By Dr. John P. Holdren, Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy, the White House
Washington, D.C., May 6, 2014, — Today, we released the third National Climate Assessment report, by far the most comprehensive look ever at climate change impacts in the United States.
Based on four years of work by hundreds of experts from government, academia, corporations, and public-interest organizations, the Assessment confirms abundant data and examples that climate change isn’t some distant threat — it’s affecting us now.
Not only are the planet and the nation warming on average, but a number of types of extreme weather events linked to climate change have become more frequent or intense in many regions, including heat waves, droughts, heavy downpours, floods, and some kinds of destructive storms.
Those steps include, importantly, the three sets of actions making up the ClimateAction Plan that President Obama announced last June: cutting carbon pollution in America; increasing preparedness for and resilience to the changes in climate that already are ongoing; and leading the international response to the climate change challenge.
We’ve made great progress in the year since his announcement — but there’s much more work to be done.
Watch this short video to learn more about the new report and see how climate change is affecting people across the United States today:
Explore the full report, and find out how you can help — because every one of us has to do his or her part to meet the challenge of climate change.