New UN #climate report says the world has a brief window to avoid a deadlier climate future. Here’s what’s at stake in #Colorado — Colorado Public Radio #ActOnClimate

Click the link to read the article on the Colorado Public Radio website (Cody Wertz). Here’s an excerpt:

Human-caused climate change is disrupting ecosystems, upending the lives of billions of people around the world and has set the stage for dangerous, possibly unavoidable hazards, said scientists in the latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

In Colorado, the impacts are being felt statewide, from worsening wildfires to shrinking snowpacks and ongoing droughts — and the future could see more of the same, or worse.

The warming is already driving an uptick of droughts, floods and heatwaves that are endangering plants and animals and threatening human health, scientists wrote in the report, part of the sixth major assessment of climate science from the United Nations. The warming is intensifying so rapidly researchers say it could soon threaten the ability of nature and humans to adapt unless greenhouse gas emissions are quickly reduced, they write…

Here’s are some of the key findings for Colorado and the Western United States:

Wildfires are expected to increase and intensify as climate change leads to warmer and drier conditions. Warming has also led to longer fire seasons and increased firefighting costs. Smoke from intensified wildfires is linked to respiratory health problems and increased hospital admissions, which are projected to grow even more, especially in elderly, low-income and Black and Native American communities

Snowpack and snow cover have declined as temperatures have increased. The warming is driving “snow droughts” that reduce the runoff that recharges critical water supplies

Droughts are getting longer, more severe and are causing environmental and economic damage. Warming is also worsening tensions over competing water use interests

Freshwater supplies that are being hurt by reduced snowpack and earlier runoff seasons are being further degraded by overuse, poor management and deteriorating water infrastructure

Farming and food production are also threatened by drought and water shortages, and warming is already negatively affecting crop yields, quality and marketability of agricultural products. Increased warming is also expected to affect the occurrence and severity of diseases that infect livestock