Why you should sweat climate change

Human activities are affecting the Earth’s climate and warming the atmosphere and oceans in ways that cannot be explained just by nature. A look at how the Earth’s climate has changed:

More American children are getting asthma and allergies, and more seniors are suffering heat strokes.

Food and utility prices are rising. Flooding is overrunning bridges, swamping subways and closing airport runways.

People are losing jobs in drought-related factory closings. Cataclysmic storms are wiping out sprawling neighborhoods. Towns are sinking.

This isn’t a science-fiction, end-of-the-world scenario. Though more anecdotal than normal — today, at least — these scenes are already playing out somewhere in the United States, and they’re expected to get worse in years ahead. In fact, a remaking of America is likely in our lifetimes — a flicker in geological time. This will transform how and where we live, work and play.

Wendy Koch

Video: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/02/28/climate-change-remaking-america/1917169/