Ames, Iowa — A new report on global climate change is being released with help from researchers at Iowa State University. The study from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change had more than 200 authors from a dozen chapters around the globe.
William Gutowski, an ISU professor of geological and atmospheric sciences, says the report was three years in the making. He calls it sharp and authoritative.
ISU’s chapter covered central North America, where weather extremes in the past year ranged from brutal cold in Texas last February to the drought in Iowa and across the Midwest. Gutowski expects continued weather extremes.
It all comes down to what actions humans may take, he says, as to how quickly the changing climate may be impacted.
Gutowski says the report is a wake-up call to do something and it has to involve countries around the world. Iowans can help to stave off climate change, he says, by doing things like conserving electricity and gasoline, and promoting wind and solar power.
