as environmental activists talked about in Brenda Flanagan's report climate change is reshaping the country and the far-reaching effects are laid clear in the latest National Climate assessment released today by the federal government it points to rising sea levels heavier rains and soaring temperatures each bringing direct and indirect impacts to the lives of New Jersey residents and people across the US according to experts there's still time to stop the worst outcomes but the window of opportunity is closing New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson joins me now to discuss the new report Dave it's good to see you wow I mean scientists really did not hold back in this report what stuck out to you the most yeah this report I really feel that the earlier assessments this is the fifth National assessment we're trying to make the case that the climate's changing this one says the climate's changing we all understand that now but the take-home point with this one is the decisions we make right now are going to be important for our future uh and and that has to do with mitigation and adaptation and resilience so the climate card is right there and presented now let's talk more about what we can do about it yeah in fact the US has called out for making some improvement in slowing global warming but it's not at the rate according to this report that's needed to make a real dent in this or even keep up with what the Biden Administration has been proposing what do you make of that yeah it's a very difficult situation when you're you're looking as a scientist and someone who wants a healthy environment you'd like to see things done very quickly and then reality strikes and the support isn't there the financing isn't there uh the science is basically there now um and we've got to keep an eye on things because if we're not careful the decisions we make right now could let things really run a muck in the future um and that isn't necessarily next year or 10 years from now uh we've seen this with International assessments and National assessments that the decisions we make now will be more impactful the second half of the century the die is cast in some respects for the next decade or several decades in terms of climate change and extremes and so on but the decisions we made now are really important for our children our grandchildren and so on this is also Dave the first time that there's been an economic chapter in uh one of these reports natural disasters it says cost $178 billion dollar in Damages the president even mentioned New Jersey today um as a place where you can bear witness to climate and and the changes that it's made in terms of our extreme weather and disasters uh what is the implication for New Jersey well I if we don't do something about this and mitigate things somewhat we're we're a coastal State let's start right there the culture the Heritage our very being as being from New Jersey is the coast is the shore so there's issues there with sea level rise but we're also in urban State the most urbanized state in summer respects and there we have to worry about environmental justice and equity in our cities the urban heat Islands uh imperious surfaces and we need to think more about Greening up our urban areas so it goes from the coast to our urban areas and and out into the rural communities and our Farmland in the state that's so valuable to us is there a major takeaway that you see here for both the Murphy Administration and and every key player who's shaping uh New Jersey's climate agenda well you know I'm biased of course as a climatologist but I think the takehome is that the climate situation has to be taken into uh uh consideration in every decision that's made whether it's based on our health our infrastructure our cultural amenities our transportation sector our ecologic systems we can't ignore the fact that clim weather and climate play am major part and with it changing it has ramifications for the future of all of these different parts of our Jersey system if you will New Jersey state climatologist David Robinson Dave thanks so much for joining me my pleasure