By Dr. Susan Crockford, Heritage Institute, Oct. 1, 2024
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and others predict that global warming caused by increasing carbon dioxide emissions from the burning of fossil fuels will have profoundly negative effects on plant and animal ecosystems in the U.S. and around the world in the coming decades. It is predicted that effects will negatively impact the provision of market goods and services produced from these ecosystems.
Although changes have occurred over the past two centuries—many of which have been due to entirely natural warming or human-use impacts since the late 1800s—with respect to several animal examples that occupy these ecosystems, recent ecological studies show that many species are actually more resilient to changes in ecological conditions than previously acknowledged.
KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THE REPORT
The expectation that changes due to global warming will fundamentally rearrange historical U.S. ecosystems does not hold up to critical examination.
Overall, there has been little to no impact on the provision of market goods and services produced from “sensitive” U.S. ecosystems.
Claims of “threatened” status depend on potential future harms projected by computer models that use pessimistic climate change scenarios.
Dr. Susan Crockford is a biologist and evolutionary biologist. Her company is Pacific Investigations, Inc. This is the summary of a report for the Heritage Institute. For the full report, click here.