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The Science of Climate Change in Plain EnglishJanuary 18, 2012The majority of blogs I write are practical; they are about greening office business policies and operations. That is, after all, the point of GreenWorksGov. I believe that going green makes sense on several levels and there’s something for everyone to support. Cut back on spending and save money, prioritize limited resources, increase efficiencies, leverage rebates, demonstrate environmental stewardship, and step up to mitigate the effects of climate change. Any or all of these are reasons, and good ones, for going green. Green teams and the leaders of green office efforts spend a good deal of time staying current with trends and practices around the country and the globe and identifying resources that offer ideas and practical alternatives to achieve a greener workplace. There is less time to delve into scientific papers on climate change itself, nor do many of us possess the educational grounding to digest them. As chair of our Green Office team and author of this blog, I feel an obligation to become as well-informed as I can on the underpinnings of climate change, its impacts, and the effects of our choices on the trajectory of climate change impacts on various sectors—economic, environmental, and societal.
The most recent report from the US Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is as advertized—an authoritative scientific report written in plain language. Entitled, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the US”, it summarizes the current and likely effects of climate change and reports on strategies and actions being taken or that can be taken to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change. The report makes clear it is not evaluating the various options, leaving that task to other scientific agencies and organizations and future research.
I find the report easy to read on-line. It is comprehensive, however, and best digested in bite-sized chunks. For example, there are separate chapters devoted to geographical impacts of climate change on the United States by region. I read the chapter on Coasts, and will work my way around the country and globe. Also, the impacts are divided into sectors: water, energy, transportation, agriculture, ecosystems, human health and society. By writing and organizing the report to examine impacts through various lenses as well as ensuring it is written in clear and understandable language, the USGCRP has done a very good job. Excerpts could be the topics of green newsletter columns and Intranet articles to increase employee awareness for months to come.
The US Global Change Research Program was mandated by Congress in 1990 to be an integrated research program “to understand, assess, predict, and respond to human-induced and natural processes of global change.” The program coordinates and integrates the research work of 13 federal agencies and departments. Click here to learn more.
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