Climate change assessment paints stark picture of potential damage
Barren ground at last week’s snow survey near Echo Summit. Photo/LTN
By Neela Banerjee and Kathleen Hennessey, Los Angeles Times
The warming of Earth, with human consumption of fossil fuels as the main cause, will have severe consequences for every region of the United States, according to the Third National Climate Assessment released Tuesday morning by the Obama administration.
Mandated by Congress and published every four years, the report is a science-based resource that is meant to inform public policy and private sector decisions.
The report concludes that extreme weather events influenced by climate change have grown more frequent and intense, including heat waves, drought and severe precipitation. “These and other aspects of climate change are disrupting people’s lives and damaging some sectors of our economy,” the report said.
Most Americans believe that climate change is happening or will happen in their lifetimes, according to a March Gallup poll. But only one in three sees it as “serious threat” to their way of life, the poll reported.
Scientist have studied CO2 bubbles in Antarctic Ice Cores that date back 800,000 years and found that in April of 2014, the Earth passed the sustained 400ppm (part per million); last seen 800,000 years ago. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, CO2 levels were about 280ppm.
Scientist, by measuring the ratio of the chemical element boron to calcium in the shells of ancient single-celled marine algae, estimate that the Earth has not seen 400ppm CO2 in the past 15 to 20 MILLION Years.
20 Million years ago, there was no permanent Arctic Ice sheet, no Greenland Ice and very little Antarctic Ice (which included much of present day Australia) and the Oceans were about 100 feet higher then today. “Stark Picture” of the future indeed.
@Rock-Get oouut! It’s a FACT that 20 million years ago, Jesus, the Eternal One, had not even made the universe. He was just relaxing in the quantum field contemplating his navel. Sheesh! When are you science guys going to wake up and join the real world?
Hummmmm, shirley you jest….The flat earth folk will think you found the light and might make a place for you under their rocks…lol
“I am serious. And don’t call me Shirley.”
Classic Leslie Nielsen
http://youtu.be/0A5t5_O8hdA
Just got back from the NASA guy talking at the library. Impressive turnout! I have seen the Light-refracting through a telescope! The flat-earther’s know better than to mistake my satire for truth.
Anyone that goes for anything the Obama administration say’s about Climate Assessment is a fool.
Hard, anyone who discounts EVERYTHING that the Obama administration says and does for no other reason than their deep-seated hate of the fact that a person of color occupies the White House is far worse than a fool!
There was never any mention about COLOR in the white house. But I agree. To agree with such a forked tongue administration is to be a fool of fools.
Wow ga, still lamenting over the fact he got elected and romney didnt.
When someone states ‘Anyone that goes for anything Obama ‘________’ say’s about ‘_________’ is a fool’ is closed off, unwilling to learn, unwilling to grow, unwilling for change. In short, ready for the grave. In my opinion.
“anyone that goes for anything the Obama administration say’s about Climate Assessment is a fool.
Really? Why. That sentence has zero meaning.
Anyone who makes generalizations about anything based on a hollow ad-hom demonstrates great ignorance.
“(the document) -is a science-based resource…”
Darn, guess it is no use to a scientifically illiterate person such as yourself.
Typical skeptic behavior.
Will someone else ask the question, or do I need to?
Actually, Fish, the sentence itself does have meaning. And I think the point of it is that, except for on one issue, Obama has pretty much lied about every single thing.
The thing he didn’t lie about? His promise to fundamentally transform America. He’s been keeping that promise.
Oh, and to Level: I’m sorry. Your race card has been declined.
@Dog…as though you are the Great Arbiter on things pertaining to honesty, truth and ethnicity.
@Fish- I disagree…I believe his statement has a LOT of meaning: It shows him to be an arrogant, ignorant termite. With opposable thumbs.
I made a mistake playing the cut and paste game-no Dogula, it is not part of a grand conspiracy. My first recent post should’ve been “…When someone states ‘Anyone that goes for anything ‘________’ say’s about ‘_________’ is a fool’ is closed off, unwilling to learn, unwilling to grow, unwilling for change. In short, ready for the grave. In my opinion.
Please accept my apologies for my inaccuracy.
Ignorance is bliss. . .unless & until you’re completely surrounded by it. . .
