Bleak Friday: Climate Change Report Delivers Dire Warning

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On November 23, 2018, millions of consumers flocked to stores across the country, spending a grand total of $23 billion. The Trump administration chose this same day to release a troubling report concerning the predicted effects of climate change on humanity. This decision led some to wonder if the government attempted to bury the report among the Black Friday chaos.

The report, called the National Climate Assessment, was the culmination of four years’ worth of research by federal scientists working for thirteen different government agencies, including NASA, NOAA, and the Department of Defense. Though released on a day when most Americans were busy shopping, its prognosis was chilling.

The National Climate Change Assessment warns that environmental disasters, similar to the California wildfires, will significantly worsen in the future.

Climate change will not only affect weather patterns and sea levels, but will also increase the spread of diseases, limit crop production, prolong wildfire season, destroy transportation routes, and devastate the economy. Viruses, such as the West Nile and Zika, are expected to spread more quickly as a result of the warmer climate. The amount of crops and their usability is expected to depreciate as widespread flooding and harsh droughts grow more common. By 2050, wildfire season is predicted to demolish six times more forest area each year. In the same year, several bridges and dams in the Southeast will be highly susceptible to destruction and collapse.

Hundreds of billions of dollars could be lost from the American economy come the end of the 21st century. Most notably, the report reaffirms that the only way to prevent further irreversible damage is for the global community to act now.

Man cradles his dog as he waits to be rescued from the aftermath of Hurricane Florence

Critics of President Trump believe that the timing of the report’s release was meant to diminish its importance. President Trump told reporters the following Monday, “I don’t believe it.” Additionally, he described how other countries, such as China and Japan, need to take immediate action to reduce their carbon emissions, claiming the United States is the “cleanest [it’s] ever been.” However, in the past, he has dismissed climate change, stating that he was not convinced of its derivation from human activity.

Politics aside, the world’s leading scientists have spoken, and their message is hard to ignore. Unless we take climate change science seriously, we may find ourselves too far down a path from which there is no return.