U.S. climate action is insufficient to meet targets set to limit global warming, which is causing “far-reaching and worsening” disasters across the country, according to the draft of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, released Monday. Global temperatures have already risen 1.1°C (2°F) above pre-industrial averages, but the U.S. is experiencing even faster warming. The devastation caused by climate-fueled disasters disproportionately harms Black, Indigenous, Hispanic, Asian, undocumented, LGBTQ+, and other communities that have been marginalized and left vulnerable by a history of exclusion. “There is no known precedent for a species changing its own climate as quickly as we are changing ours, and there are many uncertainties associated with a rapidly warming world,” the draft NCA warns. “The things Americans value most are at risk.” (Washington Post $, Reuters, HuffPost)
