A new U.S. government report released on Tuesday finds that climate change is already having a broad impact on both weather and the economy.
NPR's Elizabeth Shogren tells our Newscast unit the third National Climate Assessment is the most comprehensive look at climate change the government has ever produced. It was put together by more than 300 experts "guided by a 60-member Federal Advisory Committee."
She filed this report for our Newscast unit:
"The report finds Climate change is causing more frequent or intense heat waves and downpours. In some regions it's causing more floods or droughts. Climate change already disrupts key parts of our economy — energy, transportation, agriculture and water supply. One of the authors, University of Arizona professor James Buizer, says the biggest change from the government's last assessment is efforts under way to reduce greenhouse gases and adapt.
"'People are already starting to act, preparing for the climate that will be, not the climate that was,' he says.
"But the report says these efforts so far are insufficient to avoid increasingly negative impacts."