What are the other effects of global warming? Each year scientists learn more about the consequences of global warming, and each year we also gain new evidence of its devastating impact on people and the planet. They touch on every facet of our lives—our economy and livelihoods, our health, our food supply, and our ways of life. Heat stress is killing workers. Allergies, asthma, and infectious disease outbreaks are becoming more common due to increased growth of pollen-producing ragweed, higher levels of air pollution, and the spread of conditions favorable to ticks and mosquitoes. Communities are migrating from scorched or flooded homelands. Melting ice is reshaping environments and impacting lives from the mountains to the coasts. (Learn more about the effects of climate change.)

Though everyone is affected by climate change, not everyone is affected equally. Indigenous Peoples, people of color, and the economically marginalized are typically hit the hardest, due in part to environmental racism. Inequities built into our housing, health care, and labor systems make these communities more vulnerable to the worst impacts of climate change—even though these same communities have done the least to contribute to it.

Play Video: How Climate Action Can Save Public Health | What the Earth, Episode 13 How does climate change impact public health? NRDC’s senior scientist Dr. Vijay Limaye explains how the climate crisis affects us all, whether you are worried about how much your utility bill will cost during a heat wave, experience displacement due to a flood, or live near an industrial facility that spews toxic air pollution. Where does the United States stand in terms of global-warming contributors? In recent years, China has taken the lead in global-warming pollution, producing about 26 percent of all CO2 emissions. The United States comes in second. Despite making up just 4 percent of the world’s population, our nation produces a sobering 13 percent of all global CO2 emissions—nearly as much as the European Union and India (third and fourth place) combined.

And America is still number one, by far, in cumulative emissions over the past 150 years. Given this outsize role in accelerating global warming, the United States must step up its financial commitments to bringing about a cleaner, safer, and more equitable future. (And even as the federal government is now retreating from its obligations under global climate agreements, these decisions can be reversed by future U.S. administrations.) Our responsibility matters to other countries, and it should matter to us, too.

Is the United States doing anything to prevent global warming? We’ve started. But in order to avoid the worsening effects of climate change, we need to do a lot more—together with other countries—to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels and transition to clean energy sources.

Under the first—and now, the second—administration of President Donald Trump, the United States withdrew from the Paris Agreement, rolled back or eliminated dozens of clean air protections, and opened up federally managed lands, including culturally sacred national monuments, to fossil fuel development. This climate-backpedaling represents a sharp U-turn from policies passed under the administration of President Joe Biden, such as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Justice40 Initiative.

Coupled with the work of the EPA to rein in the largest sources of climate pollution across the energy and transportation sectors, those initiatives brought us significantly closer to meeting our climate goals. Evidence has shown that the United States was on track to reduce its GHG emissions by 38 to 56 percent below 2005 levels in 2035, a significant increase from the pace of annual emissions abatement from 2005 to 2023. However, that progress is now uncertain.

Despite the lack of cooperation from the Trump administration, local and state governments have continued to make strides, including in clean transportation, community adaptation planning, and food waste reduction (a major source of greenhouse gases). Meanwhile, industry and business leaders continue to create and adopt new clean energy technologies and increase energy efficiency in buildings, appliances, and industrial processes. This public-private sector collaboration remains key to achieving our climate goals.

The trends of renewable energy uptake and clean transportation also continue around the world: Despite headwinds, investment in green power during the first half of 2025 increased by 10 percent from the previous year, and one out of every five cars sold globally was an electric vehicle. In the United States, these trends have also fueled record job growth—at the beginning of 2024, 3.4 million workers were employed in clean energy.

Is global warming too big a problem for me to help tackle? No! While we can’t win the fight with federal leaders who are actively thwarting climate action, the voices and actions of individuals who are willing to hold government and industry leaders to account and make changes in their daily habits continue to matter.

Wondering how you can be a part of the fight against global warming? Reduce your own carbon footprint by taking a few easy steps: Make conserving energy a part of your daily routine and your decisions as a consumer. From buying a car to shopping for basic staples like toilet paper, there are many ways to support sustainable products and help push companies to clean up their act. After all, corporations are incredibly influential as drivers of the global economy. It’s also critical to keep voicing your support of climate-friendly and climate change preparedness policies. Tell your representatives that equitably transitioning from dirty fossil fuels to clean power should be a top priority—because it’s vital to building healthy, more secure communities.

You don’t have to go it alone, either. Movements across the country are showing how climate action can build community, be led by those on the frontlines of its impacts, and create a future that’s equitable and just for all.