Climate change is hitting the United States harder and faster than most of the rest of the world, with temperatures increasing 68% faster and the impact being felt in every corner of the country, the National Climate Assessment reports, according to the Washington Post.
“The things Americans value most are at risk,” write the authors of the National Climate Assessment, compiled by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a blue-ribbon presidential commission of scientists, economists, sociologists and other experts who believe in science. “Many of the harmful impacts that people across the country are already experiencing will worsen as warming increases, and new risks will emerge.”
The report finds that the United States has seen temperatures increase at a rate 68% greater than the rest of the world. The continental US has seen a temperature increase of 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit in the last half-century. Around the nation, that increase has led to diverse impacts: more intense storms more frequently (i.e., “100 year flooding” every five years); drier air fueling droughts and wildfires; and increased flooding.