The consequences of climate change are now beyond scientific doubt. The uncertainties lie in understanding catastrophic tipping points, irreversible damage and what mitigation and emissions-reduction strategies can avert disaster. I have included the first five paragraphs of the 2023 U.S. Fifth National Climate Assessment to provide some climate essentials we all need to understand.
Begin text: The Fifth National Climate Assessment is the US Government’s preeminent report on climate change impacts, risks and responses. It is a congressionally mandated interagency effort that provides the scientific foundation to support informed decision-making across the United States.
The effects of human-caused climate change are already far-reaching and worsening across every region of the United States. Rapidly reducing greenhouse gas emissions can limit future warming and associated increases in many risks. Across the country, efforts to adapt to climate change and reduce emissions have expanded since 2018, and US emissions have fallen since peaking in 2007. However, without deeper cuts in global net greenhouse gas emissions and accelerated adaptation efforts, severe climate risks to the United States will continue to grow.
The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather, and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow. Each additional increment of warming is expected to lead to more damage and greater economic losses compared to previous increments of warming, while the risk of catastrophic or unforeseen consequences also increases.
However, this also means that each increment of warming that the world avoids—through actions that cut emissions or remove carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere—reduces the risks and harmful impacts of climate change. While there are still uncertainties about how the planet will react to rapid warming, the degree to which climate change will continue to worsen is largely in human hands.
In addition to reducing risks to future generations, rapid emissions cuts are expected to have immediate health and economic benefits. At the national scale, the benefits of deep emissions cuts for current and future generations are expected to far outweigh the costs. End Text
The link to the full assessment: Fifth National Climate Assessment
The Greenhouse gases: Carbon Dioxide (the major source and longest lasting), Methane (of greater potency but shorter duration), Nitrous Oxide, water vapor, and Ozone are the primary greenhouse gases. Taken together, scientists often measure them in terms of CO2 Equivalents, or CO2e.
The Primary greenhouse gas sources: Energy from fossil fuels to power manufacturing, transportation, home/building energy requirements and to support industrial agriculture. Beef and Pork herds and landfills emit large amounts of methane, as does burning natural gas. Finding clean energy substitutes is critical to success in putting the brakes on climate change.
It is the increase in these emissions that have created an imbalance in how much the Earth naturally emits and how much our natural environment absorbs – roughly aligning with the industrial revolution and measurable as early as the mid-19th century.
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