New “National Climate Assessment” says effects of climate change worsening across USA.

Spectrum

Recently, the fifth National Climate Assessment was released by the US government.

It is an interagency effort mandated by Congress to provide the scientific foundation for informed decision making about climate change for the next five years.

“The report states that no part of the US is insulated from climate change impacts even if they differ geographically,” says Dr. Geoff Dabelko, professor at the Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service at Ohio University and a senior advisor for the Environmental Change and Security Program at the Wilson Center in Washington, D. C.

The Assessment says we are experiencing climate changes that are “unprecedented over thousands of years.”

Although the Assessment focuses primarily on the US, it also examines climate change internationally. Dr. Dabelko was one of the authors of the International Chapter.

“What happens with climate change overseas does not stay overseas,” Dabelko says. “Both impacts and international responses affect the US economically, politically, and security wise.”

We cannot understand climate change in isolation, he says. Instead, we must study environmental, economic, and political connectivity to form viable solutions.

The Assessment stresses three terms necessary for addressing climate change: mitigation, adaption, and resilience.