Washington: The US, severely hit by climate change, today called for urgent action to prepare the world's largest economy to combat the effects of higher temperatures, rising sea levels and erratic weather.
"Climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present," the National Climate Assessment said, adding that the evidence of man-made climate change "continues to strengthen" and that "impacts are increasing across the country."
"Americans are noticing changes all around them," the report says, echoing a draft version from last year. "Summers are longer and hotter. ... Rain comes in heavier downpours."
Alarmed by the effects of climate change, the White House called for urgent action across the United States and key sectors of the American economy. Not only the average temperature has increased by 1.3 F to 1.9 F since record keeping began in 1895, most of this increase has occurred since about 1970, but also there have been changes in some types of extreme weather events over the last several decades, the report said.
"Heat waves have become more frequent and intense, especially in the West. Cold waves have become less frequent and intense across the Nation. There have been regional trends in floods and droughts," the report said.
The intensity, frequency and duration of North Atlantic hurricanes as well as the frequency of the strongest (Category 4 and 5) hurricanes, have all increased since the early 1980s, the report added.
While winter storms have increased in frequency and intensity since the 1950s, and their tracks have shifted northward over the United States, the length of the frost-free season (and the corresponding growing season) has been increasing nationally since the 1980s, with the largest increases occurring in the western United States, affecting ecosystems and agriculture, report said.
The report also said the rising temperatures are reducing ice volume and surface extent on land, lakes, and sea. The report further said, "This loss of ice is expected to continue. The Arctic Ocean is expected to become essentially ice free in summer before mid-century. The global sea level has risen by about eight inches since reliable record keeping began in 1880".
"The oceans are currently absorbing about a quarter of the carbon dioxide emitted to the atmosphere annually and are becoming more acidic as a result, leading to concerns about intensifying impacts on marine ecosystems," the report added.
The findings in this National Climate Assessment underscore the need for urgent action to combat the threats from climate change, protect American citizens and communities on Tuesday, and build a sustainable future, the White House said.
"We are working every day to implement the President's Climate action plan. We have made important gains on all three fronts of the Climate action plan that he released last year. Mitigating greenhouse gas emissions, as I have talked about, building resilience in American communities to the climate impacts we know are coming, and leading the international negotiations to tackle this global challenge, John Podesta, senior advisor to the US President told reporters.
The report said climate change, once considered an issue for a distant future, has moved firmly into the present. "So, too, are coastal planners in Florida, water managers in the arid Southwest, city dwellers from Phoenix to New York, and Native Peoples on tribal lands from Louisiana to Alaska", the report said.
"This National Climate Assessment concludes that the evidence of human-induced climate change continues to strengthen and that impacts are increasing across the country," it added. Americans are noticing changes all around them. Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced.
Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours, the report said. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighbourhoods, the report added.
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