Clinton warns of global warming dangers

Warning based on new U.S. study

In this story: 'Serious harm' to environment, economy Clean air goals RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Continued global increases in greenhouse gas emissions could raise temperatures in the United States from five to nine degrees, a newly released U.S. government report said Saturday.

GLOBAL WARMING Find out how the greenhouse effect works     MESSAGE BOARD Environmental issues

President Bill Clinton, who unveiled the report during an Internet Webcast, said such temperature changes have not occurred since the end of the last Ice Age.

The congressionally mandated three-year report was conducted by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, and assessed ways climate change might affect the United States.

"This new study makes clear that this projected warming threatens serious harm to our environment and to our economy," Clinton said.

"It could mean more flooding, more droughts, more extreme weather and a serious disruption of water supplies. It would mean rising sea levels, the loss of species and the destruction of entire ecosystems such as the Alpine meadows of the Rocky Mountains."

He also called for a new clean air strategy to significantly reduce emissions from power plants in the United States

"By adopting one integrated strategy that addresses all the major pollutants -- including mercury and carbon dioxide, the largest contributor to global warming -- we can give electric utilities the flexibility they need to meet our clean air goals in a cost-effective way," Clinton said.

The report comes on the eve of international climate change negotiations in the Netherlands. Representatives from the more than 160 countries that crafted the Kyoto climate treaty in 1997 will meet to begin two weeks of discussions on how to implement it.

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U.S. Global Change Research Program
  • Global Climate Change Treaty: The Kyoto Protocol

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