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Climate change is a global phenomenon, and when we think about climate change we tend to think about the greater global implications. Like how will increasing ocean temperatures affect glaciers and coastal communities? But how will climate change impact our local communities? How will Kansas City change?

Jerry Schnoor is a researcher and Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Iowa. He told KCUR's Gina Kaufmann on Central Standard that our region will fall in line with global trends.

"If you talk about the entire globe, wet areas are getting wetter, and dry areas are getting drier," he says. "So we can expect dry areas to get drier, like West Kansas, and we can expect wet areas to get wetter, like my own Iowa."

Kansas City exists in a unique ecological zone, between forests to the east and prairies to the west. It lies in a humid continental climate zone, which is described as being temperate with extremes of heat, cold and precipitation.

According to a recent climate assessment study by ClimateLOOK, Kansas City can expect to become wetter and warmer in the next 100 years. Average rainfall is expected to increase roughly 1.5 inches by 2060 and average temperatures are on track to increase 4 degrees Fahrenheit by the same year.
So what could this mean?
Well it looks like hotter and more frequent summer days and nights ​ in Kansas City, and a longer frost-free period during the winter.

Tom Jacobs is the Director of Environmental Programs for the Mid America Regional Council (MARC). He says climate change will almost certainly affect different populations in Kansas City in vastly different ways.

"The literature shows that the impacts of climate change are likely to be disproportionate to different communities," Jacobs says.

He says low-income communities are at a higher risk, but he says maintaining air and water quality is public health concern for everybody.

Jacobs says the city of Kansas City, MARC and other organizations like Bridging the Gap have already been working together to address how the affects of Kansas City's changing climate can be mitigated. From efforts to increasing programs of awareness about energy efficiency in homes and how to reduce carbon emissions, to planting more trees and gardens - but it's also a great community effort.

"I think what is important to us in Kansas City, is we defined a path forward for us, that is about creating a sustainable future," Jacobs says. "We've already begun taking a whole set of actions, and there is a lot of power and momentum behind that, and I think there is a lot of local interest and will in moving that forward."
Suzanne Hogan is a reporter, producer and announcer for KCUR 89.3 and co-host of the podcast Question Quest.

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Think Kansas City's Summers Are Bad Now? Climate Change Will Likely Make Them Worse

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Climate change is a global phenomenon, and when we think about climate change we tend to think about the greater global implications. Like how will increasing ocean temperatures affect glaciers and coastal communities? But how will climate change impact our local communities? How will Kansas City change?

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Climate change describes a change in the average conditions in a region over a long period of time.

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Climate Change 101 with Bill Nye | National Geographic

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What is the human impact on the environment?

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What is the human impact on the environment?

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How is Climate Change hurting our health?

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How is Climate Change hurting our health?

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united nations framework convention on climate change

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Can I help nature to help us?

Yes! We can all take notice of our environment. We can learn how our planet works. We can learn how to live on it without making a mess of it. We can help to keep it magnificent for ourselves, our children and grandchildren, and other living things besides us.

Some of the ways you can help may have to wait until you are a little older-like choosing an energy-efficient car, installing solar panels on the roof of your house, or choosing a "green career."

But there are many important ways you can help right now.

You can help by growing your own vegetables and fruits. You can help by planting a tree. Your new plants and trees will help to remove the greenhouse gas CO ₂ from the air. If you grow some of your own food, you will also help to prevent more CO ₂ from entering the air from the fossil-fuel-burning trucks, planes, and ships that transport your food to you from far away.

How can I reduce my "carbon footprint"?

Your carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide released into the air because of your own energy needs. You need transportation, electricity, food, clothing, and other goods. Your choices can make a difference.

Swap old incandescent light bulbs for the new compact fluorescent lights (CFLs). They use only 25% as much electricity to give the same light. They last ten times longer.

Turn off lights, TVs, computers, when you do not need them.

Unplug! Any electronic gadget you can turn on with a remote (TV, DVD player, Nintendo, Xbox) uses power even when it is "off." Appliances with a digital clock (like a coffee maker) or a power adapter (like a laptop computer) also suck power like a sneaky vampire. Plug these kinds of things into a surge protector or power strip that has an on/off switch. Then you can shut off all the power without unplugging each gadget.

There are even power strips that glow to show you how much power is going through them, and power strips you can control from your computer or iPhone.

Turn up the thermostat on the air conditioning when it's hot. Use fans if you're still hot. They use much less power.

Turn down the thermostat on the heating when it's cold. Sweaters, blankets, and socks are good for you and better for the planet.

Walk or ride your bike instead of taking a car everywhere. Even a 2-mile car trip puts 2 pounds of CO ₂ into the atmosphere!

If you must ride, carpool.

