United States Warming

The White House released a study about climate change. I was not surprised about the findings: the United States has already been affected by climate change and stands to suffer dire consequences if fossil fuel emissions are not limited. Scientists have been sounding the alarm on global warming for more than a decade. There were two interesting issues. One, the study focused exclusively on the United States. A collection of 28 scientists, all from US government labs or universities, outlined best and worse case scenarios for all US regions. The “global” warming issue now becomes a “United States” warming issue. The predictions are startling; a difference in just 2 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit in the next century is projected to cause flooding through a combination of elevated sea levels and increased rainfall, increase hurricane intensity, increase wildfires, increase insect and water borne diseases and decrease biodiversity. All of this is projected to occur in the United States.

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The second, even if the scientists were motivated purely by science and dispensing the truth, the political ramifications are real. A similar study was released in 2000. As I recall, the previous administration downplayed and even questioned the findings. So far, it appears that this president is more willing to accept the findings of the scientific community. As I write this post, the legislative branch is pondering placing limits on fossil fuels. For the sake of our future, I hope this president will continue to adopt a different stance than the last one.

Acknowledgments
http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/06/16/global-warming-affecting-every-corner-of-the-us-report-says/
http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/44737/title/White_House_releases_report_on_climate_change

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