A new government report makes it clear that climate change is significantly affecting average Americans and its effects will only grow worse if we continue to do nothing. According to the report:

Summers are longer and hotter, and extended periods of unusual heat last longer than any living American has ever experienced. Winters are generally shorter and warmer. Rain comes in heavier downpours. People are seeing changes in the length and severity of seasonal allergies, the plant varieties that thrive in their gardens, and the kinds of birds they see in any particular month in their neighborhoods.

In a more rational country, this report would prompt a coordinated national response to the very real threat that climate change poses. But as long as conservatives persist with their two-pronged strategy of denialism and fear-mongering, we can’t expect rationality at the federal level. Some states and local governments are taking concerted action to reduce carbon emissions and diversify their energy supplies, although I’m skeptical that these initiatives will have much impact on a national or global scale.

It’s difficult to resist the conclusion that humanity may already be well and truly fucked; we just need a few more decades to fully appreciate it. I hope that’s not the case. I hope that there are some really gifted engineers, scientists, and political leaders among today’s preschoolers because they will be the ones who will have to manage the brunt of the crisis.