Stay out of the drive thru! When you go to a fast-food place, ask your driver to park the car and let you walk inside, rather than sitting in a line of cars with the engine running and polluting.

How can I reduce my trash pile?

Ask your parents to buy reusable grocery bags. Help them to remember to get them out of the car and take them into the store.

Recycle everything you can. If your city does not pick up recycled materials, find out who you can talk to about starting this service. You should be recycling paper, aluminum cans, cardboard, food cans, plastic, glass, newspapers, magazines, junk mail, phone books, and anything else made of paper.

Shop thrift stores. "BYOM." Bring your own mug. That's what you can tell your parents when they stop to buy their morning coffee. Use less paper whenever possible. Save the trees.

Drink tap water-filtered, if you like-instead of bottled water. Carry your drinking water in a reusable bottle. Plastic water bottles are an environmental disaster!

Use fewer containers. Buy the product that uses less packaging material. Even if you recycle packaging materials, it takes energy to create them in the first place and energy to remake them into something else.

Practice by playing "Recycle This!."

Do I need to save water too?

People and animals in many parts of the world do not have clean, safe water to drink. As many more regions are hit by drought, this problem will become even more serious. The sooner we start conserving water, the better off we all will be. Be aware of how much water you use.

Imagine you live in a recreational vehicle (RV), and your water tank holds only 50 gallons. Every time you turn on the water, the noisy electric water pump has to turn on too, sucking up your RV's battery power. Would you keep the water running while you brush your teeth? Would you spend 15 minutes in the shower using up all the water in the tank and depleting the battery? Would you plant a thirsty lawn in front of your RV if you were parked in the desert? Of course not!

How can I make a real difference?

You can choose a "green career." You can help to solve climate change problems and challenges. These are the exciting careers of the future. They range from designing satellites for NASA to fixing wind-energy generators to planning drought-tolerant landscapes for homes and parks. Many of the possible careers haven't even been thought of yet. You could invent your own career! Check out some Green Careers.

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We can do a lot, including planning for a green career.

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Climate Change Over Time. Big Change at the End

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Climate Change Over Time. Big Change at the End

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New xkcd Comic Masterfully Shows How Climate Has Changed Through Time

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Scroll through 20,000 years of humorously illustrated climate data

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Climate and science reporter, BBC News

The nations of the world are due to meet at the COP28 summit in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), to try to agree far-reaching action on climate change.

They are under pressure to further progress landmark commitments they made eight years ago in Paris.

What is the Paris Agreement?

The Paris Agreement saw almost all the world's nations - for the first time - support a common strategy to cut the greenhouse gas emissions which cause global warming.

Adopted by 194 parties (193 countries plus the EU) in the French capital on 12 December 2015, the treaty came into force on 4 November 2016.

What was agreed?

To "pursue efforts" to limit global temperature rises to 1.5C, and to keep them "well below" 2.0C above pre-industrial times

To limit greenhouse gas emissions from human activity to the same levels that trees, soil and oceans can absorb naturally - known as net zero - between 2050 and 2100

Each country to set its own emission-reduction targets, reviewed every five years to raise ambitions

Richer countries to help poorer nations by providing funding, known as climate finance, to adapt to climate change and switch to renewable energy

Why is it so significant for COP28?

Some of the key discussions in Dubai, UAE will be about whether and how countries are building on what they promised in Paris.

When the agreement was signed, governments admitted the targets set would not be enough to limit global warming to 1.5C.

Since COP27 last year nearly forty countries have put forward new targets for reducing their emissions. But even with these pledges, global warming would still only be limited to 2.0C, according to the independent Climate Action Tracker.

There is also concern that the targets will not be achieved based on the current policies governments have put in place.

The UK has a legally binding target to reduce emissions by 68% by 2030 compared to 1990 levels. But earlier this year Prime Minister Rishi Sunak delayed crucial green policies such as phasing out fossil fuel cars.

The chair of the UK government's independent climate advisors, Piers Foster said at the time: "[The] announcement is likely to take the UK further away from being able to meet its legal commitments."

COP28 will also host a series of technical reviews as part of the "global stocktake" (GST). This is where countries review whether their plans are strong enough to prevent temperatures rising above 1.5C, using analysis prepared by UN officials and scientists.

It is hoped the process will strengthen the case for further action.

What about promises to help poorer countries?

The Paris Agreement restated a commitment made in 2009 that the world's richer countries should provide $100bn (£87bn) annually by 2020 to help developing nations deal with the effects of climate change, and build greener economies.

But in 2020 only $83.3bn was raised. Although as yet unverified, the OECD has announced that the 2022 figures suggests the "goal looks likely to have been meet".

