“Scientists: Climate Change No Longer a Theory, It’s Happening”

The pictures today from around the world of dramatic rooftop rescues from raging waters, makes it seem as though natural disasters are becoming an everyday occurrence. But they’re not all that natural; climate scientists say man-made global warming is the sudden force behind the forces of nature.

That’s from an ABC News story posted last night, whose headline and subhed I repeated above.  The actual ABC evening news story from Thursday is one of the best climate change stories ever to appear on  a major network’s evening news show:

Dr. Richard Somerville, a coordinating lead author on the IPCC’s 2007 review of climate science, explains bluntly:

This is no longer something that’s theory or conjecture or something that comes out of computer models. We’re observing the climate changing. It’s real. It’s happening. It’s scientific fact.

The evening news story ends:

Many scientists say the forecast is looking more and more extreme.

Absolutely true (see Masters: “The stunning extremes we witnessed gives me concern that our climate is showing the early signs of instability”;  Munich Re: “The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather-related catastrophes is climate change“).

Here’s more of the outstanding online story:

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China sets goals to reduce emissions of pollutants

China said Friday it would cut emissions this year by rejecting construction projects that pollute too much and developing new technologies that curb greenhouse gases.

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With a special focus on the renewable energy challenge

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As epic floods fueled by global warming pollution ravage the globe from Australia to Brazil, from Sri Lanka to Germany — following the hottest and wettest year in recorded history — the traditional media is beginning to notice. ABC News described the consequences of humanity’s abuse of fossil fuels in two segments yesterday, interviewing Dr. Richard Somerville, the Nobel-winning scientist who led the IPCC report on the state of climate science in 2007:

This is no longer something that’s theory or conjecture or something that comes out of computer models. We’re observing the climate changing. It’s real. It’s happening. It’s scientific fact.

On ABC World News, anchor Diane Sawyer explained that “the evidence is in”: the energy trapped in our air and oceans by billions of tons of fossil fuel pollution is the reason “why we’re reeling from the deadly weather extremes,” including record one-day snowfalls in Hartford, CT, and Albany, NY:

Later on Nightline, anchor Cynthia McFadden introduced Jeffrey Kofman, who described acts of heroism and “apocalyptic” devastation in a “grim week of floods around the world, floods of, well, biblical proportion” that are “washing away entire cities”:

Linsey Davis ended her segment on ABC World News with the warning, “Many scientists say the forecast is looking more and more extreme.”

Meanwhile, the polluter takeover of Washington continues, with Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY) the latest to announce an all-out assault on the Obama administration’s efforts to protect the nation from carbon pollution.

Based on this Commission’s multiple meetings and discussions with leading members of the oil and gas industry, however, it is clear that API’s ability to serve as a reliable standard-setter for drilling safety is compromised by its role as the industry’s principal lobbyist and public policy advocate. Because they would make oil and gas industry operations potentially more costly, API regularly resists agency rulemakings that government regulators believe would make those operations safer, and API favors rulemaking that promotes industry autonomy from government oversight.

That’s from the final report of the Presidential Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.  Guest blogger Andy Rowell, with Oil Change International, has the full story in this Wonk Room cross-post.

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