It’s World Environment Day, and all I can think about is how the Gulf oil disaster has been book-ended by two environmental commemorations. The BP oil well blew out two days before Earth Day in April, though it was barely covered in the news until a few days later when people realized that oil was leaking into the ocean unabated. (In the back of our minds, we tend to assume that someone has a plan for these contingencies. Surprise! No plan.)
Tags: · BarbaraKesslerBlog, BP oil spill, Climate Change, Drought, Earth Day, global warming, gulf oil disaster, hurricanes, severe weather, Tornadoes, World Environment Day
By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
The Obama Administration, via the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP), issued a wake-up call today, a massive report on climate change called Global Climate Change Impacts in the U.S..
It concludes that the effects of climate change are here, they’re worsening and they must be dealt with soon if future generations are to enjoy ample food, water and comfortable living conditions
Quite simply, it’s a message about impending disaster. Average temperatures are getting hotter and could rise as much as 10 degrees by the end of the century. Our use of fossil fuels is mainly to blame. If we don’t stop polluting the air with heat-trapping gases, the ensuing climate changes will lead to drought, flooding, severe storms, stressed agriculture, thinning glaciers, earlier snow melts, rising sea levels, declining ecosystems and deteriorating air quality.
End of story. Literally.
Tags: · Climate Change, Fossil Fuels, global warming, Greenhouse Gases, heat-trapping gases, sea rise, severe weather, U.S. Global Change Research Program, warming temperatures, water shortages
Barbara Kessler
Andrew Winston
Danielle Nierenberg
Anthony Swift