Developing countries for decades have also been demanding finance for "loss and damage" - this is specific compensation to cover losses they are already incurring from the effects of climate change.

Clause 8 of the Paris Agreement mentioned the concept, but it was not until last year at COP27 in Egypt that countries agreed to setting up a fund.

As yet no figure has been settled on for how much will go into the fund - it is hoped this will be agreed at COP28. But developed nations remain nervous that any funding commitments would be seen as accepting liability for global warming and they would be tied into decades of repayments.

Did the Paris Agreement go far enough?

Although the Paris Agreement laid out a clear target point, it did not contain the specific detail on how to reach it.

The ambition is to create a "net zero" world by 2050. That means reducing greenhouse gas emissions as much as possible, and removing any remaining emissions from the atmosphere, through natural or artificial processes.

Scientists argue it is vital to assess the progress being made towards that goal every year.

The UN group of climate experts, the IPCC, has estimated an annual budget of carbon emissions the world can release before temperatures rise above 1.5 degrees, measured in gigatonnes of CO2 equivalent (GtCO2e).

In 2018, the IPCC estimated that the world should only release 25-30 GtCO2e per year by 2030.

It currently emits 36.8 GtCO2e per year, according to the IEA.

The UAE President of COP28 Sultan al-Jaber has said that COP28 will focus on delivering efforts to increase renewable energy and reducing fossil fuels without carbon capture, which will be needed to bringing down emissions.

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Why is the Paris climate agreement still important?

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Nations are under pressure to improve on environmental commitments made seven years ago in Paris.

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Kids head to court to fight climate change

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MSNBC's Tammy Leitner talks to the kids suing federal government seeking to end the use of fossil fuels that contribute to global warming. These 21 kids from across America are going to the courts to fight climate change and make a true difference for the future.

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Chen Yanjun operated a GPS device. A loud crack rang out from the fog. The fog was above the Baishui No. 1 Glacier. The noise came as a stone shard fell down the ice.

More projectiles were tumbling down the hulk of ice. Scientists say it is one of the world's fastest melting glaciers.

"We should go," said the 30-year-old geologist. "The first rule is safety."

Yanjun hiked away. He hiked onto a barren landscape. It was once buried beneath the glacier. Now there is exposed rock. It is littered with oxygen tanks. They were discarded by tourists. They were visiting the 15,000-foot-high blanket of ice. It is in southern China.

Millions of people each year are drawn to Baishui's frosty beauty. It is on the southeastern edge of the Third Pole. That's a region in Central Asia. It has the world's third-largest store of ice. Antarctica has the largest. And Greenland has the second largest. Baishui's is roughly the size of Texas and New Mexico combined.

Third Pole glaciers are vital to billions of people from Vietnam to Afghanistan. Asia's 10 largest rivers are fed by seasonal melting. These rivers include the Yangtze and the Yellow River. It includes the Mekong River and the Ganges River.

"You're talking about one of the world's largest freshwater sources." That's according to Ashley Johnson. She is energy program manager. She works at the National Bureau of Asian Research. It is an American think tank.

"Depending on how it melts, a lot of the freshwater will be leaving the region for the ocean. It will have severe impacts on water and food security."

Earth is today 1 degree Centigrade hotter than pre-industrial levels because of climate change. The change is enough to melt 28 to 44 percent of glaciers worldwide. That's according to a new report by the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Temperatures are expected to keep rising.

Baishui is about as close to the equator as Tampa, Florida. And the impacts of climate change already are dramatic.

The glacier has lost 60 percent of its mass. It has shrunk 820 feet since 1982. That's according to a 2018 report in the Journal of Geophysical Research.

Scientists found in 2015 that 82 percent of glaciers surveyed in China had retreated. They warned that the effects of glacier melting on water resources are gradually becoming "increasingly serious" for China.

"China has always had a freshwater supply problem. It has 20 percent of the world's population but only 7 percent of its freshwater," said Jonna Nyman. She is an energy security lecturer. She works at the University of Sheffield. "That's heightened by the impact of climate change."

For years, scientists have observed global warming change Jade Dragon Snow Mountain. It is in the Chinese province of Yunnan.

One research team has tracked Baishui's retreat of about 30 yards per year over the past decade. Flowers have rooted in exposed earth, says Wang Shijin. He is a glaciologist. He is also director of the Yulong Snow Mountain Glacial and Environmental Observation Research Station. It is part of a network run by the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

The station is home to Wang and his team. It is nestled into a suburb of Lijiang. It has a population 1.2 million. The team consists of geologist and drone operator Yanjun. It includes postgraduate glaciology student Zhou Lanyue. And it includes electrical engineer Zhang Xing.

After breakfast, the team heads off by van for the day's mission. A cable car carries them up to a majestic view of the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain.

