Senator Tammy Baldwin's office issued the following today:
11.29.18
Following the Recent Federal Report, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin Calls for Immediate Action to Combat Climate Change
Baldwin joins 24 Senate colleagues in backing the recent report and National Climate Assessment on the consequences of climate change
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Following the release of a
scientific report outlining severe projected impacts from climate
change, U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin and 24 of her Senate colleagues are
speaking out and calling for action. Senator Baldwin cosponsored a
resolution, led by Senator Jeff Merkley (D-OR), supporting the recent
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report and last week’s
National Climate Assessment to affirm the acceptance of these findings
and call for bold action to combat climate change.
“Global climate change is real and we must act now to confront this fact because public health and our economy is threatened,” said Senator Baldwin.
“The impact of climate change can be seen on agriculture, biodiversity,
extreme weather and our Great Lakes. We have a moral obligation to act
on climate change so we can keep our promise to future generations to
confront today’s challenges and pass on a world better than we found it.
”
On October 8, the IPCC released a report
outlining the consequences of rising global temperatures and the ways in
which climate chaos will become substantially worse as the planet
continues to experience pre-industrial levels of warming. The report
showed that the difference between warming of 1.5 degrees Celsius and 2
degrees Celsius is substantial, and limiting warming to 1.5 degrees
Celsius is affordable, feasible and necessary to protect people from the
worst impacts of climate change. The report concludes that unless the
current path of climate change is slowed, massive impacts—such as
limited water supply availability, sea-ice free Arctic summers, mass
die-offs of coral reefs, and intense and unprecedented heat waves—will
become reality as soon as 2040.
Last Friday, the Trump Administration released
the National Climate Assessment, a Congressionally mandated report from
American climate experts throughout the federal government. Despite the
Trump Administration’s attempts to bury the report on Black Friday, the
report has gained widespread attention for its alarming findings—which
include evidence that the U.S. is already feeling the effects of climate
change, and conclusions that our nation will suffer thousands of deaths
and over $500 billion per year in crop damage, lost labor, and extreme
weather damages by 2100.
Specifically, the IPCC report found that:
- The last 50-year period in the Northern Hemisphere has the warmest average temperature of any 50-year period in 500 years.
- At current rates of greenhouse gas emissions, by 2040, Earth will warm by 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels.
- At a 1.5-degree Celsius temperature rise, the global population exposed to water stress could be 50 percent lower than if the global temperature rises 2 degrees Celsius.
- At warming at or above 2 degrees Celsius, the world could experience loss of greater than 99 percent of all coral reefs on Earth and mass migration from regions most affected by atmospheric changes.
For U.S.-specific impacts, the National Climate Assessment found that:
- The U.S. is already experiencing impacts from the changing climate, including threats from rising seas and increased flooding.
- 2 degrees Celsius or higher warming would cost the U.S. a 15% drop in corn and soybean yields.
- The U.S. economy will lose over $500 billion annually from lost labor, crop failure, and damages related to extreme weather if we continue on our current course.
- By 2100, climate change could cost the U.S. up to a tenth of GDP, more than double the losses of the Great Recession.
The Senate resolution was also cosponsored by
Senators Edward J. Markey (D-MA), Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI), Chris Van
Hollen (D-MD), Tom Udall (D-NM), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), Patty Murray
(D-WA), Cory Booker (D-NJ), Mazie Hirono (D-HI), Tina Smith (D-MN), Amy
Klobuchar (D-MN), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Dianne
Feinstein (D-CA), Ben Cardin (D-MD), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeanne Shaheen
(D-NH), Jack Reed (D-RI), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Maria Cantwell
(D-WA), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Maggie Hassan
(D-NH) and Michael Bennet (D-CO).
The full resolution is available here.
