Iowa farmer Ray Gaesser doesn’t need a federal report to tell him the climate is changing. Climate changes already affect how, when, and what he plants, works his fields, buys machinery, and plans for the future. More extreme weather, including more very heavy precipitation events, have pushed Gaesser to adapt in creative ways. “You wonder how you’re going to take care of the crop the way it should be taken care of,” says Gaesser.

Climate disruptions to agricultural production have increased in the past 40 years and are projected to increase over the next 25 years, according to the 2014 National Climate Assessment. To learn more about climate change impacts on agriculture and the Midwest, go to NCA2014.globalchange.gov

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Elk Creek Fire Chief Bill McLaughlin's career has followed the spread of wildfires throughout the western United States. In 2012, his teams fought the Lower North Fork Fire in Colorado, an unusual early-season fire that kicked off the most destructive fire season in Colorado's recorded history -- until 2013 eclipsed that record.

According to the 2014 National Climate Assessment, higher average temperatures are drying out forest fuels, increasing the length of the fire season, reducing snow cover, and increasing the vulnerability of western forests to more wildfire. "Climate change is very real," Chief McLaughlin says, "It's changed my entire life."
To explore the 2014 National Climate Assessment, go to NCA2014.globalchange.gov

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Texas rancher Clay Igo sums it up: "It seems like it is doin' nothing but getting hotter, and drier, and less rain, yearly." Clay and his father Kevin have watched as many of their neighbors around Plainview have lost their herds, the local meatpacking plant closed, and the tax base shrank. As Kevin puts it, "these communities are drying up."

Scientists can put some numbers behind the Igos' experience. In 2011, many places in Texas and Oklahoma recorded more than 100 days over 100 degrees. Heat and drought contributed to more than $10 billion in agricultural losses alone. According to the National Climate Assessment, "communities that are already vulnerable to weather and climate extremes will be stressed even further by more frequent extreme events."
To explore the 2014 National Climate Assessment, go to NCA2014.globalchange.gov

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“The ocean is so acidic that it is dissolving the shells of our baby oysters,” says Diani Taylor of Taylor Shellfish Farms in Shelton, Washington. She and her cousin Brittany are fifth-generation oyster farmers, and are grappling with ocean waters that are more acidic and corrosive than their fathers, grandfathers, and great-grandfathers knew.

This “ocean acidification” is one planetary response to humans’ burning of fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide that is absorbed by the oceans. According to the National Climate Assessment, oceans currently absorb about a quarter of human-caused carbon dioxide emissions to the atmosphere, leading to ocean acidification that will alter marine ecosystems in dramatic yet uncertain ways.
To learn more about ocean acidification, go to NCA2014.globalchange.gov

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“It’s very clear to us that the climate is changing, changing rapidly, and changing primarily because of human activities,” says Don Wuebbles, a convening lead author on the National Climate Assessment’s Climate Science chapter. A wide range of scientific observations has shown that as the planet’s temperature has risen, there have been changes in precipitation patterns, increases in the frequency and intensity of certain extreme weather events, and other climate change impacts that can be attributed to human causes. “It’s not a matter of belief,” Wuebbles says. “The science is very clear that this is what’s happening.”
To learn more about climate change impacts in the United States, go to NCA2014.globalchange.gov

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