The team shuffles past a line of tourists. They descend to replace a broken meteorological station.

The team operates remote sensors. These collect data on temperature. They collect data on wind speed. They collect data on rainfall. And they collect data on humidity. Other sensors measure water flow in streams fed by melted ice. Many things can break the equipment. These factors include the cold and downpours. It includes rock slides and gales. And it includes glacier movement.

"It is not easy to encounter good weather here," Wang said.

This weather will ensure Yunnan has plenty of freshwater while other glacier loss poses serious risk of drought across the Third Pole, he said.

The next day, the team wore crampons. They were repairing more sensors. The sensors were scattered across the glacier's crags.

"Where we're at right now was back in 2008 all covered with ice," Wang said. "From here to there at the side, the glacier shrank about 20 to 30 meters. The shrinking is very remarkable."

The team forded streams. They jumped crevasses. They were in search of long iron bars. The bars were previously embedded in the ice. GPS tells them how much the bars and the glacier have moved. They also measure how much height the glacier has lost during the summer.

Back on the viewing platform, Yanjun launched a buzzing camera drone. It flew over the white expanse. The photographs help tell a story of staggering loss. A quarter of its ice has vanished since 1957. That's along with four of its 19 glaciers, researchers have found.

Changes to the Baishui provide the opportunity to educate visitors about global warming, Wang said.

Last year, 2.6 million tourists visited the mountain. That's according to Yulong Snow Mountain park officials.

Authorities have limited the number of visitors to 10,000 a day. This is to protect the glacier. They have banned hiking on the ice. They plan to manufacture snow. And they plan to dam streams. This will increase humidity that slows melting.

Security guard Yang Shaofeng has witnessed a warming world melting this mountain. His local Naxi minority community considers it sacred.

Yang remembers being able to see the glacier's lowest edge from his home village.

"Only when we climb up can we see it," he said sadly. This, as tourists lined up to have their names engraved on medallions bearing the glacier's image.

The etching is already outdated.

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Melting glacier in China draws tourists, climate worries

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Chen Yanjun operated a GPS device. A loud crack rang out from the fog. The fog was above the Baishui No. 1 Glacier. The noise came as a stone shard fell down the ice. More projectiles were tumbling down the hulk of ice. Scientists say it is one of the world's fastest melting glaciers.

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Hotter weather appears to be here to stay, El Nino or not. That's according to the U.N. weather agency. It warned that the Paris climate accord last year shouldn't give way to complacency about global warming.

The World Meteorological Organization issued its annual climate report following a record-hot 2015. It highlighted records already announced by different countries' weather agencies. The agency pointed out that 2015 was breaking records on the surface. It also broke records hundreds of meters deep in the ocean.

And the first two months of 2016 were even hotter. These months are so startling that they "have sent shockwaves around the climate science community." That's according to David Carlson of the World Climate Research Program.

Climate scientists blame record high temperatures last year and this year so far on a super-sized El Nino. It is a natural warming of parts of the Pacific that changes weather worldwide. Another factor is a long-term global warming trend from the burning of fossil fuels.

NASA said last month was 1.35 degrees Celsius (2.43 degrees Fahrenheit) warmer than average. Of that, 0.8 degrees (1.44 degrees Fahrenheit) comes from the long-term warming. And 0.25 degrees (0.45 degrees Fahrenheit) comes from El Nino. The rest is from unexplained residual. This was calculated by climate scientist Stefan Rahmstorf. He is with the Potsdam Institute in Germany and the University of New South Wales.

Even after the El Nino phenomenon abates in coming months, way above normal temperatures won't exactly go away. That's according to Carlson and others.

"We're on a slope. Sometimes the slope goes very steep. Sometimes it's a little bit more shallow. But we're going upward," Carlson said in a news conference. "So the normal is going to be increases. It's going to be increased temperature and increased ocean heat content. There will be loss of ice. We know all of these things."

Katharine Hayhoe, a Texas Tech climate scientist who wasn't part of the WMO team, agreed: "These records vividly illustrate the destructive power of an El Nino on climate change steroids."

The WMO predicts warmer weather. It will be accompanied by pockets of both drier and wetter conditions. This depends on the region around the world.

WMO Secretary-General Petteri Taalas spoke to reporters in Geneva. He said that many people believe the climate issue is "solved ... since we reached a nice agreement in Paris." But, he said, "we haven't changed our behavior yet."

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Hotter weather appears to be here to stay, El Nino or not. That's according to the U.N. weather agency. It warned that the Paris climate accord last year shouldn't give way to complacency about global warming. The World Meteorological Organization issued its annual climate report following a record-hot 2015.

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NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Katherine Hayhoe of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University about a new report showing that recent extreme natural events are due to climate change.

