– Warnings against the climate: Listen, learn; GOP denies

WASHINGTON DCNovember 25, 2018 (ENS) – The federal government has announced that global warming creates new risks and aggravates current vulnerabilities in the United States. growing challenges in terms of human health and safety, quality of life and economic growth rates. "

"The impacts of climate change are already being felt in communities across the country. More frequent and intense weather and climate events, as well as changes in average weather conditions, are expected to continue to damage infrastructure, ecosystems and social systems that provide key benefits to communities, "said the fourth national assessment of climate change. climate, developed by the US Global Change Research Program, USGCRP.

While this report is intended as an authoritative assessment of the impacts of climate change on the United States, it was released over the Thanksgiving weekend, as if the Trump administration, led by a president who views climate change like a hoax, wants to divert the public's attention.

Produced by 300 scientists from 13 federal agencies, the report concludes that the United States will heat at least three more degrees by 2100 unless fossil fuel combustion is immediately limited.

"Regional economies and industries that depend on natural resources and favorable weather conditions, such as agriculture, tourism and fisheries, are vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change," the report says. "Rising temperatures should reduce the efficiency of electricity production while increasing energy demand, which would result in higher electricity costs."

This synthesis of scientific knowledge on climate knowledge, impacts and trends in US regions and sectors is intended to inform decision-making and resilience-building activities across the country.

But President Donald Trump has already announced his intention to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, which, through voluntary measures taken by governments, aims to limit global warming to 2 ° C. more than pre-industrial levels, and to limit warming to just 1.5 ° C above these levels.

The US president did not comment on the USGCRP report, but Deputy White House press secretary Lindsay Walters said the assessment was "largely based on the scenario the more extreme, which contradicts the well-established trends on the premise that, despite strong economic growth, gas emissions, technology and innovation would be limited, and the population rapidly expanding.

Whatever the case may be, the Trump government has overturned Obama's environmental regulations aimed at limiting the burning of fossil fuels and the release of powerful greenhouse gases such as methane, and encouraged the production of coal and other fossil fuels under the Trump deregulation program. .

The report describes the current state of knowledge on the state of knowledge on the current and future impacts of climate change on society in the United States. It associates climate change with the scarcity of water scarcity, worsening storms, forest fires and increased exposure to tropical diseases. United States.

And he warns that future climate change will worsen the current problems of prosperity posed by aging and deteriorating infrastructure, stressed ecosystems and economic inequalities.

For example, "rising temperatures should reduce the efficiency of electricity production while increasing energy demand, which would result in higher electricity costs," the report says.

The former vice president (1993-2001) and environmental activist Al Gore said on Friday: "The incredibly deadly and tragic wildfires are raging in the west, hurricanes are hitting our shores – and the lorries are hitting the coast. Trump administration chose Friday after Thanksgiving to attempt to bury this American criticism of the climate crisis. The president may try to hide the truth, but his own scientists and experts have made it as clear and clear as possible. "

"We listen to scientists and Mother Nature. The consequences of the climate crisis are felt in all regions of the country: extreme weather, heat waves, deeper and longer droughts, poor harvests, intensification of wildfires, rising sea levels. Most vulnerable among us suffer disproportionately.

"Mr. President," said Gore, "the majority of Americans are deeply concerned about the climate crisis and are demanding action." While local leaders respond to fires and storms, national leaders must demonstrate the willingness to respond urgently to the dire warnings in this report by proposing bold solutions. "

One of the most severe warnings of the report concerns the shortage of water. The report states that "groundwater depletion exacerbates the risk of drought in many parts of the United States, particularly in the southwestern and southern Great Plains. Safe and secure water supplies for Pacific island communities in the Caribbean, Hawaii and United States affiliated with the United States are threatened by drought, floods and contamination of seawater by rising sea level. "

US Senator Edward Markey, a Massachusetts Democrat who chairs the Senate Working Group on Climate Change and is a member of the Senate Committee on the Environment and Public Works, said in a statement Friday: "We can see, feel, hear and experience the impacts of climate change. when our communities are experiencing sea level rise, forest fires and overpowering hurricanes. "

"The Trump administration may want to bury this report so that it does not grab the attention, but we can not bury our heads under the risk of climate change. We must act now to reduce carbon pollution and implement clean energy solutions that will help save our planet, "said Senator Markey.

"Climate change remains the most critical challenge facing human civilization, and today's report confirms this conclusion," said Markey. "In this national climate assessment, our best scientists send an emergency flare. We must act now to reduce carbon emissions or ignore the risks posed by climate change at our peril. "

The report details the projected effects of climate change on the US economy by warning: "Without substantial and sustained regional and regional mitigation efforts, climate change is expected to result in increasing losses to US infrastructure and assets, as well as to slow down the rate of economic growth. century."

