Too Many People Heating Up the Planet
We've Become Our Own Existential Threat
The Trump administration released the Fourth National Climate Assessment on Friday November 23, which concluded: “Time is running out” to correct a coming climate catastrophe. Make no mistake about it: The only reason they released it at all is because publication was mandated by law.
The conclusions in Climate Assessment #4 are, to say the least, frightening. In the absence of global mitigation, the U.S. will experience regular extreme fires like the Thomas and Camp fires; more storms, hurricanes, and flooding; sea-level rise; decline in freshwater resources (due to drought); destruction of food production; disruption of energy and transposition systems; fuel shortages; public-health threats (related to air-quality and insect-spread diseases); disruption of international trade and increased threats to national security; and ecosystem decline. Economically, by the end of the century, unchecked climate change is predicted to cost the U.S. $500 billion per year annually.
President Trump’s response to his administration’s report was, “I don’t believe it.” He also insisted on a G20 statement reiterating his intent to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords, sent the administration’s energy and climate advisor to the follow-up climate forum in Poland to hold a side event to promote fossil fuels, announced his intent to end subsides for electric cars and renewables, and nominated a coal-industry lobbyist to head the EPA. (Yikes!)
