Ramez Naam, IEET fellow, technologist and author who has written extensively on climate change talks with Yahoo!'s Bernice Napach about climate change and how we must act now.

“Wildfires are about four times more common in the U.S. now because of climate change,”

And the costs to contain the effects of climate change keep rising. For the second year in a row, the federal government has depleted its budget for fighting wildfires and will be forced to get additional funds from other government coffers, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Last year the U.S. lost $100 billion in economic damages from climate-linked events like Hurricane Sandy and the drought, says Naam. Referring to a recent report from the World Bank, he says “rising sea levels and flood surges” could cost cities like New York, Miami and New Orleans losses up to $1 trillion per year of damages from coastal erosion by mid-century.

Naam agrees with a recent UN report that human behavior has caused most of the warming of the planet, and says it is human behavior that has the potential to reduce it.

Ramez Naam, IEET fellow, technologist and author who has written extensively on climate change talks with Yahoo!'s Bernice Napach about climate change and how we must act now.

“Wildfires are about four times more common in the U.S. now because of climate change,”

And the costs to contain the effects of climate change keep rising. For the second year in a row, the federal government has depleted its budget for fighting wildfires and will be forced to get additional funds from other government coffers, according to the U.S. Forest Service.

Last year the U.S. lost $100 billion in economic damages from climate-linked events like Hurricane Sandy and the drought, says Naam. Referring to a recent report from the World Bank, he says “rising sea levels and flood surges” could cost cities like New York, Miami and New Orleans losses up to $1 trillion per year of damages from coastal erosion by mid-century.

Naam agrees with a recent UN report that human behavior has caused most of the warming of the planet, and says it is human behavior that has the potential to reduce it.

http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/climate-change-could-cost-u-trillions-technologist-ramez-112355635.html