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

The federal government's newest comprehensive report on climate change and its effects was released yesterday. The news is grim. It found not only that humans are responsible for climate change, but human actions are making wildfires, floods, extreme rainfall and droughts worse. The 48 contiguous states are already almost two degrees warmer than they were 100 years ago, and the surrounding seas are an average of 9 inches higher, and heat waves are more frequent and far worse. We're joined now by Katharine Hayhoe, director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. Thanks very much for being with us.

KATHARINE HAYHOE: Thank you for having me.

SIMON: This report is pretty blunt, isn't it?

HAYHOE: It is. Climate change is happening here and now. It is affecting all of us no matter where we live. And the more climate changes, the more serious and even more dangerous the impacts will become.

SIMON: How might life be different in the United States in, say, 20 or 25 years?

HAYHOE: The main reason we care about a changing climate is because it takes the risks we already face and it exacerbates them, it makes them worse. So we've always had hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, but now they're stronger, and there's much more rainfall associated with them than there would have been 50 or 100 years ago. We've always had wildfires in the West, but they're burning greater and greater area compared to 50 or 100 years ago. We're seeing increases in heavy rain events, in flood and sea level rise. And it matters to us because we can't just pick up our cities and move them.

SIMON: One of the things I noted is the report says Chicago could have, in about 25 years, as many 100 degree days as Phoenix does now, and Phoenix could have 100-degree-plus days for almost half the year.

HAYHOE: I know. It's incredible. In Chicago, we've already seen huge increases in heavy rain events. We've already seen that the city is recommending that people plant trees that are native to further south so that when they reach maturity, they'll be accustomed to Chicago's climate. But we care about a changing climate because we are not prepared for such rapid changes in the places where we live.

SIMON: And who's most vulnerable?

HAYHOE: Those who are most vulnerable are lower income and other marginalized communities, people who are already poor or sick, or the very young or the very old. Those who already have the least resources are those who are being hit first and fastest, both here in the United States as well as around the world.

SIMON: Too late to do anything?

HAYHOE: It is not too late. This report even says that we're starting to head in the right direction, but we are not doing enough fast enough. Some amount of impacts are inevitable. It's as if we've been smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for decades. But the time to stop smoking is now, and we absolutely can avoid the worst impacts if we act now. And that's what this report really lays out very clearly.

SIMON: As I don't have to tell you, at least so far, the current administration doesn't share the entire premise of the report. Are you hoping this report might change their approach?

HAYHOE: Unfortunately, we know that those who reject the science of climate change do not do so because of any lack of information. They do so because their political ideology is directly opposed to the idea that we have to wean ourselves off fossil fuels as soon as possible in order to stop this thing. And the good news is we already are. There's more jobs in the solar energy industry than there is in all fossil fuels put together in terms of generating electricity across the U.S. For the last five years, the fastest growing job in the U.S. has been wind energy technician. So we are moving in the right direction, but we have to do so faster if we're going to avoid the truly dangerous impacts of a changing climate.

SIMON: Is there something that gives you hope?

HAYHOE: I absolutely have to look for hope because without hope we're going to become a self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. And I don't find that hope in the science. Every new study that comes out says that climate is changing faster or to a greater extent than we thought it seems. But I find hope in looking at what people are doing because people are acting. There are incredible things happening, from kids growing algae biofuels under their beds and winning science fair projects, to big companies like Walmart and Apple going with clean, renewable power over fossil fuels. The world is changing, and by sharing these stories of hope, we too can have hope, and that's how we're going to fix this thing.

SIMON: Katharine Hayhoe, professor at Texas Tech University, joined us by Skype. Thanks so much for being with us.

HAYHOE: Thank you.

Copyright © 2018 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR's programming is the audio record.

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New Climate Change Report Places Blame On Human Actions For Natural Disasters

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NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Katherine Hayhoe of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University about a new report showing that recent extreme natural events are due to climate change. SCOTT SIMON, HOST: The federal government's newest comprehensive report on climate change and its effects was released yesterday.

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The impacts and costs of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) of global warming will be far greater than expected, according to a comprehensive assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Sunday in Incheon, South Korea.

The past decade has seen an astonishing run of record-breaking storms, forest fires, droughts, coral bleaching, heat waves, and floods around the world with just 1.8 degrees Fahrenheit (1.0 degrees Celsius) of global warming. [See: Hidden Costs of Climate Change Running Hundreds of Billions a Year] But much of this will get substantially worse with 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of warming, and far worse at 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), according to the IPCC's "Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C", released Sunday and examining more than 6,000 studies.

The IPCC also reported that 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit could be reached in as little as 11 years-and almost certainly within 20 years without major cuts in carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Even if such cuts were to begin immediately it would only delay, not prevent, 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit of global warming.

