I have no idea.  But the WH staff should know that they are only 54 feet above sea level.

But the evidence is clear that a 1.5º degree difference in global climate change will affect millions of Americans, and billions of people elsewhere.

On October 6, 2018, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (ipcc) issued its latest report entitled “Global Warming of 1.5ºC.”  The report was put together and written (“drawn up” to help Trump) by scientists from around the world, including scientists from the United States.  One of the American scientists was Drew Shindell, Professor of Climate Sciences at the Nicholas School of the Environment, Duke University.  In this YouTube link, he is interviewed about global warming and talks about climate actions that can advance sustainable development.  It is no more than 10 minutes, but will be worth your time.

The authors of the report highlighted events that we see and watch reports about on various media channels, including worsening food shortages, wildfires, and the mass die-off of coral reefs as soon as 2040.  This report was the first one issued by the IPCC after the 2015 Paris Agreement to fight global warming.  

It was written by human beings that have devoted their careers to the study of climate science and we should pay attention to it.  Unfortunately, climate science has been maligned by Republicans, and especially the present occupant of the White House.  Reports like this one are treated as unsettled science by these people, and ignore the report’s findings.  The report should take center stage on media, especially TV.  But, thinking 20 or more years into the future is not urgent enough news.

Yet, the effects of global climate change are indeed current events.  Think Hurricane Michael which is near to a Cat 5 storm, and is ravaging the Florida Panhandle and moving quickly over the Southeastern part of the US including Georgia, South and North Carolina and Virginia. Do we talk about the relationship of this superstorm and global warming?  Usually not.  The government always claims that now is not the time to talk about climate change.  When, then?

Here is what we should be talking about.  The research reported in the IPCC document plainly says that if current greenhouse gases continue at the current rate, the Earth’s atmosphere will warm up as much as 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit or 1.5 degrees Celsius.  This will happen by 2040.

Now, these scientists suggest that a 1.5ºC temperature increase over the next 20 years will have catastrophic effects.  A 2ºC increase would naturally be more severe.

Here is what can be learned from the report.

• Human activities have caused 1ºC of the increase in global temperature change since pre-industrial levels. Global temperature increase will reach 1.5ºC by 2030-2052 and they report this with high confidence.
• Scientists project robust regional climate characteristics between now and living in a 1.5ºC world.  It would include increases in: mean temperature in most land and ocean regions (high confidence), hot extremes in most inhabited areas (high confidence), heavy precipitation in several regions of the world (medium confidence) and the likelihood of drought and precipitation deficits in some regions (medium confidence).
• Sea level will continue to rise; a slower rate will be greatly beneficial to humans and ecological systems.
• Land impacts will effect biodiversity and ecosystems.  Species will be lost.
• Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security and economic growth are predicted to increase at the 1.5ºC level, and even more at 2ºC.
• To limit global temperature increase to 1.5ºC will require rapid transitions in energy, land, urban and infrastructure and industrial systems.
• Large-scale deployment of carbon dioxide removal (CDR) can only happen if CO2 emissions start to decline well before 2030.
• By limiting global warming to the 1.5ºC level, impacts could be seen on sustainable development, eradication of poverty, and reducing inequalities.

Impacts and/or risks associated with the Reasons for Concern (RFCs) and some natural, managed and human systems.

           

Instead of speaking at a rally somewhere far from the hurricane, Trump should be reading the report (oh, he doesn’t read), or talking with the White House scientists (sorry, that’s an oxymoron).  We hear nothing from the EPA administrator.  Although global warming is not a campaign issue, the health of Americans, and the affect of storms on homes and communities is.  

Global warming is not a concept about the future, it is a reality.