Nobel Prize Winning Scientist Releases Climate Change Report to Alarm Government

How can a new report about climate change that contains no new information about the current state of affairs regarding the environment possibly cause a stir amongst experts? Just ask Dr. Mario Molina.

The Nobel Prize winning Dr. Molina is a Mexican chemist and his 18-page report on climate change entitled, "What We Know," is regarded as the most comprehensive and intelligible paper provided to the public. Its simple language, experts say, allows the everyday person to understand the intricacies and momentous impact of global warming.

Perhaps most importantly, Dr. Molina's report notes that 97% of climate scientists have acknowledged that human-caused climate change is happening. And yet, governmental policies to mitigate the global warming issue have been scarce. The Obama Administration reiterates their commitment to the climate change agenda, but results from the policies of the plans released by the federal agencies most likely won't see results until 2020.

The administration's plan is to see a percentage of overall reductions for greenhouse gases by 2020. Secretary of State John Kerry said that climate change is now a "top-tier diplomatic priority" last week, which can be found in this Fox News article. But that doesn't seem to concern the American people. A recent Gallup Poll revealed that 54% of Americans are aware that global warming is impacting the planet, but only 36% believe that its effects will disrupt their daily life.

Dr. Molina argues that the problem is indeed urgent, and that we very well could be disrupted by the effects of global warming in our lifetime. His worst-case scenarios include food shortages (because it will be more difficult to grow crops), accelerating sea level rise, extreme heat waves, droughts, and floods, and extinctions of plants and animals. We've already witnessed some of these in lower-scale occurrences, such as the current droughts in California.

"What's extremely clear is that there's a risk, a very significant risk," said Dr. Molina in this New York Times article. "You don't need 100 percent certainty for society to act."