scholarly journals How Will Climate Change Affect the United States in Decades to Come?

Eos ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald Wuebbles ◽  
David Fahey ◽  
Kathy Hibbard

A new U.S. government report shows that climate is changing and that human activities will lead to many more changes. These changes will affect sea levels, drought frequency, severe precipitation, and more.

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 1245-1245
Author(s):  
Mikiyasu Nakayama ◽  
Scott Drinkall ◽  
Daisuke Sasaki

As global sea levels continue to rise, atoll countries—facing persistent and imminent risk—are expected to become source nations of climate migrants in the foreseeable future. This special issue features 10 academic articles, which examine if residents in Pacific atoll countries were, are, or will be ready to re-establish their livelihoods after relocation. The topic of migration is akin to a kaleidoscope, with continuously evolving shapes and colors, necessitating a broad spectrum of approaches across various disciplines. The authors of these articles thus examined the topic through mathematics, civil engineering, cultural and disaster studies, economics, education, geography, international relations, language, law, sociology and politics. The methodologies applied range from policy analysis to structural equation modeling. Migration driven by climate change takes place gradually, even over a few decades. Unlike forced migration due to causes such as war and conflict, future climate migrants have the short-term advantage of time to ready themselves for displacement from their homeland. Preparation prior to relocation may include enhancing one’s language or vocational skills. One of the focal points of this special issue is therefore the preparedness of migrants, both past and future. Case studies were carried out across Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Micronesia, and the United States. We also considered how migrants are received following resettlement, both in terms of legal instruments and assistance given by the public and private sectors. Case studies conducted in Austria and the United States address this aspect. Yet another focus is to identify prevailing factors through which people develop their perceptions of climate change and its implications, for such perceptions are a driving force for migration. Case studies in Kiribati and the Marshall Islands contribute to this understanding. We hope this special issue sharpens the vision of climate change and migration, and serves as a stepping stone for further research in the field.


Eos ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 100 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenessa Duncombe

Experts have given the United States a warning: Reduce greenhouse gas emissions, or suffer the consequences of lower productivity and a sicker population for generations to come.


Eos ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 99 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Jay ◽  
Daniel Barrie ◽  
Benjamin DeAngelo ◽  
David Reidmiller

A new U.S. government report finds that climate change is already increasing risks to health, the economy, and ecosystems across the United States. These risks are expected to grow in the coming decades.


2016 ◽  
Vol 69 (4) ◽  
pp. 65-71
Author(s):  
Masha Shpolberg

Hanna Polak was in the United States in December 2015 for a screening of Something Better to Come (2014) and The Children of Leningradsky (2004) at Yale University, where the interview was conducted. Polak's devastating documentary Something Better to Come swept through the festival circuit with force, winning a Special Jury Award at IDFA along with awards at over twenty other festivals. Shot illegally on a garbage dump just outside Moscow over the course of fourteen years, the film follows a girl named Yula from age 10 to 24, as she grows up doing the things that teenagers everywhere do—experimenting with her hair color and makeup, with cigarettes and alcohol—all while living in the most difficult of conditions.


Author(s):  
Mary Johnson ◽  
Patricia Wittberg ◽  
Mary Gautier ◽  
Thu Do

This book presents quantitative and qualitative data from the first-ever national study of international Catholic sisters in the United States, the Trinity Washington University/CARA Study. International sisters are defined as those born outside the United States and currently ministering, studying, or in residence in this country. The book begins with a chapter that locates current international sisters in the long line of sisters who have come to this country since the eighteenth century. The book identifies the sisters of today, describes the pathways they used to come here, their levels of satisfaction, their concerns and contributions, the issue of immigration status, the challenges of sister students, and the role and mission of Catholic organizations assisting immigrants in general, and international sisters in particular. The book ends with implications of the research and recommendations regarding resources, ministries, and structures of support for international sisters.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (15) ◽  
pp. 8335
Author(s):  
Jasmina Nedevska

Climate change litigation has emerged as a powerful tool as societies steer towards sustainable development. Although the litigation mainly takes place in domestic courts, the implications can be seen as global as specific climate rulings influence courts across national borders. However, while the phenomenon of judicialization is well-known in the social sciences, relatively few have studied issues of legitimacy that arise as climate politics move into courts. A comparatively large part of climate cases have appeared in the United States. This article presents a research plan for a study of judges’ opinions and dissents in the United States, regarding the justiciability of strategic climate cases. The purpose is to empirically study how judges navigate a perceived normative conflict—between the litigation and an overarching ideal of separation of powers—in a system marked by checks and balances.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin H. Strauss ◽  
Philip M. Orton ◽  
Klaus Bittermann ◽  
Maya K. Buchanan ◽  
Daniel M. Gilford ◽  
...  

AbstractIn 2012, Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast of the United States, creating widespread coastal flooding and over $60 billion in reported economic damage. The potential influence of climate change on the storm itself has been debated, but sea level rise driven by anthropogenic climate change more clearly contributed to damages. To quantify this effect, here we simulate water levels and damage both as they occurred and as they would have occurred across a range of lower sea levels corresponding to different estimates of attributable sea level rise. We find that approximately $8.1B ($4.7B–$14.0B, 5th–95th percentiles) of Sandy’s damages are attributable to climate-mediated anthropogenic sea level rise, as is extension of the flood area to affect 71 (40–131) thousand additional people. The same general approach demonstrated here may be applied to impact assessments for other past and future coastal storms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Linda J. Bilmes

AbstractThe United States has traditionally defined national security in the context of military threats and addressed them through military spending. This article considers whether the United States will rethink this mindset following the disruption of the Covid19 pandemic, during which a non-military actor has inflicted widespread harm. The author argues that the US will not redefine national security explicitly due to the importance of the military in the US economy and the bipartisan trend toward growing the military budget since 2001. However, the pandemic has opened the floodgates with respect to federal spending. This shift will enable the next administration to allocate greater resources to non-military threats such as climate change and emerging diseases, even as it continues to increase defense spending to address traditionally defined military threats such as hypersonics and cyberterrorism.


Author(s):  
M. John Plodinec

Abstract Over the last decade, communities have become increasingly aware of the risks they face. They are threatened by natural disasters, which may be exacerbated by climate change and the movement of land masses. Growing globalization has made a pandemic due to the rapid spread of highly infectious diseases ever more likely. Societal discord breeds its own threats, not the least of which is the spread of radical ideologies giving rise to terrorism. The accelerating rate of technological change has bred its own social and economic risks. This widening spectrum of risk poses a difficult question to every community – how resilient will the community be to the extreme events it faces. In this paper, we present a new approach to answering that question. It is based on the stress testing of financial institutions required by regulators in the United States and elsewhere. It generalizes stress testing by expanding the concept of “capital” beyond finance to include the other “capitals” (e.g., human, social) possessed by a community. Through use of this approach, communities can determine which investments of its capitals are most likely to improve its resilience. We provide an example of using the approach, and discuss its potential benefits.


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