§2931 Findings and Purpose

Summary

Creates and coordinates a broad U.S. research program to study global environmental change. Human activities and population growth are changing the Earth and could reshape the planet within a few human generations. These changes, plus natural shifts, may cause significant warming, higher seas, and harm to food supplies, coastal areas, biodiversity, human health, and the world economy over the next century. Chemicals like CFCs are also thinning the ozone layer and raising UV risks. The law says better science is needed to tell human-caused change from natural change. New Earth‑science tools, global monitoring, and computing can help. Federal research must be coordinated across agencies and with states, private groups, and other countries. The goal is to help the U.S. and the world understand, measure, predict, and respond to these changes.