At the 2008 Climate Camp in San Francisco, Miriam Elizondo put together this great video of the participants talking about the experience of climate change and a few thoughts on how we address it. Big questions indeed!



What are your experiences of climate change? In what way are you trying to reduce your "footprint" or adapt to climate change?



- Nigel Allan

Creative Commons licence
© Joe Germuska" border="0" align="left" hspace="4" vspace="2" />Millions of people throughout North America, the Caribbean and Pacific are witnesses to extreme weather events that are increasing in frequency and severity as a result of climate change.



A new report, Weather and Climate Extremes in a Changing Climate, issued by the US Climate Change Science Program (CCSP) is the first to specifically assess observed and projected changes in weather and climate extremes for North America.  It states that the greatest impacts of climate change on society and wildlife will be experienced through changes in extreme weather events as global temperatures increase.



These extreme weather events include floods, hurricanes, and droughts.



Dr Richard Moss, WWF-US’s vice president for climate change, who previously headed up the CCSP coordination office under both the Clinton and Bush administrations, said today’s report illustrates the US’s economic vulnerability to climate change and reinforces the need to implement a national preparedness strategy.



The US Midwest is currently experiencing devastating flooding which has severely affected corn crops and other agricultural production and put further pressure on global food distribution.



Moss said: “To fully grasp the ramifications of the surge in extreme droughts and floods that are forecast in this report, one need only look at the widespread devastation across the Midwest.  Levees are being breached, tens of thousands of residents have been displaced, and President Bush is asking the US Congress for $US 1.8 billion in emergency aid to help the region recover – that is roughly the entire annual federal budget for climate change research programs.  Simply put, climate change is a problem we cannot afford to ignore.”



Claire Carlton, manager of WWF’s Climate Witness Programme, said: “As the floods in the Midwest demonstrate these events can have far reaching effects because of our global interdependence. The impact of drought on Australian wheat and rice crops is already affecting millions of people in need of food and the floods in the US will only make things worse.



“We will continue to document the impacts of climate change on people and communities around the world and remind governments that if left unchecked climate change will continue to destroy lives and increasingly strain our global economy.”



Moss added: “As this report shows, climate change is directly affecting each and every one of us and threatens significant physical and economic harm. While no single storm can be directly attributed to climate change, the scientific evidence clearly shows that as the climate warms, extreme weather events will become more intense and more frequent.



Nigel Allan

Communications Manager

WWF Climate Witness Programme