Top U.S. Science Official: ‘Climate Change Is Underway…It’s Having Consequences In Real Time’

[one...two...tree 2,762]

One of America’s top science officials says the current onslaught of extreme weather in the U.S. is raising awareness of climate change among Americans.

Speaking at a university forum today in Australia, Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said Americans are increasingly connecting the dots between climate change and the severe heat, drought, wildfires, and storms hitting the country. The Associated Press reported on her comments, made at the University of Canberra:

“Many people around the world are beginning to appreciate that climate change is under way, that it’s having consequences that are playing out in real time and, in the United States at least, we are seeing more and more examples of extreme weather and extreme climate-related events,”

Lubchenco told a university forum in the Australian capital of Canberra.

“People’s perceptions in the United States at least are in many cases beginning to change as they experience something first-hand that they at least think is directly attributable to climate change,”

she said.

Lubchenco’s comments are backed up by actual research. According to a recent poll conducted by the National Survey of American Public Opinion on Climate Change, an increase in extreme weather has increased Americans’ understanding of climate change — bringing public acceptance of the problem to the highest level since 2009.

This is the third statement on the link between climate change and extreme weather made by a high-level U.S. official in the last week. Speaking about the devastating Colorado wildfires on Monday, Harris Sherman, Undersecretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment, told the Washington Post that “the climate is changing, and these fires are a very strong indicator of that.”

And while touring the damage from wildfires this week, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano also warned about the influence of climate change on the intensity of fires: “You have to look at climate change over a period of years, not just one summer. You could always have one abnormal summer. But when you see one after another after another then you can see, yeah, there’s a pattern here.”

However, even while officials draw the connection to climate change — thus increasing the number of people who say it’s a problem — a poll released earlier this week by the Washington Post and Stanford University shows that the issue has fallen behind local air and water pollution as the most important environmental priority for Americans.

Why the change in priority? Because political leaders — particularly President Obama — are not talking about the issue enough in America. (Case in point: Lubchenco’s comments were made in Australia, not in the U.S. And it took a trip to Australia last November for Obama to make strong comments about climate change — and he’s said almost nothing about the problem directly to Americans since then.)

The Washington Post offered some interesting anecdotes on the Administration’s messaging problem:

The findings, along with follow-up interviews with some respondents, indicate that

Washington’s decision to shelve action on climate policy means that the issue has receded — even though many people link recent dramatic weather events to global warming.

And they may help explain why elected officials feel little pressure to impose curbs on greenhouse gas emissions.

“I really don’t give it a thought,” said Wendy Stewart, a 46-year-old bookkeeper in New York. Although she thinks warmer winters and summers are signs of climate change, she has noticed that political leaders don’t bring up the subject.

“I’ve never heard them speak on global warming,” she said. “I’ve never heard them elaborate on it.”

Michael Joseph, 20, a student at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, said he sees extreme weather-related events such as the Colorado wildfires and the derecho storm that struck Washington on Friday as “having something to do with climate change.” But, like Stewart, he added,

“I don’t really hear about it that much.”

Even with this poor messaging, the Washington Post poll found three quarters of Americans believe the earth is warming and that governments must act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. One wonders how dramatically demand for action would increase if high-level officials continued to be as blunt as climate scientists about the problem.

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/07/06/511724/top-us-science-official-climate-change-is-underwayits-having-consequences-in-real-time/

[X Factor 1,112]

People vascilate one way and then the other. When winter time comes, we will some people opinion change. But the fact is that the earth is being polluted. Whether this affects the climate or not - that is where you have disagreements.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Torrid Heat: 4,500 Record Highs and Counting - and that's just the US and just last couple of weeks.

[Ban Hammer 13,645]

Torrid Heat: 4,500 Record Highs and Counting - and that's just the US and just last couple of weeks.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

Well, it's happening all over the place. I've grew up and lived in Germany for almost 30 years and have never once seen a tornado. They've had several of those over the last couple of years. 100F temperatures? Nah, not happening. I actually remember getting out of school early if we hit 25C (77F) before noon - that was too hot to keep the kids in the classroom. That rarely ever happened. If they still followed that concept today, kids would miss a lot of school each and every year. I don't remember hundreds of people dying from heat exposure in the Central Europe that I grew up in. Happens pretty regularly now. And it's not because people are more fragile. I guess one can make any excuse one wants but this shite's real.

[The Nature Boy 4,224]

http://thinkprogress...s-in-real-time/

And in 1974 lead story in Time Magazine.. Ice age coming..... They say this is the hottest the earth has been in 2000 years and they are seeing things that have been covered by perm a frost for 2000 years.

My question is what made it so hot back then.... ???? Maybe it's the earths natural cycles. ??

[Ban Hammer 13,645]

Who are you going to believe?

Dr. Jane Lubchenco, leader of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. PhD from Harvard, numerous awards and recognitions, lifelong scientist.

post edited to remove a personal attack.

Edited July 7, 2012 by charles!

[MyLittlePony 340]

Another scam to scare people.

[dalegg 143]

You just better get used to it. Carbon Dioxide emissions take 100 years to dissipate in the atmosphere so whatever harm they are doing up there, they are going to be doing it for a while, no matter what we do..even if we completely somehow stopped everything we are doing. The most that anyone is talking about doing is slightly reducing emissions, gradually getting down to mid 1990s levels or something like that, which means the best carbon dioxide levels we can ever hope for is worse than when people first started seeing we had a problem.

Doomed.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

US Airways plane gets stuck in ‘soft spot’ on pavement at Reagan National

That's about as real as it gets.

[X Factor 1,112]

US Airways plane gets stuck in ‘soft spot’ on pavement at Reagan National

That's about as real as it gets.

Well all those pols who deny the existence of global warming will finally confess the error of their ways. After all, this affects business.

[Ban Hammer 13,645]

US Airways plane gets stuck in ‘soft spot’ on pavement at Reagan National

That's about as real as it gets.

could also indicate substandard work.

[Dakine10 5,452]

Well all those pols who deny the existence of global warming will finally confess the error of their ways. After all, this affects business.

Nope, not until their asses are frying on the sidewalk. Maybe not even then. When rhetoric trumps evidence, facts are meaningless.

[Mr. Big Dog 10,747]

could also indicate substandard work.

Could also have been some left wingnut hammering them holes into the pavement just to get us all scared. Or it could just be the obvious - temperatures that are too damn high. With over 4,500 heat records established in a matter of two weeks - well over 250 all time heat records among them - and that happening ever more frequently all over the globe, I'd probably go with the obvious: it's just too damn hot.

[Bad_Daddy 2,209]