Climate Change Summary Study

I just saw a summary of a major review of the research literature on climate change on The Newshour and found the study on the web from the Joint Global Change Research Institute, University of Maryland. Here’s some good material for looking ourselves in the face. You can find it at http://www.globalchange.umd.edu/

Here’s a tiny part of the summary – big changes will happen even if we take appropriate action and much more dramatic changes will occur if we continue to diddle away the opportunity to mute the impacts.

Climate change will continue to have significant effects on these resources over the next few decades and beyond (very likely). Warming is very likely to continue in the United States during the next 25 to 50 years, regardless of reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, due to emissions that have already occurred. U.S. ecosystems and natural resources are already being affected by climate system changes and variability. It is very likely that the magnitude and frequency of ecosystem changes will continue to increase during this period, and it is possible that they will accelerate. As temperature rises, crops will increasingly experience temperatures above the optimum for their reproductive development, and animal production of meat or dairy products will be impacted by temperature extremes. Management of Western reservoir systems is very likely to become more challenging as runoff patterns continue to change. Arid areas are very likely to experience increases erosion and fire risk. In arid ecosystems that have not coevolved with a fire cycle, the probability of loss of iconic, charismatic megaflora such as Saguaro cacti and Joshua trees will greatly increase. Many other stresses and disturbances are also affecting these resources (very likely). For many of the changes documented in this assessment, there are multiple environmental drivers – land use change, nitrogen cycle changes, point and nonpoint source pollution, wildfires, invasive species – that are also changing.