Gaspen & Dog. Not that this is what the article is about… topic shift. Since January 2009: Iraq War is over, US Economy is on the rebound, TARP has made a $32 Billion profit as of today, Bin Laden is dead (not alive), Gaddafi is dead, the percentage of Uninsured Americans has dropped by 5% thanks to ACA, Medicare drug “donut” hole closed, credit card bill of rights, etc. Even Politifact (a web site I sometimes disagree with) rated President Obama with 70% of his Campaign Promises kept. Of the remaining 30%, most have to do with Congress not willing to do it’s job, stalled or still waiting.
Uninsured Americans dropped by 5%.
Well I guess when the government threatens ‘fines’ or ‘penalties’ for NOT getting insured and will withhold those fines from a tax return then of course the lambs will follow. Next there will be liens on a persons property by the government if they don’t get the ORDERED health insurance. Just say’n Rock4.
The Bummer takes credit for Bin Laden only because he happened to be in office when it went down…..and I think he apologized to them in the end didn’t he? O’Bummer has ties to the Muslim world. Make no mistake.
Gaspen. We get it, “You” hate President Obama. Your rants and opinions are NOT based in reality.
GA. We all have ties to the muslim world because we drive cars or get in some type of transportation to go from point a to point b. And if you dont ever go anywhere, which I doubt, you use some form of plastic material which is a byproduct of the oil industry. So keep on pointing fingers at everyone else and keep your rock close by.
Keep your heads in the sand. It doesn’t bother me. I always have my rock.
@GaspenAsspen- Oops, dropped my tinfoil hat…what did you say? What Rock are you referring to?
‘O’Bummer has ties to the Muslim world. Make no mistake.’
1) And this is important because…..
2) It isn’t;
2a) Unless you are typical xenophobic fear mongering conservative trash. Choke on your freedumb fries.
“Actually, Fish, the sentence itself does have meaning. ”
It does if your reading comprehension is elementary. Or if your only tactic in argument is a straw man. Which it is. It is a logical fallacy, your argument is always invalid because of it.
Funny how conservatives, ex-republicans who now call themselves libertarians, are so desperate for someone who is not their guy to be worse than their last guy.
its really funny how people pick and choose numbers, we forget about the millions of people who were canceled by their insurance companies because it did not meet the presidents standard, those people had to more expensive insurance. there were also miilions that the employer canceled their group policies and are then counted as people insured under aca. dont say this did not happen just ask some of the 800 employees at mont bleu who lost their insurance dur to aca and then signed up for aca paid policies.
as :far global warming is concerned the world uses 85 million barrels a year yet the us only uses 19 million barrels, and bare in mind that the us has the most stringent smog controls, not like most of 3 world countries that polute much more per barrel than we do, like china, brazil, mexico n india. there is no way with all of our power the we can control them.
“Unless you are typical xenophobic fear mongering conservative trash. Choke on your freedumb fries.”
Ah, yes, more tolerance from the left.
“Funny how conservatives, ex-republicans who now call themselves libertarians, are so desperate for someone who is not their guy to be worse than their last guy.”
Funny how the left is completely incapable of dealing with the NOW, without throwing in, “well the last guy from the OTHER side was doing it. . .”
1)that’s the most juvenile argument in existence, and
2)stop pretending you know anything about me. I have never been a Republican. I’ve been a registered libertarian since 1976, the first year my state offered the designation.
Had you even been born yet?
@reloman…Gosh, those numbers you use make the US energy usage sound fair and rational, (thrifty almost) only using a nominal share while the rest of the dirty world is wastefully out of balance. Let’s take a quick look at the straight math. We’ll use your numbers, just for arguments sake.
The US uses ONLY(emphasis mine) 19 million of the 85 million barrels of crude oil, which comes out to 22.35% of the total use.
The US population as of 03/2014 was 314 million people, out of a global population of 7.1 billion people, or 4.44% of the total population.
Roughly 1/20th of the population uses almost 1/4 of the worlds oil.
That sounds fair and balanced
Isn’t math fun?
It’s funny how people pick and choose their numbers. What’s not funny is the crap they try to justify using those numbers.
Relo. We don’t use the “millions” number of people cancelled because it is a false claim. 1. Insurance Companies have always had the ability to cancel, modify or revoke a policy prior to 2010. 2. A discount drug card is NOT a health care plan (even my old insurance agent refused to sell me those as a plan). 3. GOP claims of 40 people being dropped for every single ACA signup has been proven a LIE. Ex. Kentucky. 130,000 canceled policies versus 413,000 signup.
