A 196 page report entitled “Global Climate Change Impact on U.S.” predicts the scenarios we’ve already heard but failed to heed so far like worse weather, and property loss and the domino affect on everything else including the economy. I wonder how quickly the insurance industry would go belly up from too many claims across the country? The report appears to be nonpartisan in nature, commissioned by the Bush Administration in 2007 and concluded just recently in the Obama Administration. It does reassure at the conclusion that a worsening scenario can be still be fixed.
According to the website, Mongabay.com, the report was compiled by “13 governmental science agencies, several top universities, and research institutions.” Described as “‘the most up-to-date, comprehensive and authoritative assessment’ of the affects of climate change on the U.S., the report splits the U.S. into nine regions because after all we differ greatly relative to climate here in the U.S. The regions are: Southwest, Northwest, Great Plains, Midwest, Southeast, Northeast, Alaska, islands, and coastal regions.
The Midwest or Great Lakes region report is accurate. We are seeing more snow in winter and rain in early spring, then we dry up the rest of the summer into fall. The bad thing is I think we’re getting more and more windy too.
And the impact of global warming in Alaska has been kept under wraps for the most part. The report states: “The thawing permafrost is causing land to sink, damaging homes and public infrastructure, costing the state billions of dollars for repair costs. In addition, the thawing permafrost endangers coast lines already threatened by loss of sea ice and rising sea levels.” This is happening in the land of “drill, baby, drill?”
Evan Mills, a scientist at Berkeley who contributed to the report said, “The good news is that the harshest impacts of future climate change can be avoided if the nation takes deliberate action soon. This can be done through a balanced mix of activities to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and adaptation to the otherwise unavoidable impacts.”
Unfortunately, there seems to be an economic downfall attached to each region as the result of global warming too. CEO of World Wildlife Fund expressed, “Already Americans are paying the price for the lack of action on climate change in the past and those costs will only rise. It’s time for Congress to act. ”