The findings of their review of more than 14,000 studies are clear: climate change is affecting nearly every part of the planet, and there is no doubt that human activities are the cause.
There is great potential for the collective actions of many individuals worldwide to reduce global warming by making changes in their daily and annual activities that produce heat-trapping gases and aerosols.
While we cannot stop global warming overnight, or even over the next several decades, we can slow the rate and limit the amount of global warming by reducing human emissions of heat-trapping gases and soot.
From extreme heat to infectious diseases, the impacts of human-caused global warming are a threat to human lives. According to the latest National Climate Assessment, thousands of lives could be saved in the U.S. by reducing greenhouse gases and improving resilience to climate change.
Cities and states across the U.S. already engage in emission mitigation activities. Continuing to reduce emissions will save thousands of lives and billions of dollars.
From soybeans and sunflowers in North Dakota to cotton and winter wheat in Texas, large stretches of croplands in the U.S. Great Plains rely exclusively on rain. Those croplands are likely to face longer dry spells by mid-century.
Some of the chemicals that replaced ozone-harming CFCs are long-lived greenhouse gases. At NOAA's lab in Boulder, Colorado, chemist Steve Montzka leads the effort to monitor the concentration of CFC-substitutes and their potential impact on global warming.
In the Southeast, a conventional crop rotation is two years of cotton followed by two years of peanuts. In this extended interview, Ron Bartel explains why farmers should consider a grass rotation, as well.
Climate scientist Michael MacCracken explores some of the scientific, legal, and ethical implications of "geo-engineering" options that have been proposed by some people to address global climate change.
