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THE HEAT IS ON

Americans Feel the Impact of Global Warming, Report Says

Hotter summers, warmer winters, floods and droughts are the new normal

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by Lisa Fine

Staff Writer t

Image: AP

With more frequent heat waves, heavy downpours, floods and droughts, Americans are already living with the consequences of global warming, a new federal report says.

These changes felt over the last 50 years are part of the pattern of global climate change, which is primarily caused by human activity like the burning of fossil fuels, according to the 2013 National Climate Assessment released Friday. Authors point out that evidence for a changing climate has "strengthened considerably" since the last version of the report four years ago.

"Corn producers in Iowa, oyster growers in Washington State, and maple syrup producers in Vermont have observed changes in their local climate that are outside of their experience," the reports authors wrote. "So, too, have coastal planners from Florida to Maine, water managers in the arid Southwest and parts of the Southeast, and Native Americans on tribal lands across the nation."

The average U.S. temperature has increased by about 1.5°F since 1895 and more than 80 percent of that occurred since 1980. The last decade was the nation's hottest on record. Temperatures will continue to rise another 2°F to 4°F in most areas of the country over the next few decades, the report said.

Better and broader national plans for adapting to global warming are needed, the report's authors recommend. The report, a draft, was compiled by more than 240 scientists for a federal advisory committee. It is open for public comment for the next three months.

Via the National Climate Assessment Development Advisory Committee

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Comments (view in Forum)

  • u
    RobertJHarsh
    !
    Naturally occuring weather cycles. In the 1970s it was global cooling, in the 1980s/90s it became global warming. Now it's "global climate change". I call it SCAM. There is no problem until someone can prove its real and can provide a way to FIX it.

    I am sick of this manufactured problem and seeing taxes, penalties, and job losses as a result of junk science and hype.

    Scam = Global climate change.
  • JustTheFacts
    !
    @RobertJHarsh I agree ... it's a proven fact that the Earth has experienced warmer than normal temps and cooler than normal temps. If we were experiencing another Ice Age, would these same people be promoting greenhouse gases to warm the planet back up? Weather runs in cycles ... to think that the drought in the midwest could never happen again after the Dust Bowl period is just foolish to say the least! To blame it on greenhouse gases is just a bit insane but hey I'm just a farmer who makes his living on what the weather does ... but what do I know right?
  • harold_lloyd
    !
    @JustTheFacts
    Exactly, you don't know. Yes the earth has been both colder and hotter, but the variations since the rise of civilization have been small. Even those small changes in climate resulted in very bad things for mankind.
    I think the biggest problem people have with climate change is realizing that for the first time ever, we are in a position to alter the global environment.
    If you don't know how much population has increased, and how much standards of living have risen for so many people, then it might seem fanciful.
    But those two factors put together have an impact as forceful as though the world population had tripled or more. That's because every new person uses multiple times the resources and energy that we're used to seeing.
    This one of those times when 'common sense' leads us down the wrong path, and it's why we have science and math, to deal with the aspects of reality that boggle the imagination.
    And that is why it scares me to hear legislators take positions that are contrary to accepted science and that indicate that they have no interest in science at all.
    The Bible is not going to get us out of this particular mess.
  • View all 15 replies >
  • scotta
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    It has already proven that all the global warming bs was started in england by two sciencetists. They faked everything.
  • View all 9 replies >
  • u
    EffectFollows
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    If only humanity had a method and body of knowledge for knowing things about the world which we could use to answer questions like that. Alas, humanity has no such method, because science doesn't exist.
  • FollowTheMoney
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    @EffectFollows You seem to have chosen a side, good for you, congratulations. I've not been so lucky. I have a problem with the money behind the science. Just because the findings are popular, doesn't mean they are correct.
  • PNWest
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    Either that or move to Oregon. It's 19 degrees right now. I wouldn't mind a little localized warming right about now.
  • Ashstop
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    @PNWest
    Lol!! I agree!! We need to be trying to warmup the place( I heard the reason they said there was no warming since 98 until this year was because China was putting so much pollution in the air!) I thought that's what caused it in the first place!! I wish that's all I had to worry about was the sky is falling.. Or earth turning into molten rock or whatever !
  • PNWest
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    @Ashstop Don't you live in Ft Worth? It gets plenty hot down there in the summer. You know it's hot when you have an 85 degree August day and feel like you need to grab a jacket.
  • Ashstop
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    @PNWest
    Yes, ft worth, but it still gets in the 20's and teens in the winter,(21 tonight) it gets uncomfortable in summer( 2 years ago we had 90 days over a hundred, this year only 25) but its brutal in winter, we could survive here with no air conditioning but without heat we would perish in the winter and we are a southern state! That's why globial warming would be welcome to me!! Even if we lost a little coastline they say whole continents like Greenland could become more habital to supporting life.
  • u
    DrMoonshine
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    I assume you're a scientist with infallible evidence to support your thesis that this is all junk science that's agreed upon by almost all of climate scientists.
  • waterlogged
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    @DrMoonshine Apparently, you have been drinking your own by-product, moonshine. There has never been a consensus among scientists, not to mention, climate scientists. There has been a flawed poll which indicated that the majority supported the assumptions of the IPCC report; however, that poll has since been debunked.
  • o
    Sharpshooter
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    @Phhhttt Can any of those "scientists" explain how man has somehow managed to rewrite the laws of physics?