"Substantial Consequences"

While a 0.9 degrees Fahrenheit (0.5 degrees Celsius) increase in room temperature is unnoticeable, permanently heating the whole planet that much will have "substantial" consequences, the report warns. The impacts will be felt across ecosystems and human communities and economies.

"Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared with 2°C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health, and well-being," said Priyardarshi Shukla, Chair of the Global Centre for Environment and Energy at Ahmedabad University in India and co-author of the Special Report, in a statement. Such impacts include stronger storms, more erratic weather, dangerous heat waves, rising seas, and largescale disruption to infrastructure and migration patterns.

The scientific findings in the main report are summarized in a 34-page "Summary for Policy Makers," which was approved by all representatives from 195 nations, including the U.S.

Under the 2015 Paris Agreement, every country in the world agreed to keep global temperatures well below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius), while low-lying island states and others lobbied for substantially less. Current pledges to cut CO2 emissions will push global warming to at least 5.4 degrees Fahrenheit (3 degrees Celsius) by 2100, risking natural tipping points such as thawing of large areas of permafrost-which could drive global temperatures uncontrollably higher. The Trump administration has said they will pull the U.S. out of the Paris Agreement.

Global warming is like being in a mine field that gets progressively more dangerous, says Michael Mann, a climatologist and director of the Earth System Science Center at Penn State. "The further we go the more explosions we are likely to set off: 1.5C is safer than 2C, 2C is safer than 2.5C, 2.5C is safer than 3C, and so on," said Mann, who was not directly involved in this latest IPCC report.

"Stabilizing global warming at 1.5C will be extremely difficult if not impossible at this point," Mann said via email.

Big Solutions Sought

The IPCC's Special Report lays out various pathways to stabilize global warming at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius). These solutions all require unprecedented efforts to cut fossil-fuel use in half in less than 15 years and eliminate their use almost entirely in 30 years. This means no home, business, or industry heated by gas or oil; no vehicles powered by diesel or gasoline; all coal and gas power plants shuttered; the petrochemical industry converted wholesale to green chemistry; and heavy industry like steel and aluminum production either using carbon-free energy sources or employing technology to capture CO2 emissions and permanently store it.

In addition, depending on how fast emissions are cut, between 0.4 and 2.7 million square miles (1-7 million square kilometers) of land may have to be converted to growing bioenergy crops and up to 3.86 million square miles (10 million square kilometers) of forests added by 2050. And still that won't be enough, the report warns. Every pound of CO2 emitted in the last hundred years will continue to trap heat in the atmosphere for hundreds of years to come. By 2045 or 2050 there will still be too much CO2 in the atmosphere. More forests or some form of direct capture that takes CO2 out of the atmosphere will be essential to stabilize global temperatures at 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius), the report says.

The Special Report is like getting a troubling diagnosis from your doctor, said Katharine Hayhoe, a climate scientist at Texas Tech University. "Every possible test has been done and the news is not good," Hayhoe said in an interview. "The doctor, the IPCC in this case, then explains possible treatment options to ensure our future health. We (the public) decide which option to follow."

The challenge to stay below 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius) is immense, requiring fossil fuel infrastructure to be phased out, non-fossil energy sources phased in, and large-scale removal of carbon from the atmosphere, says Glen Peters, Research Director at Norway's Center for International Climate Research. "To stay below 1.5 C simply requires the transformation be faster and deeper than for 2C," Peters said.

Currently, we are going in the wrong direction with global emissions increasing 1.5 percent in 2017 and a likely increase this year, he said. "Without the full involvement and alignment of our technical, social, and political dimensions, 1.5 C and even 2C won't be possible."

That means 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit is a big departure from where we are headed now, agrees Kelly Levin, a senior associate with World Resources Institute's Global Climate Program. That said, the models used to develop the IPCC's pathways to 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit don't include all the ways emissions could be reduced and they prioritize the cheapest methods, Levin said in an interview.

For example, a widespread dietary shift to eating less meat and reduced material consumption would significantly lower emissions. The models are also conservative when it comes to the roll out of new technology and have underestimated the success of solar panels and electric vehicles, Levin said. Tesla's Model 3 electric car was the 4th best selling car in the United States in September, despite being more than twice as expensive than comparable gasoline-powered cars (and often requiring long waiting lists).

The Critical Role of Forests

Forests could also play a much bigger role in cutting emissions, says Deborah Lawrence, a forest expert at the University of Virginia. "Forests provide a super-important service to humanity by currently removing about 25 percent of our CO2," Lawrence said in an interview.

