I have been wondering wether anyone in Government outside of NASA, NOAA and the Scientific community have been taking Climate Change Seriously. Then I saw this announcement from the White House
Expanding the Climate Change Conversation
"Today, a committee of independent advisors to the U.S. Government released its first draft of a new National Climate Assessment (NCA)—a 400-page synthesis of scientists’ current understanding of climate change and its impacts in the United States. The Global Change Research Act of 1990 calls for an NCA to be produced at least every four years—the last came out in 2009. The draft NCA is a scientific document—not a policy document—and does not make recommendations regarding actions that might be taken in response to climate change. Today is the first time the Government has been presented with this draft and the administration will be one of a number of entities that will begin the process of reviewing it. When completed about a year from now, however—after considerable inputs from the public and expert reviewers—it will represent the most thorough, rigorous, and transparent assessment ever of climate change and its U.S. impacts..."
POTUS - Office of Science and Technology Policy
We are then directed to the relevant agency release. FASCINATING. At least it's a topic that SOME folk have been taking seriously. Of course, it'll be attacked by the Right. And as likely as not, they all get a pat on the head and sent home and NOTHING will be done. But at least there is a
conversation going on out there.
Federal Advisory Committee Draft Climate Assessment Report Released for Public Review
"A 60-person Federal Advisory Committee (The "National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee" or NCADAC) has overseen the development of this draft climate report....
"Following extensive review by the National Academies of Sciences and by the public, this report will be revised by the NCADAC and, after additional review, will then be submitted to the Federal Government for consideration in the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA) Report."
The full document (147Mb PDF file) and individual chapters are
available online for Download.
The Committee is now soliciting public comment.
You can read the Introduction: Letter to the American People past the fold.
NCADAC Draft Climate Assessment Report
Draft for Public Comment Introduction – Letter to the American People
(v. 11 Jan 2013)
DRAFT FOR PUBLIC COMMENT
Climate Change and the American People
Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present. This report of the National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee concludes that the evidence for a changing climate has strengthened considerably since the last National Climate Assessment report, written in 2009. Many more impacts of human-caused climate change have now been observed. 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. 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.
Americans are noticing changes all around them. Summers are longer and hotter, and periods of extreme heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours, though in many regions there are longer dry spells in between.
Other changes are even more dramatic. Residents of some coastal cities see their streets flood more regularly during storms and high tides. Inland cities near large rivers also experience more flooding, especially in the Midwest and Northeast. Hotter and drier weather and earlier snow melt mean that wildfires in the West start earlier in the year, last later into the fall, threaten more homes, cause more evacuations, and burn more acreage. In Alaska, the summer sea ice that once protected the coasts has receded, and fall storms now cause more erosion and damage that is severe enough that some communities are already facing relocation.
Scientists studying climate change confirm that these observations are consistent with Earth’s climatic trends. Long-term, independent records from weather stations, satellites, ocean buoys, tide gauges, and many other data sources all confirm the fact that our nation, like the rest of the world, is warming, precipitation patterns are changing, sea level is rising, and some types of extreme weather events are increasing. These and other observed climatic changes are having wide-ranging impacts in every region of our country and most sectors of our economy. Some of these changes can be beneficial, such as longer growing seasons in many regions and a longer shipping season on the Great Lakes. But many more have already proven to be detrimental, largely because society and its infrastructure were designed for the climate of the past, not for the rapidly changing climate of the present or the future.
This National Climate Assessment collects, integrates, and assesses observations and research from around the country, helping to show what is actually happening and what it means for peoples’ lives, livelihoods, and future. This report includes analyses of impacts on seven selected sectors: human health, water, energy, transportation, agriculture, forests, and ecosystems and biodiversity. This report additionally focuses on the interactions among several sectors at the national level. It also assesses key impacts on the regions of the U.S.: Northeast, Southeast and Caribbean, Midwest, Great Plains, Southwest, Northwest, Alaska and the Arctic, Hawai‘i and the Pacific Islands; as well as coastal areas, oceans, and marine resources. Finally, this report is the 39 first to explicitly assess the current state of adaptation, mitigation, and decision support activities.
Climate change presents a major challenge for society. This report and the sustained assessment process that is being developed represent steps forward in advancing our understanding of that challenge and its far-reaching implications for our nation and the world.
The National Climate Assessment and Development Advisory Committee
Jerry Melillo, Chair, Marine Biological Laboratory, MA
Terese Neu Richmond, Vice Chair, Van Ness Feldman GordonDerr, L.L.P., WA
Gary Yohe, Vice Chair, Wesleyan University, CT
Federal Advisory Committee Draft Climate Assessment Report Released for Public Review
FOX has already attacked the NOAA report on record heating, under the false banner of "balanced". Imagine how they'll react to this?
False balance: Fox News demands a recount on US’ warmest year
"The report is a classic example of what's been termed 'false balance.' It presents experts with relevant experience and the official word from NOAA, but it simultaneously surrounds them with quotes from several people who aren't scientists—as well as one scientist who is a notable contrarian about other fields of science. In many ways, the self-labelled skeptics contradict each other in their haste to condemn NOAA. But the Fox article doesn't point any of this out, and it actually ends with a veiled hint that we might consider throwing NOAA scientists in jail for their 'manipulations of data.' "- Ars Technica
The overwhelming majority of reputable climate scientists and meteorologists are in agreement about the evidence of Climate Change. I’ll go with their research and the
science over the self-serving opinions of politicians, dissident opinions, contrarians and studies sponsored by the fossil fuel industry, which are inherently suspect.