On average, the U.S. now experiences a billion-dollar disaster every three weeks, compared to once every four months (adjusting for inflation) in 1980, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first started tallying records. Credit: bilanol/Adobe Stock On average, the U.S. now experiences a billion-dollar disaster every three weeks, compared to once every four months (adjusting for inflation) in 1980, when the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration first started tallying records. Credit: bilanol/Adobe Stock

(Bloomberg) — The floods, heat waves, storms and fires fed by global warming are getting worse across the U.S. and will pose increasing danger to Americans unless greenhouse gas emissions are cut sharply and swiftly. The tools to do that are available today and are being adopted by communities nationwide, although not quickly enough to avert the crisis, according to a major government report.

Called the Fifth National Climate Assessment, the report "is the authoritative, definitive assessment of how our country is doing on climate change," Arati Prabhakar, the director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said ahead of the release. Not only does it make clear that "climate change is here," she said, it also highlights how "America's stepping up to meet this moment."

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