Climate Change is Now. Climate Change in the News
Many of us were following the news of the disastrous Camp Fire this past month in California. Wild fire specialists described the uniquely destructive behavior of that fire – its ability to burn everything in its path. Climate scientists described that these extreme fires happening so close to California’s wet season is part of the “new normal” to which all Californian must now calibrate.
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| Fighting the Camp Fire this month in Magalia, Calif. |
photo credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Last week, marked the release of a major scientific report issued by 13 federal agencies - The second volume of the 4th US National Climate Assessment. It lays out exactly how climate change is affecting every region and most sectors of economy – especially trade and agriculture. The report describes the direst consequences of climate change for the United States in the coming decades. Without speedy and significant action, the report authors predict the damage from Climate Change will eliminate as much as 10 percent of the US economy by the year 2100.
The NYT article (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/climate/us-climate-report.html ) describes the report as being notable “for the precision of its calculations and bluntness of its conclusions.”
The report comes just one month after the IPCC, a group of scientists convened by the United Nations, released its direst report to date about the severe economic and humanitarian crises expected to hit the world by 2040 due to Climate Change. News about that report here (https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2018/oct/08/global-warming-must-not-exceed-15c-warns-landmark-un-report )
One of the authors of the US National Climate Assessment is Katharine Hayhoe. We have been especially inspired by her bravery and commitment to her craft. Check out her webpage here (http://katharinehayhoe.com/wp2016/ )
This article (https://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2018/11/29/us/politics/ap-climate-just-plain-worse.html ) today from the NYT describes notable claimte scientists having mis-calibrated their expectations as to how fast changes have been unfolding. From the article:
"I don't think any of us imagined that it would be as bad as it's already gotten," said University of Illinois climate scientist Donald Wuebbles, a co-author of the recent U.S. National Climate Assessment.
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"I honestly didn't think that in my mid-career we would be watching the impacts of climate change play out on my television" nor that they would be so strong, said Mann, now a prominent climate scientist at Pennsylvania State Unviersity
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From air pollution triggered by wildfires that caused people in Northern California to don breathing masks to increased asthma attacks that send children to the hospital, medical experts said climate change is hurting people's bodies.
"We're seeing surprises," public health professor Ebi said. "We're projecting changes and we're seeing them sooner than we expected."
That includes once-tropical disease carrying mosquitoes in Canada and warm water shellfish bacteria showing up in Alaska , she said.
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At CGI, all this news just emphasizes how critical it is that deploying renewable energy be simple and fast.
We know that the switch to clean energy is not happening quickly enough, and that concerns us.
We hope you agree that people need to work to remove all barriers to renewable energy. That it is critical for the well being of people who will be dealing with climate chaos in 2045, all friction points in the process that slow renewable energy project developers should be eradicated.
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