"With continued growth in emissions at historical rates, annual losses in some economic sectors are expected to reach hundreds of billions of dollars by the end of the century – more than the current gross domestic product (GDP) of many US states. ", says the report, which is mandated by Congress.

The impacts of climate change on extreme weather and climate events, air quality and disease transmission by insects and parasites, food and water are increasingly threatening the health and safety of people. well-being of the American population, especially already vulnerable populations.

Changes in temperature and precipitation increase the quality of air and the health risks resulting from forest fires and ground – level ozone pollution. The rise in air and water temperature and the more intense extreme events are expected to increase exposure to waterborne and foodborne illnesses, thus affecting the safety of food and water.

With continued warming, cold-related deaths will decrease and deaths from heat will increase; According to the report, in most regions, the increase in the number of heat-related deaths should be greater than the reduction in the number of cold-related deaths.

The frequency and severity of allergic diseases, including asthma and hay fever, are expected to increase due to changing climate.

Climate change is expected to alter the extent and geographic distribution of disease-carrying insects and pests, exposing more people to ticks carrying Lyme disease and mosquito vectors such as Zika virus, West Nile and Dengue. Southeast communities are particularly vulnerable to the combined effects of vector-borne diseases, heat and floods on health.

"Rising temperatures, rising sea levels and changing extreme events are expected to disrupt and damage more and more essential infrastructure and assets, labor productivity and the vitality of our communities. ", according to the report.

"Regional economies and industries that depend on natural resources and favorable weather conditions, such as agriculture, tourism and fisheries, are vulnerable to the growing impacts of climate change," he warns.

Increasing temperatures, extreme heat, drought, wildfires on rangelands and heavy showers are expected to further disrupt agricultural productivity in the United States, the report says. Increasing challenges to livestock health, declining crop yield and quality, and changing extreme events in the United States and abroad threaten rural livelihoods, sustainable food security and price stability. "

Companies will also feel the effects. "The impacts of climate change beyond our borders are expected to increasingly affect our trade and our economy, including import and export prices, and US companies operating in the United States. Overseas and supply chains abroad. "

The report recognizes that "some aspects of our economy may see slight improvements in the short term in a slightly warmer world. However, the continued warming that is expected to occur, without substantial and sustained reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions, is expected to cause considerable net damage to the US economy throughout this century, particularly in the absence of 'increased adaptation efforts'.

While Democrats take the report's conclusions seriously, Republicans are nonchalant.

US Senator Joni Ernst, an Iowa Republican, on Sunday called for "a balance" to address growing concerns that the United States could face major disasters, economic slowdown and losses jobs due to climate change.

"Whenever we put in place a regulation, we have to take into account the impact on the US industry and jobs," Ernst said Sunday on "the state of the Union." "from CNN. "We want to make sure that this will make sense for the future."

"We can find a balance," said Ernst, pointing to her home country, which she said set a climate action standard, not by "mandating" but by "incentivising" .

The USGCRP report warns that the people most affected by global warming include the elderly, children, low-income communities, some communities of color and many indigenous peoples, who depend on natural resources for their well-being economic, cultural and physical. .

In the United States, climate impacts have led some Aboriginal peoples to actively consider or seek community resettlement as an adaptation strategy, making it difficult to maintain cultural and community continuity.

Many indigenous peoples are taking steps to adapt to the impacts of climate change structured around self-determination and traditional knowledge, and some tribes are conducting mitigation actions through the development of climate change. renewable energy on their land.

The report recommends: "Adaptation and mitigation policies and programs that help individuals, communities and states prepare for the risks of climate change reduce the number of injuries, illnesses and deaths due to climate change. climate-related health ".

While the efforts of local governments, governments and businesses to reduce the risks and costs associated with climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and implementing adaptation strategies have intensified in the past. During the four years since the last report, "… they are not yet approaching the scale deemed necessary to avoid substantial damage to the economy and the environment. and human health in the coming decades, "warns the 2018 report.

There are some signs of hope. For example, transformations in the energy sector – including the replacement of coal with natural gas and increased deployment of renewable energy – as well as actions at national, regional, local and local levels reduce greenhouse gas emissions. of the United States.

But this assessment shows that greater and immediate global reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as adaptation efforts at the regional level, will be needed to avoid the most severe consequences of climate change in the long term.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2018. All rights reserved.