Reforestation and improving forest management together could remove CO2 from the atmosphere, said Lawrence, amounting to 18 percent of the reductions needed by 2030. Brazil, China, India, Mexico, Australia, the U.S., Russia, and the European Union could also substantially increase their forests economically and without impacting food production-while potentially removing billions of tonnes of CO2 from the atmosphere, a forthcoming study will show, Lawrence said. Protecting and increasing tropical forests is especially important since they cool the air and are key in creating regional rainfall for growing food.

When the wood from mature forests is converted into furniture or buildings CO2 can be stored for the long term, she said. That's one reason a 12-story building made of wood will be completed in Portland in 2019, and a 24-story wooden building is being built in Vienna, Austria.

Existing forests must be protected to avoid dangerous climate change, warn a coalition of forest scientists in a statement. The world's forests contain more carbon than exploitable oil, gas, and coal deposits, they note.

"Our planet's future climate is inextricably tied to the future of its forests," the scientists wrote.

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Climate change impacts worse than expected, IPCC 1.5 report warns

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The impacts and costs of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) of global warming will be far greater than expected, according to a comprehensive assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released Sunday in Incheon, South Korea.

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By National Geographic Kids associate editor Allyson Shaw. Adapted and republished from the April 2018 Save the Earth issue with permission.

Climate Reality is teaming up with National Geographic Kids to share resources for kids to learn about climate change - and for parents and teachers to teach kids how to take action! This is the first blog in the series, but be sure to check back for more!

FIRST, GET SMART!

We know you love watching videos on your phone. But modern activities - such as plugging in devices, driving cars, and cooling homes - rely on energy sources such as natural gas, oil, and coal. Those energy sources release a gas called carbon dioxide (CO ₂) into the atmosphere. When CO 2 and other greenhouse gases trap heat that would otherwise escape Earth's atmosphere, the planet's temperature rises. That's called global warming, which causes climate change.

Climate: The average pattern of weather conditions over a long period of time. Climate isn't weather- weather changes daily.

Global warming: The increase in Earth's average temperature over a long period of time.

Carbon dioxide: A gas released by the burning of coal, natural gas, oil, and wood that traps heat in the atmosphere.

Carbon footprint: The amount of carbon dioxide one human releases into the environment in a year.

Fossil fuels: Coal, oil, and natural gas, which come from the breakdown of ancient plants and animals over millions of years.

Click to enlarge. Image courtesy of National Geographic Kids magazine.

RISING TEMPERATURES

According to NASA, the Earth's average surface temperature has increased about 1.8°F over the past hundred years, making 2017 one of the hottest years ever recorded. Most scientists expect the climate to at least warm another 0.5°F to as much as 8.6°F by 2100.

What's the big deal about a little extra heat? According to most scientists, plenty. As glaciers and polar ice sheets melt, rising sea levels could threaten coastal areas. And this global warming causes other changes to the Earth's climate, including harsher droughts, stronger hurricanes, and shifting wind and ocean patterns. Together, these changes are known as climate change.

WHY THE WARM UP?

So what do scientists say is causing climate change? Earth is surrounded by an atmosphere made up of a layer of gases. When sunlight enters the atmosphere, some of the sun's heat is trapped by the gases, while the rest escapes the atmosphere. The trapped heat keeps Earth warm enough to live on.

But during the past few centuries, the oil, gas, and coal we use have released carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. This gas traps heat that would otherwise escape Earth's atmosphere. This increases Earth's average temperature, which changes its climate. Climate change seems like an overwhelming problem, but you can make a difference.

SO WHAT CAN KIDS DO?

Click to enlarge. Image courtesy of National Geographic Kids magazine.

There are plenty of ways kids can take action to fight climate change. Check out the awesome graphic above to get some ideas on how you can take action to save the Earth!

You can also check out National Geographic Kids for videos, games, and more ideas about how to get involved and learn more about our planet.

WHAT CAN PARENTS AND TEACHERS DO?

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Just for Kids: What's Climate Change? And What Can I Do?

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Our planet is an amazing place to live... but it needs your help.

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Climate change is already causing more frequent and severe weather across the U.S., and the country is poised to suffer massive damage to infrastructure, ecosystems, health and the economy if global warming is allowed to continue, according to the most comprehensive federal climate report to date.

The fourth National Climate Assessment is the culmination of years of research and analysis by hundreds of top climate scientists in the country. The massive report details the many ways in which global climate change is already affecting American communities, from hurricanes to wildfires to floods to drought.

"Climate change is already affecting every part of the United States, almost every sector of the United States, be it agriculture or forestry or energy, tourism," says George Mason University professor Andrew Light, who is one of the report's editors. "It's going to hurt cities, it's going to hurt people in the countryside, and, as the world continues to warm, things are going to get worse."

