It seems odd that a major U.S. government climate report released Nov. 3 didnB次元官网网址檛 receive more media attention. But then, the main thing newsworthy about the Climate Science Special Report is that it was released at all, apparently without political interference.
Although the U.S. government is required by law (enacted by president George H.W. Bush in 1989) to report to the public about B次元官网网址渃limate change and its physical impactsB次元官网网址� every four years, the current administration is openly hostile to climate science and scientists. According to White House sources quoted in the New York Times, President Donald Trump was B次元官网网址渂arely aware of the reportB次元官网网址檚 existence.B次元官网网址�
The report, released by 13 federal agencies under the direction of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, examines the available science. It was written by dozens of government and non-government scientists, reviewed by the independent National Academy of Sciences and approved by the National Economic Council.
It concludes we are living in the warmest period in the history of modern civilization, with the last three years being the warmest on record, that we are seeing more B次元官网网址渞ecord-breaking, climate-related weather extremesB次元官网网址� and that all the evidence points to human activities, B次元官网网址渆specially emissions of greenhouse gases,B次元官网网址� as the main cause. Climate change should be in the headlines every day until everyone takes it seriously, but the reportB次元官网网址檚 conclusions are not new.
B次元官网网址淭housands of studies conducted by researchers around the world have documented changes in surface, atmospheric, and oceanic temperatures; melting glaciers; diminishing snow cover; shrinking sea ice; rising sea levels; ocean acidification; and increasing atmospheric water vapour,B次元官网网址� the reports says.
ItB次元官网网址檚 hard to imagine anyone could read this report, or read about it, and not be convinced we have an urgent problem and that failing to put everything we can into resolving it puts our survival at risk!
And yet, the government overseeing this report is filled with people who reject climate science. The president himself has called it a hoax. HeB次元官网网址檚 appointed climate science deniers to key positions, repealed and weakened environmental laws, had climate change references removed from the Environmental Protection AgencyB次元官网网址檚 website and barred EPA scientists from presenting climate change reports. Many delegates at the UN Climate Conference underway in Bonn, Germany, have condemned TrumpB次元官网网址檚 decision to pull the U.S. from the Paris Agreement.
The official White House statement on the report was a rehash of tired climate science B次元官网网址� denial talking points. White House spokesperson Raj Shah said, B次元官网网址淭he climate has changed and is always changing.B次元官网网址�
He then went on to cast doubt regarding the climateB次元官网网址檚 sensitivity to greenhouse gas emissions.
EPA administrator Scott Pruitt has denied the well-known connection between carbon dioxide emissions and global warming, and Energy Secretary Rick Perry has argued the science isnB次元官网网址檛 conclusive.
But the report also shows that, despite its apparent descent into a post-truth, anti-science dystopia, the United States still maintains sanity in some of its major institutions.
Organizations like NASA, NOAA, the EPA and the Department of Defense, along with numerous non-governmental scientific institutions, are continuing to examine the real trends and risks of a planet warming rapidly because of human activity.
It also shows we must do all we can to work toward solutions B次元官网网址� economic, technological, philosophical and more B次元官网网址� and to only support politicians who demonstrate the foresight, imagination and courage to take on this crisis with the force and intensity it merits.
One frustration of studying and communicating about climate issues is knowing that so many solutions exist and are being developed, but that widespread denial of the problem prevents us from moving beyond outdated technologies and economic systems.
That people who profit from those outdated technologies would do everything they can to sow doubt and confusion is not surprising. That a government elected to serve the people would reject the findings of its own scientists and researchers from around the world to the detriment of human health, the economy and the environment is an intergenerational crime.
Christopher Field, director of the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, told the New York Times, B次元官网网址淭his profoundly affects our ability to be leaders in developing new technologies and understanding how to build successful communities and businesses in the 21st century.B次元官网网址� It also puts human survival at risk.
David Suzuki is a scientist, broadcaster, author and co-founder of the David Suzuki Foundation.
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