Originally posted by Frances Beinecke on NRDC Switchboard

Scientists recently reported that the level of carbon in the atmosphere has passed 400 parts per million. Carbon pollution causes climate change, and many experts believe we need to bring this level down to 350 ppm in order to hold off the worst impacts of climate disruption. And yet we continue to march into the danger zone.

Already the signs are appearing in our communities. Climate change intensifies drought, storms, tidal surges, and heat waves, and these events have exacted a staggering price in the past few years.

Last June, a freak storm called a “derecho” left 22 dead and 5 million people without power from Illinois to Virginia. Another potent storm dumped up to 10 inches of rain in Minnesota and Wisconsin, causing $80 million to Duluth’s public infrastructure. July 2012 became the hottest month on record for the contiguous United States, and 123 deaths were directly tied to the high temperatures. The heat dried out soil across the nation and contributed to the worst drought in 50 years. More than 2,000 counties were declared drought disaster areas and U.S. farmers received $12 billion in insurance payments for crop damage. And all this occurred before Superstorm Sandy struck.

This is not the climate we were born into. Instead we have entered the era of extreme weather.

We have profoundly altered the planet’s chemistry, and if we do not heed the alarm sounded by 400 ppm, we will lock ourselves into more intense droughts, wildfires, and Superstorm Sandys.

The good news is we know how to arrest this problem and reduce carbon pollution.

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Ten weeks after the budget sequester took effect on March 1, the House Appropriations Committee Democrats released “Report on Sequestration Effects and Efforts to Mitigate its Impact.” The report confirms that the sequester is threatening Americans’ health, safety and well being.

According to the report, sequester cuts in energy and environment related programs generally have had the following impacts so far:

• Less ability to fight wildfires
• Greater exposure to climate related extreme weather
• Less protection from air pollution
• Reduced protection for national parks and other protected places

The sequester will expose Americans to additional risks from climate change. The House Appropriations Committee Democrats report that:

The sequester will result in a cut of at least $50 million from NOAA’s (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) geostationary weather satellite program, which provides continuous monitoring to track severe weather. The cut will cause a 3-6 month satellite launch delay, increasing the likelihood of having fewer than two operational geostationary weather satellites in the 2017 timeframe, increasing the risk of inaccurate forecasts for hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe thunderstorms, with further risks to public safety and costs from weather-related damage. Continue reading →

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Originally posted on The Huffington Post by Tom Zeller Jr.

Public opinion on the topic of climate change is notoriously fickle, changing — quite literally sometimes — with the weather. The latest bit of evidence on this: Yale’s April 2013 climate change survey, which found, among other things, that Americans’ conviction that global warming is happening had dropped by seven points, to 63 percent, over the preceding six months. The decline, the authors surmised, was most likely due to “the cold winter of 2012-13 and an unusually cold March just before the survey was conducted.”

A far smaller percentage — 49 percent — understood that human activities are contributing to the problem.

People and surveys being what they are, these numbers tend to jump around a bit from year to year. At the same time, 49 percent is nearly half the country, so it wouldn’t be excessively cheerful (would it?) to note that half of the American public is more or less in harmony with basic science — at least as it relates to climate change and the role carbon dioxide emissions play in exacerbating things. Given that roughly the same number of Americans flatly reject evolution, the climate numbers represent a comparative bounty of enlightenment.

That’s not something you hear very often when it comes to surveys of Americans. Delving deeper into the textbooks, for instance, another recent study showed that less than half of population was clear on whether atoms are smaller than electrons, or whether lasers work by focusing sound waves. In this light (ahem), the larger consensus on global warming is notable. (Answers on atoms and lasers appear at the end of this column.)

But a far more troubling metric from Yale’s latest poll suggests that only 42 percent of Americans believe that scientists are in agreement on climate change. A full 33 percent of respondents are convinced that there remains “widespread disagreement” among scientists on the issue. This is a problem — both because it is so at odds with reality, and because it likely helps prevent more Americans from recognizing and accepting some pretty straightforward scientific realities. Continue reading →

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