President Trump, numerous Cabinet members and some members of Congress have questioned whether climate change is caused by humans or whether it is happening at all.

"I don't think there's a hoax. I do think there's probably a difference. But I don't know that it's man-made," the president said on CBS' 60 Minutes in October.

In an August interview about deadly wildfires in California, Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke told television station KCRA Sacramento: "This has nothing to do with climate change. This has to do with active forest management."

The new report, mandated by Congress and published by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, is the latest and most detailed confirmation that humans are driving climate change and that Americans are already adapting to and suffering from its effects. Climate change is "an immediate threat, not a far-off possibility," it says.

For example, large wildfires are getting more frequent because of climate change. The report notes that the area burned in wildfires nationwide each year has increased over the past 20 years, and "although projections vary by state and ecoregion, on average, the annual area burned by lightning-ignited wildfire is expected to increase by at least 30 percent by 2060."

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Although California and other Western states have made headlines for deadly fires, the report says the southeastern U.S. is also projected to suffer more wildfires.

Many regions are also experiencing more extreme rain - and ensuing floods - including the Midwest, Northeast, Southeast and Southern Great Plains, which includes Texas and Oklahoma. The most extreme example is Hurricane Harvey, which dumped 60 inches of rain on parts of southeast Texas in 2017 and flooded an enormous region from Houston up to the Louisiana border.

And the authors make clear that more extreme rainfall and flooding is widespread, going beyond major hurricanes. In the Midwest, runoff from heavy rains have depleted some cropland of nutrients. In the Northeast, towns are dealing with catastrophic flooding from summer thunderstorms.

"If you look at the whole U.S., the amount of precipitation overall may be less, but it's delivered in these very intense precipitation events," explains Brenda Ekwurzel, an author of the report and senior climate scientist at the Union of Concerned Scientists. "That's how you get a lot of flash flooding, especially after a wildfire."

In the Southwest, climate change is driving a particularly devious phenomenon: climate change is contributing to drought and flooding in the same place. Drought takes hold for months. When rain does fall, it's increasingly likely to come as an extreme rainstorm, which causes flash flooding and landslides. Scientists predict that dynamic will only get worse as climate change progresses.

The report's authors also focus multiple chapters on the health effects of climate change. In a section on air pollution, they write:

"Unless counteracting efforts to improve air quality are implemented, climate change will worsen existing air pollution levels. This worsened air pollution would increase the incidence of adverse respiratory and cardiovascular health effects, including premature death."

And as the climate warms, disease-carrying insects such as mosquitoes and ticks are also expected to expand their territory.

The authors warn that those who are most economically and physically vulnerable will continue to be most severely impacted by climate change, whether it's air pollution, disease, floods or fire disasters.

Climate adaptation is already taking place at the local, state and regional level, the report says. It gives examples including water conservation, forest management, infrastructure updates and agricultural advances.

"The real leading edge of action in the United States, now, to deal with climate change is at the non-federal level," says Light, who also serves as a senior fellow at the World Resources Institute think tank. "It's states, it's cities, it's businesses."

But far more involvement is needed on all levels to change human behavior.

"Successful adaptation has been hindered by the assumption that climate conditions are and will be similar to those in the past," the authors write, arguing that acknowledging climate change, adapting to its effects and working to limit global warming, while expensive, will save money and lives in the long term.

Those findings are in stark contrast to policies put forward by the Trump administration, which include announcing that the U.S. intends to withdraw from the 2015 Paris climate agreement, which set international targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

While the new report does not make policy recommendations, it is designed to be a scientific resource for leaders at all levels of government.

"We're putting a cost on inaction," explains Ekwurzel, referring to future global inaction to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change. "There's some really heavy duty news in here. I mean, we're talking billions of dollars as the cost of inaction each year. I think a lot of people in the U.S. will be surprised by that."

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Climate Change Is Already Hurting U.S. Communities, Federal Report Says

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Climate change is already causing more frequent and severe weather across the U.S., and the country is poised to suffer massive damage to infrastructure, ecosystems, health and the economy if global warming is allowed to continue, according to the most comprehensive federal climate report to date.

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The media portrays climate scientists as having delivered a final verdict on global warming.

They haven't.

There remain some holdouts who say this consensus is little more than conformity to a politically correct idea. Perhaps even more surprising is that a few of these global-warming skeptics are actually respected!

No matter where you stand on this debate, you should know who the major skeptics are and what they think.

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The 10 Most-Respected Global Warming Skeptics

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The media portrays climate scientists as having delivered a final verdict on global warming. They haven't. There remain some holdouts who say this consensus is little more than conformity to a politically correct idea. Perhaps even more surprising is that a few of these global-warming skeptics are actually respected!