Climate change costs outweigh benefits

Published: Oct. 17, 2007 at 6:31 PM
Order reprints
COLLEGE PARK, Md., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- A University of Maryland study has concluded that the negative economic impact of climate change on the United States will outweigh any possible benefits.

The university's Center for Integrative Environmental Research said the exact price tag of climate change's future impact on the United States is impossible to predict, but the authors wrote that public budgets will be strained and the costs of cooling U.S. homes will skyrocket, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.

"Economic costs of climate change will occur throughout the country," said Matthias Ruth, the study's lead author. "We've connected the dots as far as the data would allow."

The study predicts that temporary benefits of global warming will be felt by the mid-Atlantic's agricultural sector, but the benefits will be offset by costs including an estimated nearly $2 billion Hawaii will be forced to spend on upgrading its drinking water and wastewater facilities over the course of the next 20 years.


© 2007 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved.



Bratton: Tox tests key in Jacko death (6 min)
IMF downgrades Ukraine 2009 GDP (11 min)
Doctors: Canada abdicating isotope role (15 min)
Deep tremors may foretell quake (21 min)
Sprint transfers management to Ericsson (21 min)
EU seizing more counterfeit goods (33 min)
Mubarak:Gilad Shalit to be set free soon (39 min)
fark
A good laugh said to give a great orgasm a run for its money. Fark: But not if it comes while you're...
Afghanistan revises 'marital rape' law, no longer requires women to submit to sex with their husbands;...
Angry that you're being paid in California IOUs? Blame fat people
New billboard in Florida aims to stop people from talking on their cell phones while driving, do...
And lo, Nestlé said unto the FDA "let my cookie-dough flow"
The City of Denver would like you to know that they are not issuing more parking tickets just because...