Study: We're feeling global warming now

Last update: May 27, 2008 - 8:53 PM

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Global warming is already affecting the nation's forests, water resources, farmland and wildlife and will have serious negative consequences in the next 25 to 50 years, a government report said Tuesday.

The assessment by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program, which was commissioned by the Agriculture Department and carried out by 38 scientists inside and outside the government, provides the most detailed look in nearly eight years at how climate change is reshaping the American landscape.

Anthony Janetos, director of the Joint Global Change Research Institute of the University of Maryland and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, said global warming effects are not something in "some distant future. We're experiencing them now."

The 193-page report highlights how carbon dioxide emissions from burning fossil fuels have translated into more frequent forest fires and insect outbreaks, reduced snowpack and increased drought, especially in the West. It predicts that some of the nation's most valued landscapes may change radically, including a growing probability of the loss of "iconic, charismatic megaflora such as Saguaro cacti and Joshua trees."

It said that of 1,598 animal species examined in more than 800 studies, nearly 60 percent were found to have been affected by climate change. It said many animals have shifted their migratory patterns to reflect temperature changes. The Agriculture Department noted that the higher temperatures mean that grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly but face an increased risk of failure.

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