Impact of Climate Change on the US
Climate Change is very real and only getting worse!
The Earth's climate is getting warmer, the signs are more obvious by the day: rain patters are changing, sea level is rising, and snow and ice are melting sooner and faster than every before. With these changes in our climate and environment, comes grave problems that affect people, animals, and ecosystems.
Agriculture
The crops that we grow for food need specific conditions to thrive, including the right temperature and enough water.
Climate Change could:
- make it too hot to grow certain crops
- cause droughts that would reduce the amount of water available for irrigation
- create stronger storms and more floods, which can damage crops.
- help some kinds of weeds and pests to spread to new areas
Health
Heat waves, severe storms, air pollution, and diseases linked to climate already threaten people's health in many areas of the world. Global climate change increases these threats.
Temperature-Related Illnesses:
- Extreme heat can cause illnesses such as heat cramps, heat stroke, and even death
Air Pollution:
- Ozone found close to the surface, created form pollutants, is the main ingredient of smog and is harmful for people to breath. More ozone is created when the temperature is warm.
- Ozone can make asthma and other lung conditions worse
Spreading Diseases:
- As winter temperatures increase, ticks and mosquitoes that carry diseases (such as malaria) can survive longer throughout the year and expand their ranges, putting more people at risk
Energy
Global climate change affects how much energy we need and when we need it. As temperatures rise, more people need to keep cool by using air conditioning, which uses a lot of electricity.
Hydropower
- As climate change causes precipitation patterns to shift, some areas in the US that currently have plenty of water to make hydropower will not have enough water in the future
- Without enough water to produce electricity, these areas could experience power shortages and blackouts
Air Conditioning
- Climate change leads to more hot days and more heat waves. As a result, people need to use more air conditioning to stay cool
- As people use more air conditioning, electricity shortages and blackouts could increase
Plants, Animals, & Ecosystems
Most plants and animals live in areas with very specific climate conditions, such as temperature and rainfall patterns, that enable them to thrive. Any change in the climate of an area affects the plants and animals living there, as well as the makeup of the entire ecosystem.
Disappearing Habitats:
- As the Earth gets warmer, plants and animals that need to live in cold places, like on mountaintops or in the Arctic, do not have a suitable place to live
- If the Earth keeps getting warmer, up to one–fourth of all the plants and animals on Earth could become extinct within 100 years.
Coral Reefs
- Warmer water has caused coral bleaching (a type of damage to corals) in many parts of the world.
- By 2050, live corals could become rare in tropical and sub-tropical reefs due to the combined effects of warmer water and increased ocean acidity caused by more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
- The loss of coral reefs reduces habitats for many other sea creatures, and it disrupts the food web
Forests
Forests are sensitive to many effects of climate change, including shifting weather patterns, drought, wildfires, and the spread of pests like the mountain pine beetle. Unlike some animals, trees can't just get up and move when the temperature gets too hot or other conditions change!
Wildfires
- Wildfires are already common in the forests and grasslands of the western United States.
- As the Earth gets warmer and droughts increase, wildfires will occur more often and be more destructive.
- Wildfires do occur naturally, but the extremely dry conditions resulting from droughts allow fires to start more easily, spread faster, and burn longer
Water Supplies
Climate change is affecting where, when, and how much water is available for people to use. Rising temperatures, changing precipitation patterns, and increasing droughts affects the amount of water in lakes, rivers, and streams, as well as the amount of water that seeps into the ground to replenish ground water
Public Water Supplies:
- In 2007, a major drought hit the southeastern United States. Lake Lanier, which is the main source of drinking water for the Atlanta area, was reduced to record–low water levels.
- People had to use less water in their homes and businesses and make other changes, such as not watering their lawns.
Lakes, Rivers, & Streams;
- Many places rely on snowmelt to fill the lakes, rivers, and streams that help keep drinking water reservoirs full and provide water to irrigate crops.
- Many parts of the western United States depend on water from the Colorado River, which is fed by melting snowpack in the Rocky Mountains, but less snowpack and earlier snowmelt has reduced the amount of water flowing into the Colorado and other rivers.
What's Going On?
The Earth is getting warmer because of greenhouse gas emissions, like fossil fuel. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide, a heat-trapping gas, into the atmosphere, which is the main reason why the climate is changing. Though these gasses exist naturally in the atmosphere, where they help keep the Earth warm enough for plants and animals to live, people are adding extra. These are causing the Earth to get warmer, setting off all sorts of changes int he US and around the world—on land, in the oceans, and in the atmosphere.
Earth's air, water, and and are all linked to the climate. The Earth's climate has changed before, but this time is different. People are causing these changes, which are bigger and happening faster than any climate changes that modern society has ever seen before.
24th Session of the UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy
The UNECE Committee on Sustainable Energy will meet under the theme ‘Pathways to Sustainable Energy'. They will explore what sustainable energy means for the UNECE region, for both reducing the energy environmental footprint and ensuring needed energy for sustainable development.