ICYMI: Administration Releases Climate Report
Government scientists: “the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming and continues to strengthen.”
WASHINGTON (November 26, 2018)— “The new report from the Trump Administration shows us what birds have been telling us for years: our climate is changing right now," said David Yarnold (@david_yarnold), Audubon's president and CEO, in response to The National Climate Assessment issued on Friday after Thanksgiving.
"This U.S. Government report joins the report issued just last month by the United Nations and both make clear that urgent action is necessary. Our 1.4 million members will make climate solutions a priority when the new Congress begins work in January.”
The National Climate Assessment is a collaboration of 300 experts including 13 governmental agencies. The report concludes: “the evidence of human-caused climate change is overwhelming and continues to strengthen, that the impacts of climate change are intensifying across the country, and that climate-related threats to Americans' physical, social, and economic well-being are rising.”
The National Climate Assessment included a 2016 study by National Audubon Society’s Senior Climate Scientist, Dr. Brooke Bateman.
“We are studying how birds are already changing their patterns as well trying to predict the places that will become even more important to birds as global temperatures rise,” said Dr. Bateman. “These studies will help us determine where to put resources to create the best outcomes for birds and people.”
In 2014, Audubon published its Birds and Climate Change Report. The study shows that more than half of the bird species in North America could lose at least half of their current ranges by 2080 due to rising temperatures.
These species include the Scarlet Tanager, the Greater Sage-Grouse and the Wood Thrush. Given the urgent threat climate change poses to birds and people, Audubon supports common-sense, bipartisan solutions that reduce carbon pollution at the speed and scale necessary.
To learn more about Audubon’s Climate Initiative, including how members and supporters can take steps to help birds in a changing climate, please visit www.audubon.org/climate.
The National Audubon Society protects birds and the places they need, today and tomorrow, throughout the Americas using science, advocacy, education and on-the-ground conservation. Audubon’s state programs, nature centers, chapters and partners have an unparalleled wingspan that reaches millions of people each year to inform, inspire and unite diverse communities in conservation action. Since 1905, Audubon’s vision has been a world in which people and wildlife thrive. Audubon is a nonprofit conservation organization. Learn more at www.audubon.org and @audubonsociety.
Media Contact: Anne Singer, asinger@audubon.org, 202-271-4679