by: David A. Fahrenthold
Man-made climate change is already lifting temperatures, increasing rainfall, and raising sea levels around the United States - and its effects are on track to get much worse in the coming century, according to a report released this afternoon by federal scientists.
The report, "Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States," covers much of the same ground as previous analyses from U.S. and United Nations science panels. It finds that greenhouse-gas emissions are "primarily" responsible for global warming and that rapid action is needed to avert catastrophic shifts in water, heat and natural life.
What's different this time is the report's scope - at 196 pages, the report attempts to present the fullest picture yet of the threats to the United States - and its timing.
It comes out as Congress is considering a mammoth bill that would impose the first national cap on emissions, and then seek to reduce them sharply over the next 41 years.
That bill, supported by Obama, has spurred some Republicans to say that they are not certain climate change is happening. It has also been criticized, from both sides of the aisle, as a measure that would impose significant new costs on energy use and manufacturing.
Though not explicitly a response, today's report says that the evidence of global change is "unequivocal." And, in language stripped of the usual scientific jargon, it sketches out some of the costs of doing nothing to bring down emissions.
