White issues 'unequivocal' warning on climate change in the US

America is already experiencing the harmful effects of global warming with hotter temperatures, retreating glaciers and rising sea levels, according to the first climate change report from the Barack Obama presidency.

By Tom Leonard in New York Published: 5:11PM BST 17 Jun 2009
The US Global Change Research Programme gave an "unequivocal" warning that climate change will intensify over the next century

In the strongest language ever to come out of the White House on the issue, the US Global Change Research Programme gave an "unequivocal" warning that climate change would intensify over the next century and "challenge the ability of society and natural systems to adapt".
The study's authors, who include the White House science adviser and other senior officials and academics, painted a far more ominous picture of the effects of global warming than has ever come from a US government.

The 200-page study, a climate status report required periodically by Congress, contains some no new research but is far more detailed than the updates put out in the Bush era.
After failing to put out a report since 2000, the Bush administration was forced by legal action from environmental groups to issue a first draft of the report last year which provided the basis for the new one.
Jane Lubchenco, the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, called the report a "game changer".
She said it addressed the historic US "foot-dragging" over an issue that many Americans believed only affected remote parts of the planet.
"This report demonstrates that climate change is happening now, in our own backyard, and it affects the things that people care about," she said.
The issue of water – generally a case of too much in the East and too little in the West – is a dominant theme in the study.
Global warming consequences detailed in the study included an increase in heavy downpours, shorter and warmer winters – more than seven degrees (F) warmer in the Midwest – and declining forest growth in the Southwest.
It concluded that heat-related deaths are likely to increase, with such fatalities in Chicago rising tenfold by the end of the century without a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
While warmer winters will benefit farmers by lengthening the growing season, it will also help insects and spreading diseases.
Meanwhile, warmer nights will spell trouble for America's famous maple syrup industry, pushing production north into colder Canada, said the study.
River flows will change and rising sea levels will increase the frequency of airports, roads and tunnels flooding, it said.
The Gulf Coast, where most of the biggest US ports are concentrated, would be particularly at risk.
The report's authors stressed that the chances of preventing such problems would increase if action was taken to slow global warming. Climate-related proposals that would seek to reduce America's enormous carbon footprint are currently before the US Congress.
John Holdren, the White House science adviser, said the study "tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later".
The report compiled years of scientific research from government experts and academics, updating with new data.