New U.S. Climate Assessment Forecasts Dire Effects On Economy, Health

"The Trump administration released a major climate assessment on Black Friday, the culmination of years of research by the country's top climate scientists. It's well over 1,000 pages and touches on a daunting range of topics."

"President Trump said Monday that he has read parts of it. "It's fine," he told reporters at the White House, although he said he doesn't believe the report's assessment that climate change will cause devastating economic impacts for the U.S."

"The report is required by Congress every four years and is issued by 13 federal agencies and the U.S. Global Change Research Program. This one marks the most detailed and blunt assessment yet of the dangers of unchecked global warming."

"'Climate change is happening here and now,' co-author Katherine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told Weekend Edition Saturday. 'It is affecting all of us no matter where we live. And the more climate changes, the more serious and even more dangerous the impacts will become.'"