DeclinetoState
06-12-2008, 11:50 PM
The Progress Report (http://www.americanprogressaction.org/progressreport)
The evidence for the consequences of global warming is appearing with alarming frequency. This morning's headlines are filled with tales of deadly weather: "At least four people were killed (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/us/12flood.html) and about 40 injured when a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday night"; "two people are dead (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004472433_apsevereweatherkansas.html) in northern Kansas after tornadoes cut a diagonal path across the state"; "[t]wo Maryland men with heart conditions died (http://www.examiner.com/a-1437265%7EDeaths_of_two_Maryland_men_linked_to_hea t_wave.html) this week" from the East Coast heat wave. These eight deaths come on top of reports earlier this week that the heat wave "claimed the lives of 17 people (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_re_us/heat_deaths)" and the wave of deadly storms killed 11 more: "six in Michigan (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/national/main4168781.shtml), two in Indiana and one each in Iowa and Connecticut," as well as one man in New York (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--severeweather-ups0610jun10,0,5299401.story). Tornadoes this year (http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/07/yes-global-warming-spawns-more-severe-tornados/) are being reported at record levels (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html). States of emergency have been declared in Minnesota (http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/articles/index.cfm?id=12219§ion=homepage), California (http://www.my58.com/news/16580637/detail.html), Wisconsin (http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2008/June_08/06112008_02.asp), North Carolina (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080606-1214-wildfires.html) and Michigan (http://www.wnem.com/news/16574676/detail.html) because of floods and wildfires. Counties in Iowa (http://www.charlescitypress.com/articles/2008/06/10/news/news02.txt), Indiana (http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2008/06/09/daily3.html), Illinois (http://media.www.dennews.com/media/storage/paper309/news/2008/06/12/News/a.Disaster.Area-3381258.shtml), South Dakota (http://www.bhpioneer.com/articles/2008/06/11/breaking_news/doc484ffa093ccaa709295213.txt), and Wisconsin (http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/06/11/news/news9.txt) have been declared disaster areas due to the historic flooding that has breached dams (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/10/america/storms.php), inundated towns (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather_151), and caused major crop damage (http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=5228.3515.0.0), sending commodity futures to new records (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-06-10-corn-food_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip). The floodwaters are continuing down the Mississippi River, with "crests of 10 feet or more (http://www.informify.com/top-stories/46-natural-world/217-record-midwest-flooding-continues-cedar-falls-threatened) above flood level" for "at least the next two weeks."
GLOBAL BOILING: This tragic, deadly, and destructive weather (http://www.thedailygreen.com/weird-weather/) -- not to mention the droughts in Georgia (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/06/11/georgia_drought.html), California (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080611-9999-1n11water.html), Kansas (http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/432454.html), North Carolina (http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/06/12/StateNational/Drought.Conditions.Still.Problem.For.State-3380808.shtml), Florida (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-drykites1208jun12,0,4320506.story), Tennessee (http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jun/12/tennessee-farming-conditions-better-year-ago-conti/?local), North Dakota (http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=79097§ion=News), and elsewhere across the country (http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html) -- are consistent with the changes scientists predicted would come with global warming. Gov. Chet Culver (D-IA) called the three weeks of storms that gave rise to the floods in his state "historic in proportion," saying "very few people (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2008-06-11-floods_N.htm) could anticipate or prepare for that type of event." Culver is, unfortunately, wrong. As far back as 1995, analysis (http://www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/spring95/Climate.html) by the National Climatic Data Center showed that the United States "had suffered a statistically significant increase (http://climateprogress.org/2007/05/16/the-weather-is-becoming-more-extreme/) in a variety of extreme weather events." In 2007, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is "very likely" that man-made global warming will bring an "increase in frequency (http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf) of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation." The Nobel Prize-winning panel of thousands of scientists and government officials also found, "Altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, together with sea level rise, are expected to have mostly adverse effects (http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/11/18/123840/77) on natural and human systems." In 2002, scientists said that "increased precipitation, an expected outcome of climate change, may cause losses of US corn production to double over the next 30 years -- additional damage that could cost agriculture $3 billion per year (http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/EETD-climate-change.html)." Scientists have also found that the "West will see devastating droughts (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080131-west-droughts.html) as global warming reduces the amount of mountain snow and causes the snow that does fall to melt earlier in the year."
