Articles Posted in Reports

A scientific report commissioned by the Vatican addresses the need to take action with respect to the impacts on glacial ice melt, as well as the other effects, from greenhouse gas emissions caused by human activity.The report prepared by a group of scientists declares in part:

“We call on all people and nations to recognise the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of global warming caused by the anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, and by changes in forests, wetlands, grasslands, and other land uses. We appeal to all nations to develop and implement, without delay, effective and fair policies to reduce the causes and impacts of climate change on communities and ecosystems, including mountain glaciers and their watersheds, aware that we all live in the same home.”

In a call to action the report states:

The American Security Project has issued a report on the projected costs of Climate Change for each of the fifty States entitled “Pay Now, Pay Later.” The premise of the reports is basically that, one way or the other, we are going to pay for the effects of Climate Change and taking the initiative now can prevent at least some of the significant economic disruption and human suffering projected to develop during this century.

The report on New York, for example, notes in part:

“By the 2020s, a consensus of climate models project annual precipitation to increase by (sic) to 5%, and sea levels to rise by 2-5 inches-or roughly twice that under a rapid ice-melt scenario. …Current 10-year floods are predicted to occur as often as every 6.5 years by the 2020s….Assuming a current 10-year flood triggered claims on just 1% of insured coastal properties (about $22 billion) then the increase in frequency during the period from 2020 to 2040 (three rather than two floods) could be expected to cost an extra $550 million per year ($22 billion over 20 years).”

NOAA reports that on February 19th a panel of scientist released the findings of studies predicting adverse impacts upon human health resulting from climate change. In a summary released by NOAA it was noted that the studies: “shed light on how complex interactions and climate change alterations in sea, land and sky make ocean and freshwater environments more susceptible to toxic algal blooms and proliferation of harmful microbes and bacteria”

The studies are predicting a series of adverse impacts including:

“”Changes in the harmful algal bloom season appear to be imminent and we expect a significant increase in Puget Sound and similar at-risk environments within 30 years, possibly by the next decade,

A recently released report claims that the effects of Climate Change will significantly contribute to water shortages in the U.S. Southwest in coming years. The Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) has issued a study called “The Last Drop: Climate Change and the Southwest Water Crisis.” The study notes that even without the effects of climate change the Southwest faces a significant crisis in water supply. With climate change the crisis will worsen.

“A great deal is already known about water and climate change in the Southwest. For our purposes, the following are some of the most important findings:

-Climate change will worsen the region‟s water crisis even if, as some models predict, there is no change in total annual precipitation.

At the end of 2010 the New York State Sea Level Rise Task Force submitted its final report to the New York State Legislature. The report details a series of findings and recommendations, although it notes that the City of New York which was a member of the task force, did not support several of the recommendations.

The summary of the Task Force findings is:

1. Sea level rise and coastal flooding from storm surge are already affecting and will increasingly affect New York’s entire ocean and estuarine coastline from Montauk Point to the Battery and up the Hudson River to the federal dam at Troy.

The U.N. Advisory Group on Climate Change Financing has issued a report calling on funding to help developing countries deal with climate change. In a

This week the Department of Interior announced the establishment of the second and third of eight planned regional Climate Science Centers(CSC). The Southeast CSC will be hosted at North Carolina State University and the the Northwest CSC will be a consortium of three universities–Oregon State University, University of Washington and the University of Idaho.

As noted in a press release announcing the two new centers it was stated in part that the centers: “will provide the science needed to understand which resources are most vulnerable to climate change and will work closely with natural and cultural resource managers faced with planning for those changes.”

The CSC program is part of what the Department of the Interior has termed a “Strategic Response to Climate Change.“

In the most recent issue of Science, a report concludes that the development of future sources of carbon emissions pose a greater threat of climate change than existing sources. As reported by the Carnegie Institution of Science, if no additional sources of carbon emissions are built, existing sources would increase global warming, but probably not beyond a critical tipping point. However, the authors of the report note: “Because most of the threat from climate change will come from energy infrastructure we have yet to build, it is critically important that we build the right stuff now – that is, low carbon emission energy technologies,…We cannot be complacent just because we haven’t yet reached a point of no return.”

-Steven Silverberg

In a study prepared for the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), Tetra Tech noted the potential risk to water resources resulting from global warming. The study finds that half the counties in the lower 48 states face potential water shortages by 2050.

The study concludes in part that “as this analysis highlights, the impacts of climate change will greatly increase the number of areas where renewable water supply will be lower than withdrawal, therefore increasing the number of areas vulnerable to future water shortages.”

-Steven Silverberg

I report prepared by the Zoological Society of London for release next week focuses on the potential impacts of greenhouse gas emissions and climate change on migratory species.

A release summarizing the report notes:

“Research by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) for the United Nations Environment Programme’s Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS) shows that even the subtle changes in environmental conditions that could be caused by climate change could have catastrophic consequences for animals that migrate.”