Summers seem warmer, winters seem either colder or warmer, depending on the year, and water levels are dropping - all evidence that climate change is definitely present.

A new report from the US Global Change Research Program released this week on the regional and national effects of global climate change detail exactly what we all know is happening - the Earth's heating up and there are already devasting effects happening as a result.

But aside offering a wake-up call on what's going on with Mother Nature, the report wisely offers several remedies that we can all take to prevent the situation from worsening. From the press release -

The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” compiles years of scientific research and takes into account new data not available during the preparation of previous large national and global assessments. It was produced by a consortium of experts from 13 U.S. government science agencies and from several major universities and research institutes. With its production and review spanning Republican and Democratic administrations, it offers a valuable, objective scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting—and may further affect—the United States.

With this report comes a lot of understanding about what's happening to our atmosphere and what's causing it, but just with anything, in the end, it's really just about what we do with that information that determines whether or not we're better as a result of it. Because in the end, we will be the ones that ultimately either survive or perish as a result. 

cross-posted at ClimateLaws.org

Under the neo-classic pen name, Justinian, several yet to be revealed policy and climate experts have released a blueprint of strategies for the incoming administration to consider with regards to climate change.  The lynchpin of these tactics is that they can all be undertaken without the need for immediate congressional action.  Like the Roman Emperor Justinian’s attempts to bring Rome out of the Dark Ages with, among other things, a complete revision of the Roman law code – the authors’ proposals offer a dramatic administrative shift in US priorities for climate change.

While some of the recommendations are fairly well known, some are wonkish administrative priority setting such as strategies within federal agencies that will permit a far greater amount of environmental policy changes to successfully navigate the myriad of interagency hurdles they often face.  Two of the more public and well known recommendations include having the US join a binding international agreement on climate change, and granting California’s exemption to EPA regulation of auto emissions essentially letting that state and 18 others raise emissions standards on automobiles.