Your “since everyone else uses more oil then us” argument is pretty weak. The whole point of increased fuel efficiency, solar power, wind power, geothermal power etc is to set an example and steer the energy market away from fossil fuels.
“Unless you are typical xenophobic fear mongering conservative trash. Choke on your freedumb fries.”
Ah, yes, more tolerance from the left.
What they said was xenophobic. No one should tolerate intolerance.
Oh that’s right, you are a ‘proud Islamophobe’. You people disgust me.
“1)that’s the most juvenile argument in existenc”
You missed the point. Look at how hard people are trying to make Benghazi a big issue. Your last guy started a war based on lies. We should just forget that? Not a chance. ‘Mission Accomplished’. How can one possibly forget that. The assumption that people are living in the past is ludicrous.
And your previous statement was (another) straw man. Juvenile indeed.
How many times did you vote for Bush?
I’d like to be able to vote for a Republican (third party isn’t happening anytime soon), but until that party stops coddling the religious right I simply can’t.
My age has nothing to do with this. But since you bring it up (I am guessing because you are trying to equate age with experience and being well informed) how bad is it that someone ‘young’ exposes so many of you as ignorant.
I was hoping to excuse your intolerance and arrogance by acknowledging your youth. But you just go right ahead and continue your temper tantrum.
Anybody who chooses to ignore the horrible deaths of four people and say that it’s no big deal because other Administrations have done worse is inhuman.
What is it about Tahoe that attracts great minds?
“I was hoping to excuse your intolerance”
I don’t tolerate your intolerance. You simple minded bible thumping cretin.
Did I not make that clear?
You are an xenophobic piece of trash.
Please, share with all of us the link to the islamophobic piece of propaganda, that you proudly admitted to sharing and agreeing with, that got you BANNED from the tribune site.
Go ahead, post it so everyone else can see the type of filth you support. it is ‘What The West Needs to Know’ about your ignorant fear mongering simple minded worldview. *if she doesn’t, paste the words in ” into google and you will find it*
“What is it about Tahoe that attracts great minds?”
Read any research papers lately? I like that you care about individual trees but am worried about what you feel about the forest biome. Seriously, read the Safford paper, he is a well respected fire ecologist. Don’t take my word for it, yes I did collect some of the data, but read his papers on your own and make that part of your worldview. Else we would love to hear your input in the peer review process.
@Dog-I am assuming(heh-heh) that you have VOTED Republican. Am I wrong?
“Anybody who chooses to ignore the horrible deaths of four people and say that it’s no big deal because other Administrations have done worse is inhuman”
I don’t know ANYBODY who chooses to ignore the deaths in Benghazi. I DO know of some people who can’t quite seem to put them is perspective. John Boehner, Mitch McConnel, Darryl Issa, Rush, Hannity, Man Coulter, Dogula, Dog Woman, AuntySocial. Why don’t you compare apples to apples? Oh, and get a rabies shot.
They lowered the voting age again? Who knew?
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052970204301404577171531838421366
http://joannenova.com.au/2014/05/david-kear-former-director-general-nz-dsir-says-a-non-existent-threat/
Very different articles and sources; especially the second one; not some fly-by-night guy. Can’t wait to hear the arguments against these two articles.
Bob. Ivar Giaever is a Physicist that studied electron tunneling of semi-conductors in the early 1960’s. David Kear is a Geoscientist (study of the physical properties of the Earth) who hasn’t done any field work in decades. 97% of Climatologists agree that the Earth is warming and that it is CO2 (greenhouse gas) that is the number 1 source. These two are part of the 3% that disagree.
Galileo
Bob:
Galileo actually proves the point against you. Galileo revolutionized science away from religious dogma that was driving a religious, not a scientific view of the cosmos.
It becomes extremely difficult to find climate scientist that do not find the evidence overwhelming, and you have to rely on politicians or the small number of scientist who have no experience in the subject matter to support your point. Thus, your argument is weak and unconvincing.
Same problem with creationist. Largely, non-scientist
making a flawed argument claiming its foundations are science based, which they are not, they are religious based.
So if you get lung cancer, I suggest you go talk to the tobacco industry and ask their advise instead of a well trained Dr.
Rick