Byker
2014-05-06 22:23:02 UTC
I wonder if Paul Ehrlich had a hand in any of this:
"Climate change has moved from distant threat to present-day danger and no
American will be left unscathed, according to a landmark report due to be
unveiled on Tuesday."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/04/climate-change-present-us-national-assessment
"Climate change has officially arrived, and it is wreaking havoc across the
United States - draining water supplies, throwing off sea levels and
affecting the health of millions of Americans, according to a significant
new government report."
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-unveils-major-climate-change-report
Yawn. Learn to adapt, people. Fox has been pooh-poohing this all afternoon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administration issues dire global warming report, amid regulatory push
FoxNews.com
May 06, 2014
A new and dire global warming report from the Obama administration warns of
a growing link between human activity and extreme weather across the
country -- but Republicans charge the findings will be used to muscle
through costly emissions regulations.
The National Climate Assessment, four years in the making, gave a
region-by-region breakdown of how climate change is impacting the United
States -- in the form of droughts, heat waves and increasingly intense
hurricanes, though it is still uncertain how much of that is due to "human
activity." The report stopped short of definitively attributing a rash of
extreme weather to man-made climate change, concluding "there is new and
stronger evidence that many of these increases are related to human
activities."
"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved
firmly into the present," the 840-page report states. "Corn producers in
Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers in
Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent
experience."
The report predicts that the weather-related repercussions of climate change
"are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout
this century and beyond."
The report, though, quickly came under fire from Republicans, who said the
administration would use it to push job-killing regulations.
"Instead of making the environment drastically better, the president's
strategy will make the climate for unemployed Americans even worse," Sen.
John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a statement. "The American people have made
it clear that they want Washington to focus on the economy and make it
easier for them to find good jobs. Once again, President Obama is completely
ignoring their concerns -- and doubling down today on extreme regulations
that will put more Americans out of work."
In a counterpoint of sorts to the report, Barrasso and other congressional
Republicans representing western states released their own findings later
Tuesday morning highlighting state efforts to protect the environment. The
report highlights local air and water policies, and criticizes
"one-size-fits-all" regulations it accuses the administration of imposing.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said the cost of such federal regulations
will be "borne by the middle class."
The administration's latest report comes as the administration battles
congressional Republicans over its climate agenda. White House counselor
John Podesta said Tuesday that the report shows there "is no debate" about
climate change, and said those who deny it are "working themselves in a
froth."
A day earlier, he warned that attempts by congressional lawmakers to block
the administration's climate action plan will fail.
Podesta told reporters during a briefing at the White House that President
Obama is committed to moving forward with controversial Clean Air Act
regulations to cut carbon dioxide emissions for all new coal and gas-fired
power plants.
Republicans have branded the president's climate plan as a "war on coal" and
have sponsored legislation to roll back planned Environmental Protection
Agency greenhouse gas standards they argue will harm the nation's economy.
"They'll find various ways, particularly in the House, to try to stop us
from using the authority we have under the Clean Air Act. All I would say is
that those have zero percent chance of working. We're committed to moving
forward with those rules," Podesta said.
The report also comes as the administration delays a decision on the
controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone pipeline. Environmentalists oppose
it, but Republicans and some Democrats are pressuring the administration to
approve it.
The climate report looked at regional and state-level effects of global
warming, compared with recent reports from the United Nations that lumped
all of North America together. A draft of the report was released in January
2013, but this version has been reviewed by more scientists, the National
Academy of Science and 13 government agencies and had public comment.
Even though the nation's average temperature has risen by as much as 1.9
degrees since record keeping began in 1895, it's in the big, wild weather
where the average person feels climate change the most, said co-author
Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University climate scientist. Extreme weather
like droughts, storms and heat waves hit us in the pocketbooks and can be
seen by our own eyes, she said.
And it's happening a lot more often lately.
Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity and shifted
northward since the 1950s, the report also claims. Also, it says, heavy
downpours are increasing -- by 71 percent in the Northeast. Heat waves, such
as those in Texas in 2011 and the Midwest in 2012, are projected in the
report to intensify nationwide. Droughts in the Southwest are likewise
forecast to become stronger. The report claims sea levels have risen 8
inches since 1880, and projects them to rise between one foot and four feet
by 2100.
Critics of the report, however, contend that its dire projections are more
political than scientific. "The Administration's Climate Assessment suffers
from problems similar to those in reports put forward by the IPCC, while
intended to be a scientific document it's more of a political one used to
justify more government overreach," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., ranking
Republican on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"Definitive policy decisions and regional planning based on far too many
uncertainties could hurt our nation's economic viability and
competitiveness. Look no further than the European nations whose policy
decisions led to economic failure."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/06/administration-issues-dire-climate-change-warnings-amid-regulatory-push/
"Climate change has moved from distant threat to present-day danger and no
American will be left unscathed, according to a landmark report due to be
unveiled on Tuesday."
