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Earth Science

Many of the Climate Impacts Predicted in the Last National Climate Assessment, in 2014, Are No Longer Theoretical (nytimes.com) 346

This year's report contains many of the same findings cited in the previous National Climate Assessment, published in 2014. From a report: More and more of the predicted impacts of global warming are now becoming a reality. For instance, the 2014 assessment forecast that coastal cities would see more flooding in the coming years as sea levels rose. That's no longer theoretical: Scientists have now documented a record number of "nuisance flooding" events during high tides in cities like Miami and Charleston, S.C.

"High tide flooding is now posing daily risks to businesses, neighborhoods, infrastructure, transportation, and ecosystems in the Southeast," the report says. As the oceans have warmed, disruptions in United States fisheries, long predicted, are now underway. In 2012, record ocean temperatures caused lobster catches in Maine to peak a month earlier than usual, and the distribution chain was unprepared.

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Many of the Climate Impacts Predicted in the Last National Climate Assessment, in 2014, Are No Longer Theoretical

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  • by WindBourne ( 631190 ) on Saturday November 24, 2018 @08:14PM (#57694828) Journal
    is that America will NOT be the hardest hit. Mid to Southern Europe, along with China's breadbasket, will be hit by high temps and massive droughts.
    If Nations want to avoid this, they will all work together, as opposed to pushing others to cut back, while they continue to add lots more fossil fuel plants.
    • America wouldn't be most affected even if it was hardest hit because we have the most useful free space. We could lose half our farmland and nobody would have to go hungry. (People are already going hungry even though we are throwing away tons upon tons of food, but that's a separate discussion.) Europe is crowded.

    • by hey! ( 33014 )

      I don't know why anyone would expect America to be hardest hit. The US "National Climate Assessment" naturally focuses on.. the US.

      The degree to which a country feels the "hardness of the hit" depends on that country's economic and political vulnerability. In 2017 we had our second straight year of record flooding, but despite its immense cost that amounted to less than 1% of our GDP. Since that cost was mostly borne by private entities, and it was non-discretionary, as a whole the country took it in

  • by oldgraybeard ( 2939809 ) on Saturday November 24, 2018 @08:50PM (#57694990)
    without force. Only government can decide who suffers and who gets to live the Great life.
    Government will decide who's money is taken to pay the price, who is affected by the grand goal of controlling our climate. Who must downsize their dreams/houses/lives, Who gets what amount of electricity, heat and food. What industries are outlawed. Who's jobs are done away with. Who gets travel permits and who must stay where they are.
    It seems to me that most everyone here is shouting that something has to be done but usually exclude themselves. They see it as the fault of others that little is being done.

    Step up, vote correctly and you will bring your wildest dreams in to reality. But you may not like what you get. Socialism really does suck kids!

    As for me, I don't see much happening that will affect me. I am 63. Have not flown in 10 years. Put 23 miles on my Toyota Prius last month. Have not driven over 2k-3k miles a year in, well years. Live in a 2000 sq ft house. And work remotely for the most part. How about you?

    Just my 2 cents ;)
    • Step up, vote correctly and you will bring your wildest dreams in to reality. But you may not like what you get. Socialism really does suck kids!

      Social democracy on the other hand works very well.

      Have not flown in 10 years. Put 23 miles on my Toyota Prius last month. Have not driven over 2k-3k miles a year in, well years. Live in a 2000 sq ft house. And work remotely for the most part. How about you?

      I own no car, but I do fly occasionally, mostly for work. Drive well under 1k per year. My house is a little

  • Globally, sea levels havenâ(TM)t risen. Itâ(TM)s apparently quite convinient to ignore areas where sea levels have stayed the same for many decades or even receded and instead only focus on areas where itâ(TM)s risen. Do so many people genuinely think that the fact that sea levels have risen someplace automatically means they have risen everywhere? Newsflash: it doesnâ(TM)t.

    • Do so many people genuinely think that the fact that sea levels have risen someplace automatically means they have risen everywhere? Newsflash: it doesnÃ(TM)t.

      What? Of course it does. The mean increases more in some places than others, but the maximums increase everywhere.

    • by ceoyoyo ( 59147 )

      The NOAA seems to disagree with you:

      https://www.epa.gov/climate-in... [epa.gov]

  • People will not stop releasing CO2 for a while and sucking it all back in is impractical. Time to get going with practical mitigation like Netherlands-style dykes, genetically modified coral that can withstand heat/acidity, spraying aerosoles in upper atmosphere, thinning out the forests to control wildfires and so on. The great thing is that a lot of these measures can be done locally rather than waiting for 7 billion people to agree. Humans have modified the environment and remedied their own impact for t

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