensive climate report compiled by 13 US federal agencies paints a grim picture for the world’s climate outlook. The report concludes that evidence of global warming is stronger than ever and that more than 90% of it has been caused by humans.
The 477-page report released on Friday said it was “extremely likely” – meaning with 95 to 100% certainty – that global warming is man-made, mostly from carbon dioxide through the burning of coal, oil and natural gas. The report states “When it comes to rapidly escalating levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, there is no climate analog for this century at any time in at least the last 50 million years.”
It is the most comprehensive summary of climate science since 2013, showing a warming, worsening world. Despite fears by some scientists and environmental advocates, David Fahey of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa) and several authors said there was no political interference or censoring.
A link to the full report can be found by clicking here: 2017 Climate Science Special Report
The report warns of a worst-case scenario where seas could rise as high as eight feet by the year 2100, and details climate-related damage across the United States that is already unfolding as a result of an average global temperature increase of 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit since 1900.
President Trump, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry have all questioned the extent of humans’ contribution to climate change. One of the EPA’s Web pages posted scientific conclusions similar to those in the new report until earlier this year, when Pruitt’s deputies had it removed.
By law, the government is required to produce the national assessment every four years. This time, the report is split into two documents, one that lays out the fundamental science of climate change and the other that shows how the United States is being affected on a regional basis. Combined, the two documents total over 2,000 pages.
“I think this report is basically the most comprehensive climate science report in the world right now,” said Robert Kopp, a climate scientist at Rutgers who is an expert on sea-level rise and served as one of the report’s lead authors.
It affirms that the United States is already experiencing more extreme heat and rainfall events and more large wildfires in the West, that more than 25 coastal U.S. cities are already experiencing more flooding, and that seas could rise by between 1 and 4 feet by the year 2100, and perhaps even more than that if Antarctica proves to be unstable, as is feared. The report says that a rise of over eight feet is “physically possible” with high levels of greenhouse-gas emissions but that there’s no way right now to predict how likely it is to happen.
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