    With the money behind the carbon credits exchange scam paying for thousands of studies to support their needs, it's not hard to get a consensus.... Ask the right people the right question and you can get the right answer....

    When you ask about the physics they always go off on a tirade, sorta like a liberal being asked about El Presidente' No point in letting facts get in the way.
  • sevenSecrets
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    @Sharpshooter remember that "hard fact replacing your silly crap". Mankind also weaponized physics. Snark..
    No amount of political partylining on global issues will change the fact that the polar ice caps
  • View all 26 replies >
  • Jack-Black
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    Is there climate change? Yes. Are we causing it ? H E (Double hockey sticks) No. Is Al Bore and the like, getting rich of the gullible sheep who belive in man made global warming? YES.
  • u
    Polusalo
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    You know how I know you're full of it?

    Because you just said our politicians are lying to us. That's the most outlandish thing I've ever heard. They wouldn't do that... would they?
  • Quantummist
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    It's a Flawed Question... Is the Climate changing? Yes... Do Humans have anything to do with it or can they do any thing about is... No... The Climate is always changing... was before humans existed and will after humans are long gone...
  • u
    Chromalord
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    I wasnt aware we were doing much of anything. The GOP keeps voting down all green-tech proposals. China will win the solar-energy race, while we debate about it.
    Even if this all was a farce ( which I dont believe it is) this country need something to do, you know, get of its entitled ass and build something. I have not read or heard about green-tech takings us backwards, so what would be the harm?
  • waterlogged
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    You are funny. "china will win the solar energy race"??? At $1.50 per Kw projected for the next 10 years out, solar hardly qualifies as something to win when NatGas is sitting at around $.12 per Kw, and lower.
  • View all 6 replies >
  • kirbstomp1
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    Just wondering about all the people that say global warming isn't real and humans aren't the cause, I would like to see yalls degrees in geology and climatology? If not the you're just spewing bs, and please show numerical data that correlates with your hypothesis.
  • Keyjo
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    @dances-weebles
    SPF has nothing to do with temperature, or for that matter, clear skies.
    But I personally enjoy three digit temperatures! I am comfortable with 110 !
  • dances-weebles
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    @Keyjo i know. i like it hot, too... but 85 to 90 is good enough for me but it's too humid here for any more than that. when i was in the desert it didn't bother me... but i have no intention of ever returning to the ugly, nasty wasteland of the southwest of the u.s.
  • MadAmerican
    !
    It can't just be the U.S. but all nations. There are so many conflicting reports by different scientist but the thermometer doesn't lie. What has not been adressed is the water depletion of mountain streams. In Virginia where I grew up our streams are going dry and the flow rate is getting lower every year. Springs and wells are drying up too. Rainfall studies haven't been done that I know of to determine why this is happening. About 30 years ago the Frazier Fir Christmas tree farms boomed on our mountain. With this came alot of spraying of herbisides that almost wiped out the mountain trout and minnow population in our srteams. Even the branch lizard was placed on Virginia's edangered species list. The EPA stated that these pesticides were safe, but there was so much widespread loss of natural wildlife to include the Ruffed Grouse that there was only one common denominator and that was the pesticides or the acid run off from the cutting of the Frazier Firs. Somehow mother nature finds a way, because in the last few years, the trout are comming back, and so are the birds. The EPA refused to determine anything along with the Department of Fish and Wildlife. The trees are still there but we are losing our streams. It's not just global warming but look at the honey bees that are dying out? those are our pollenators for our fruit. Is there too much interference in the air waves. Is their too much sonar from boats in our oceans that are causing whales to beach themselves? We need to pay attention to what we are doing.
  • Chrysalis
    !
    Your post is imho the most intelligent on this thread. I remember as a kid, in the mountains of Va, when winters brought blizzard like conditions and summers were dreadful hot. There used to be four distinct seasons, but to me they feel like they all run together now. Something is surely going on.
  • dances-weebles
    !
    on many issues we don't agree much, but on this one i believe that you've pretty well hit it on the button.

