This month, the federal government released the Fifth National Climate Assessment, a sweeping analysis of climate change in the U.S.
The report, released every five years, is a congressionally mandated report on climate change’s advancement and impact in the country, meant to inform U.S. policymakers. It is coordinated by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, a federal organization that studies the impact of changes in the natural and manmade environment and their impacts on society.
This year, for the first time, the report details how climate change is impacting daily life in America. The assessment details climate change’s toll on the economy and people’s health, as well as how it exacerbates inequity across the country.
Doing so is meant to more clearly articulate the ongoing impacts of climate change to people’s everyday lives, and show how the impacts can become more severe in the future if the climate crisis is not mitigated.
“The more the planet warms, the greater the impacts. Without rapid and deep reductions in global greenhouse gas emissions from human activities, the risks of accelerating sea level rise, intensifying extreme weather, and other harmful climate impacts will continue to grow,” the report states. “Each additional increment of warming is expected to lead to more damage and greater economic losses compared to previous increments of warming, while the risk of catastrophic or unforeseen consequences also increases.”
Here are five ways the assessment states climate change is impacting Americans.
- Climate change hurts the economy
Extreme weather events – such as extreme heat and cold, flooding, and wildfires – cause direct economic losses through disruptions in labor and public services and losses in property values. And as the U.S. experiences more extreme weather events each year, the economic losses add up.
“The number and cost of weather-related disasters have increased dramatically over the past four decades, in part due to the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events and in part due to increases in assets at risk (through population growth, rising property values, and continued development in hazard-prone areas),” the report states.
The U.S. currently experiences one billion-dollar disaster every three weeks, up from one every four months in the 1980s. Extreme events cost the U.S. at least $150 billion a year.
In its latest report, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns about “compounding extremes” where these significant environmental and weather-related disasters will have compounding negative effects and costs that far exceed any individual event.
- Climate change exacerbates inequities
Extreme weather events and their lasting effects disproportionately impact low-come communities, communities of color and Tribes and Indigenous Peoples due to high exposure and vulnerability to extreme events due to both their proximity to hazard-prone areas and lack of adequate infrastructure or disaster management resources.
“Many such communities are also already overburdened by the cumulative effects of adverse environmental, health, economic, or social conditions,” according to the report. “Climate change worsens these long-standing inequities, contributing to persistent disparities in the resources needed to prepare for, respond to, and recover from climate impacts.”
Such communities often lack the resources and infrastructure needed to adequately protect families from extreme weather events. These communities often do not have flood infrastructure, green spaces, and safe housing, leaving them more vulnerable to the climate crisis.
For example, neighborhoods home to racial minorities and low-income individuals have the highest inland flood exposure in the South.
- Climate change increases food insecurity
Climate-related disasters can create sudden shocks to the food supply chain, both at the global and local level. The effects of climate change on food security hits each region of the U.S. in unique ways, yet the repercussions are apparent across the country.
For example, in the U.S. Caribbean, agricultural losses from tropical cyclones threatens food security in the area. In the Midwest and Great Plains, rising temperatures and drought threaten crop outputs. And in Alaska, diminished access to mammals, seabirds, fish, and vegetation decreases local food security.
“As the climate changes, increased instabilities in US and global food production and distribution systems are projected to make food less available and more expensive,” according to the report. These price increases and disruptions are expected to disproportionately affect the nutrition and health of women, children, older adults, and low-wealth communities.”
- Climate change threatens the U.S. water supply
The climate crisis is leading to increased flooding and runoff, particularly in the Northeast and Midwest. Such waters transport debris and contamination that cause harmful algal blooms and pollute drinking water supplies.
Conversely, droughts also threaten safe water supplies.
“Recent droughts have strained surface water and groundwater supplies, reduced agricultural productivity, and lowered water levels in major reservoirs, threatening hydropower generation. As higher temperatures increase irrigation demand, increased pumping could endanger groundwater supplies, which are already declining in many major aquifers,” the report states.
What’s more, droughts are projected to increase in duration, frequency, and intensity, particularly in the Southwest.
- Climate change could destroy your home
The cost of maintaining a safe residence in the U.S. is rising thanks to the impending threat of climate disasters. More communities are located in wildfire-prone areas than ever before, with risk to both property and lives.
At the same time, 123 million people – 40% of the U.S. population – live in coastal communities that are prone to displacement in the future due to sea level rise.
Finally, rising energy bills threaten to make it impossible for more people to afford the proper insulation and cooling systems to protect themselves from extreme heat.