CLIMATE CHANGE, BY THE NUMBERS.

• Position: SMOKING GUN

As politicians dither, the planet continues to experience the dire impacts of a changing climate--likely just a small, bitter taste of the disruptions yet to come. Here are some measures of the climate emergency:

7

The number of years from 2015 to 2021 that are among the hottest seven years on record, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service.

4,519

The number of recorded deaths due to weather and climate disasters in the United States over the past five years, as reported by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

83

The worldwide percentage increase in climate-related natural disasters in the twenty-year period from 2000 to 2019, as compared to 1980-1999.

7,700,000

The number of acres of land that burned in the United States during 2021, according to the National Interagency Fire Center.

7,348

The number of "major recorded disaster events" between 2000 and 2019, according to a United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction report, published in 2020. The study said these events claimed 1.23 million lives and cost the global economy approximately $2.97 trillion.

3.6

Number of inches that the global sea level has risen since 1993. The total since 1880: eight to nine inches.

200,000,000

The number of...