New Draft Report: Global Warming Affecting the US in Big Ways

Environment America

Washington, D.C. — From more severe heat waves and devastating wildfires, to coastal and river flooding and threats to the agricultural sector, states around the country are being affected by global warming, according to the new draft National Climate Assessment report released on Friday, January 11. The draft report incorporates input from more than 240 experts from around the country, and from federal agencies including the Department of Energy and NASA.

 “This draft report confirms in exhaustive detail what most of us already know: global warming is very real, it is changing our environment in major ways, and it poses serious threats to our safety, our health and our well-being,” said Nathan Willcox, global warming program director with Environment America. “Thankfully, we have the clean energy solutions at our fingertips to tackle this problem, but we need our elected officials to do more to put these solutions to work.”  

 From Hurricane Sandy in the Northeast to wildfires in the West, Americans are already familiar with many of the dangerous changes in our weather and climate that are described in the new draft report.

 Findings of the draft National Climate Assessment (NCA) report related to nationwide trends include:

• “The climate change of the past 50 years is due primarily to human activities, predominantly the burning of fossil fuels,” and there is “new and stronger evidence” that many of the recent increases in extreme weather are “related to human activities.”
• “Climate change threatens human health and well-being in many ways, including impacts from increased extreme weather events, wildfire, decreased air quality, diseases transmitted by insects, food, and water, and threats to mental health.” 

 While the draft NCA report does not include policy recommendations, other reports have been clear about the need to combat global warming by cleaning up the largest sources of the carbon pollution that is fueling the problem. The Obama administration is currently working to do just that by developing carbon pollution limits for power plants. 

 “By setting the first-ever federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants, President Obama can take a historic step toward tackling global warming and addressing the dangerous threats outlined in this draft report,” said Willcox. “We urge the Obama administration to finalize its proposed carbon pollution limits for new power plants, and move forward quickly to set limits on carbon pollution from existing power plants as well.”  

 The draft NCA report was written by the National Climate Assessment Development Committee, a 60-member federal advisory committee made up of scientists and other experts. The NCA is produced every four years as mandated by a bill passed by Congress in 1990, and is now open to public comment before being finalized and delivered to Congress and President Obama.