Climate Change Now Impacting U.S., Government Report Warns
The draft report, currently under review at the White House, forcefully states that the fruits of a changing climate are already here.
A scientific review prepared for a massive U.S. government report on climate change forcefully asserts that human activity is changing the global climate—and that the U.S. is already feeling the effects.
In and of itself, the report is hardly unusual. Since 1990, the sweeping National Climate Assessment has been mandated by U.S. law. Every four years, an expert panel of climate scientists and officials from 13 federal agencies assemble a rigorous scientific review of how climate change is impacting the United States.
But a 545-page draft of the scientific review that will inform the 2018 assessment, examined by the New York Times on August 7 and here by National Geographic, is notable because of the current U.S. executive branch. Virtually point for point, the review flatly refutes statements that senior Trump administration officials have made about the causes and effects of our changing climate.
(Photo by Robb Kendrick)