A government report outlines what a warmer world means for America
The president of that government then dismisses its findings
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP doubts that man-made climate change is a thing. According to his administration it is a clear, present and future danger to the United States. That conclusion—unsurprising to anyone who has been paying attention to climate scientists—emerges from the Fourth National Climate Assessment, compiled by 13 federal agencies and released on November 23rd. If the White House had hoped to bury the 1,600-page tome, part of a four-yearly exercise which it is obliged to prepare and make public by a law from 1990, under turkey-laden tables, the absence of news over the Thanksgiving weekend promoted it to the front pages.
This article appeared in the United States section of the print edition under the headline “Doomsday book”
From the December 1st 2018 edition
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