Humans to Blame for Climate Change, Government Report Says

The executive branch of the U.S. federal government just released its latest climate change report. The report is pretty bleak reading. And, yes, that's the branch that's overseen by President Trump. Because these reports take years to produce and multiple government agencies are involved, it's impossible for any one president or administrator to squash them completely. 

Here's how Livescience.com describes the report's findings: 

"The climate report, released today (Nov. 3), paints a dire picture of the present and future effects of global climate change, from sea levels that could rise by as much as 8 feet (2.4 meters) by 2100, to more-frequent heat waves and other extreme weather events."...The new report's findings conflict with Trump's stated positions on climate change. Over the years, he has called human-caused climate change a "hoax," including in a 2013 tweet that read, "We should be focused on magnificently clean and healthy air and not distracted by the expensive hoax that is global warming!"

The report goes on to suggest that without major changes in the levels of released greenhouse  gases, we are facing some very significantly increased temperatures, with the possibility of 9 degrees F by 2100. So far we've only face about 2 degrees F so this will be dangerous change indeed:

"Without major reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature relative to preindustrial times could reach 9 degrees F (5 degrees C) or more by the end of this century," the report authors wrote. "With significant reductions in emissions, the increase in annual average global temperature could be limited to 3.6 degrees F (2 degrees C) or less."

Such reductions require a major effort that would need to start rapidly, the report continued.

It is long past the time when we should be dithering. We must immediately approach this problem as a massive shared challenge. We need to act as if we are at war and rapidly mobilize our economy to address the problem: green energy production, electrified transportation, efficiency improvements at all levels.

Time is running out to head off these catastrophic changes. It really is. For further reading, check on the National Climate Assessment Overview, 2017.