Everything Idiot-in-Chief Donald Trump has said about climate change being a “hoax” has been mocked by his own federal government scientists.  The new US Government National Climate Assessment is an even more significant scientific document, for Americans,  than the recent IPCC report because its the work product of the American government’s own science agencies.

This U.S. federal government report shows that:

• Human activity, like burning fossil fuels, is the primary cause for the warming temperatures we are undoubtedly experiencing.

• By the end of this century, fighting climate change will save hundreds of billions of dollars just in public health costs, and save thousands of lives a year.
• Americans are already paying for climate change as it makes storms more damaging, heat waves more deadly, wildfires more common, allergies worse and some diseases more widespread.
• Climate change is a clear and present danger to the health and wealth of the American people.

Topline findings of the report include:

• Global average temperatures have risen 1.8°F (1.0°C) since 1901, predominantly because of human activity, especially the emission of heat-trapping gases.
• Globally, 16 of the last 17 years are the warmest years on record.

• Storm surge and tidal flooding frequency, depth and extent are worsened by sea level rise, presenting a significant risk to America’s trillion-dollar coastal property market. The US Climate Assessment also shows more severe high-end sea level rise scenarios than were featured in the last IPCC report: up to 8 feet (2.4 meters) 

• Global sea level has risen about 8-9 inches since 1880, 3 inches of which have come since just 1993. We can expect at least several inches more in the next 15 years, with 1-4 feet very likely by 2100, and as much as 8 feet physically possible by 2100.

It’s striking to see this in a federal government report: “Retreat will become an unavoidable option in some areas of the U.S. coastline.” Translation: Millions of people are going to have to move and we are not ready

• Sea level rise has already increased the frequency of high tide flooding by a factor of 5 to 10 since the 1960s for some U.S. coastal communities.

• If emissions continue unabated, extreme temperatures could end up costing billions upon billions in lost wages annually by the end of the century, and negatively impact the health of construction, agricultural and other outdoor workers.

• Many aspects of climate change – including extreme heat, droughts, and floods – will pose risks to the U.S. agricultural sector. In many places, crop yields, as well as crop and grazing land quality, are expected to decline as a result.

 

• Climate change doubled the area burned by wildfires across the West between 1984 and 2015, relative to what would have burned without warming.

• Every American’s health is at risk from climate change, with the elderly, young, working class and communities of colour being particularly vulnerable.