    we need to pay attention to what we're doing, because even if there's a possibility that we're the ones responsible we should change it right now.
  • stepped_in_it
    !
    Got my vote also. What I don't understand is the arrogance of some that can't/don't realize that the (over) population of the Earth could be a great cause of climate change. We are farming more land, using more water and polluting our steams, oceans and lands. Stripping forests bare. And to believe that this can't cause change.
  • MongoAPillager
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    the reason a lot of the streams are drying up in the northeast is because wack jobs keep planting trees like carter makes liver pills.100+ years ago in new hampshire it was mostly farm land,big streams everywhere,now most of the farms are gone and are replaced by trees,a good sized tree beside a stream can use a couple of hundred gallons of water a day...multiply that by thousands of trees and you have a dry brook,when your brooks dry up,your rivers tend to dry up also,but don,t worry the water not going into outer space..as far as the whales,they have always beached themselves,maybe they just elect some bad leaders...i mean the nation elected Obama and he's certainly going to lead us off a cliff...but you might want to research www.haarp.net and this article http://www.pakalertpress.com/2012/02/09/myste...
  • View all 20 replies >
  • u
    Wooky
    !
    The Earth goes through periods of warming and cooling all by design and has so since the beginning of time! The Alarmist are at it again!!!!!!
  • o
    thejimbo
    !
    A recent study has shown that the key factor which determines the rate of global warming for at least 20 years into the future is the amount of CO2 already in the atmosphere. Even major volcanic eruptions like Pinatubo in 1991 have little long-term impact. In 1970 the CO2 level was 325 ppm (Mauna Loa data). In 1990 it was 353 ppm. It is now 391 ppm, and rising 2 ppm every year. Therefore, the warming WILL speed up, and in the short term we cannot reverse the trend, regardless of what we do.
  • Drewdove
    !
    Warmer winters? I'm in southern California and anyone who believes this crap can kiss what I'm freezing off. Below 32°F temps in SoCal means global warming is SoNot happening.:-P
  • mikeyintheoc
    !
    Federal Report. Yeah I'll believe that. Howabout NASA's instead: NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.
  • mudpike
    !
    It's only news because certain groups of people see 'big money' in it . Earth has undergone many changes including heating & cooling periods . The use of coal burning power plants or big SUVs didn't change Greenland into a nearly uninhabitable , ice covered land mass or bring on the 'Little Ice Age'. The kooks are in it for the money they want to suck out of the Gov't. via the taxpayers. It's not coal or cars , remember the first Earth Day 1969 - they predicted the coming of a new ice-age & most of Europe would be dead by the year 2000 . They can't predict the weather 3 days in advance & people trust them with these bizarre predictions ? Is Nostradamus involved ?
  • mudpike
    !
    @Zazziness Depends on what you're looking for . As we all know we can copy & paste anything that suits our beliefs or agendas . You call it education with the smug ,'holier than thou' attitude of those who are so strongly opinionated or spoon fed - nothing but what they ' feel ' has any merit. What of the scientists core samples of soil or ice going back thousands of years showing cycles or flucuations in Earth's climate ? But, of course - they are wrong because it doesn't suit the green wienies. One some call ' education', others may call 'indoctrination'.
  • Zazziness
    !
    @mudpike I call it education because it is education.
    No one has ever said that our planet does not have variations in climate due to wobbling on its axis, for instance. That doesn't mean that the climate can't also change due to many cubic tons of chemicals being introduced into the atmosphere by life -- in this case, us. Look at it this way: a forest fire can start from a lightning strike. It can also start because humans were careless. One does not eliminate the chance of the other.
  • mudpike
    !
    @Zazziness - OK then . What about the natural leakage of methane & oil from the sea floor ? Did you ever see facts on what one single volcanic eruption can spew into the atmosphere ? It was said the Mt. St. Helens eruption spewed more pollution than 1000 years of modern man could do. This is Earth , it has been going on for millions of years . Now , a few see $dollar$ signs from a made up prediction & they expect us all to jump on board. Some are not as trusting. By the way, Europe is still there, even after the Earth Day 'Ice Age' prediction from these same people in 1969.
  • Zazziness
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    @mudpike I told you to read the link I posted; if you had, all your questions would have been addressed. And it is not "a few" -- it is the vast majority of climate scientists over the course of the last twenty years.
  • View all 6 replies >
  • mikeyintheoc
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    Another Fed' report, yeah I'll believe it. Howabout NASA's instead:NASA satellite data from the years 2000 through 2011 show the Earth’s atmosphere is allowing far more heat to be released into space than alarmist computer models have predicted, reports a new study in the peer-reviewed science journal Remote Sensing. The study indicates far less future global warming will occur than United Nations computer models have predicted, and supports prior studies indicating increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide trap far less heat than alarmists have claimed.
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