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/may/04/climate-change-present-us-national-assessment
"Climate change has officially arrived, and it is wreaking havoc across the
United States - draining water supplies, throwing off sea levels and
affecting the health of millions of Americans, according to a significant
new government report."
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-unveils-major-climate-change-report
Yawn. Learn to adapt, people. Fox has been pooh-poohing this all afternoon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Administration issues dire global warming report, amid regulatory push
FoxNews.com
May 06, 2014
A new and dire global warming report from the Obama administration warns of
a growing link between human activity and extreme weather across the
country -- but Republicans charge the findings will be used to muscle
through costly emissions regulations.
The National Climate Assessment, four years in the making, gave a
region-by-region breakdown of how climate change is impacting the United
States -- in the form of droughts, heat waves and increasingly intense
hurricanes, though it is still uncertain how much of that is due to "human
activity." The report stopped short of definitively attributing a rash of
extreme weather to man-made climate change, concluding "there is new and
stronger evidence that many of these increases are related to human
activities."
"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved
firmly into the present," the 840-page report states. "Corn producers in
Iowa, oyster growers in Washington state and maple syrup producers in
Vermont are all observing climate-related changes that are outside of recent
experience."
The report predicts that the weather-related repercussions of climate change
"are expected to become increasingly disruptive across the nation throughout
this century and beyond."
The report, though, quickly came under fire from Republicans, who said the
administration would use it to push job-killing regulations.
"Instead of making the environment drastically better, the president's
strategy will make the climate for unemployed Americans even worse," Sen.
John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a statement. "The American people have made
it clear that they want Washington to focus on the economy and make it
easier for them to find good jobs. Once again, President Obama is completely
ignoring their concerns -- and doubling down today on extreme regulations
that will put more Americans out of work."
In a counterpoint of sorts to the report, Barrasso and other congressional
Republicans representing western states released their own findings later
Tuesday morning highlighting state efforts to protect the environment. The
report highlights local air and water policies, and criticizes
"one-size-fits-all" regulations it accuses the administration of imposing.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell said the cost of such federal regulations
will be "borne by the middle class."
The administration's latest report comes as the administration battles
congressional Republicans over its climate agenda. White House counselor
John Podesta said Tuesday that the report shows there "is no debate" about
climate change, and said those who deny it are "working themselves in a
froth."
A day earlier, he warned that attempts by congressional lawmakers to block
the administration's climate action plan will fail.
Podesta told reporters during a briefing at the White House that President
Obama is committed to moving forward with controversial Clean Air Act
regulations to cut carbon dioxide emissions for all new coal and gas-fired
power plants.
Republicans have branded the president's climate plan as a "war on coal" and
have sponsored legislation to roll back planned Environmental Protection
Agency greenhouse gas standards they argue will harm the nation's economy.
"They'll find various ways, particularly in the House, to try to stop us
from using the authority we have under the Clean Air Act. All I would say is
that those have zero percent chance of working. We're committed to moving
forward with those rules," Podesta said.
The report also comes as the administration delays a decision on the
controversial Canada-to-Texas Keystone pipeline. Environmentalists oppose
it, but Republicans and some Democrats are pressuring the administration to
approve it.
The climate report looked at regional and state-level effects of global
warming, compared with recent reports from the United Nations that lumped
all of North America together. A draft of the report was released in January
2013, but this version has been reviewed by more scientists, the National
Academy of Science and 13 government agencies and had public comment.
Even though the nation's average temperature has risen by as much as 1.9
degrees since record keeping began in 1895, it's in the big, wild weather
where the average person feels climate change the most, said co-author
Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech University climate scientist. Extreme weather
like droughts, storms and heat waves hit us in the pocketbooks and can be
seen by our own eyes, she said.
And it's happening a lot more often lately.
Winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity and shifted
northward since the 1950s, the report also claims. Also, it says, heavy
downpours are increasing -- by 71 percent in the Northeast. Heat waves, such
as those in Texas in 2011 and the Midwest in 2012, are projected in the
report to intensify nationwide. Droughts in the Southwest are likewise
forecast to become stronger. The report claims sea levels have risen 8
inches since 1880, and projects them to rise between one foot and four feet
by 2100.
Critics of the report, however, contend that its dire projections are more
political than scientific. "The Administration's Climate Assessment suffers
from problems similar to those in reports put forward by the IPCC, while
intended to be a scientific document it's more of a political one used to
justify more government overreach," said Sen. David Vitter, R-La., ranking
Republican on the U.S. Senate Environment and Public Works Committee.
"Definitive policy decisions and regional planning based on far too many
uncertainties could hurt our nation's economic viability and
competitiveness. Look no further than the European nations whose policy
decisions led to economic failure."
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/05/06/administration-issues-dire-climate-change-warnings-amid-regulatory-push/