The evidence for the consequences of global warming is appearing with alarming frequency. This morning's headlines are filled with tales of deadly weather: "At least four people were killed (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/12/us/12flood.html) and about 40 injured when a tornado tore through a Boy Scout camp in western Iowa on Wednesday night"; "two people are dead (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004472433_apsevereweatherkansas.html) in northern Kansas after tornadoes cut a diagonal path across the state"; "[t]wo Maryland men with heart conditions died (http://www.examiner.com/a-1437265%7EDeaths_of_two_Maryland_men_linked_to_hea t_wave.html) this week" from the East Coast heat wave. These eight deaths come on top of reports earlier this week that the heat wave "claimed the lives of 17 people (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_re_us/heat_deaths)" and the wave of deadly storms killed 11 more: "six in Michigan (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/10/national/main4168781.shtml), two in Indiana and one each in Iowa and Connecticut," as well as one man in New York (http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wire/newyork/ny-bc-ny--severeweather-ups0610jun10,0,5299401.story). Tornadoes this year (http://climateprogress.org/2008/02/07/yes-global-warming-spawns-more-severe-tornados/) are being reported at record levels (http://www.spc.noaa.gov/climo/torn/monthlytornstats.html). States of emergency have been declared in Minnesota (http://www.parkrapidsenterprise.com/articles/index.cfm?id=12219§ion=homepage), California (http://www.my58.com/news/16580637/detail.html), Wisconsin (http://www.gmtoday.com/news/local_stories/2008/June_08/06112008_02.asp), North Carolina (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/nation/20080606-1214-wildfires.html) and Michigan (http://www.wnem.com/news/16574676/detail.html) because of floods and wildfires. Counties in Iowa (http://www.charlescitypress.com/articles/2008/06/10/news/news02.txt), Indiana (http://www.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2008/06/09/daily3.html), Illinois (http://media.www.dennews.com/media/storage/paper309/news/2008/06/12/News/a.Disaster.Area-3381258.shtml), South Dakota (http://www.bhpioneer.com/articles/2008/06/11/breaking_news/doc484ffa093ccaa709295213.txt), and Wisconsin (http://www.wdtimes.com/articles/2008/06/11/news/news9.txt) have been declared disaster areas due to the historic flooding that has breached dams (http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/10/america/storms.php), inundated towns (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_on_re_us/severe_weather_151), and caused major crop damage (http://www.thetrumpet.com/index.php?q=5228.3515.0.0), sending commodity futures to new records (http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2008-06-10-corn-food_N.htm?loc=interstitialskip). The floodwaters are continuing down the Mississippi River, with "crests of 10 feet or more (http://www.informify.com/top-stories/46-natural-world/217-record-midwest-flooding-continues-cedar-falls-threatened) above flood level" for "at least the next two weeks."
GLOBAL BOILING: This tragic, deadly, and destructive weather (http://www.thedailygreen.com/weird-weather/) -- not to mention the droughts in Georgia (http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/06/11/georgia_drought.html), California (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20080611-9999-1n11water.html), Kansas (http://www.kansas.com/news/local/story/432454.html), North Carolina (http://media.www.dailytarheel.com/media/storage/paper885/news/2008/06/12/StateNational/Drought.Conditions.Still.Problem.For.State-3380808.shtml), Florida (http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-drykites1208jun12,0,4320506.story), Tennessee (http://timesfreepress.com/news/2008/jun/12/tennessee-farming-conditions-better-year-ago-conti/?local), North Dakota (http://www.grandforksherald.com/articles/index.cfm?id=79097§ion=News), and elsewhere across the country (http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html) -- are consistent with the changes scientists predicted would come with global warming. Gov. Chet Culver (D-IA) called the three weeks of storms that gave rise to the floods in his state "historic in proportion," saying "very few people (http://www.usatoday.com/weather/storms/2008-06-11-floods_N.htm) could anticipate or prepare for that type of event." Culver is, unfortunately, wrong. As far back as 1995, analysis (http://www.gcrio.org/CONSEQUENCES/spring95/Climate.html) by the National Climatic Data Center showed that the United States "had suffered a statistically significant increase (http://climateprogress.org/2007/05/16/the-weather-is-becoming-more-extreme/) in a variety of extreme weather events." In 2007, the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) concluded that it is "very likely" that man-made global warming will bring an "increase in frequency (http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar4/syr/ar4_syr_spm.pdf) of hot extremes, heat waves and heavy precipitation." The Nobel Prize-winning panel of thousands of scientists and government officials also found, "Altered frequencies and intensities of extreme weather, together with sea level rise, are expected to have mostly adverse effects (http://gristmill.grist.org/story/2007/11/18/123840/77) on natural and human systems." In 2002, scientists said that "increased precipitation, an expected outcome of climate change, may cause losses of US corn production to double over the next 30 years -- additional damage that could cost agriculture $3 billion per year (http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/EETD-climate-change.html)." Scientists have also found that the "West will see devastating droughts (http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/01/080131-west-droughts.html) as global warming reduces the amount of mountain snow and causes the snow that does fall to melt earlier in the year."