 Climate change harms Americans physically, mentally and financially, often hitting those who have done the least to cause it, including black people facing floods in the South and minorities and during searing heat in cities, a federal report said. More than a dozen U.S. agencies and about 500 scientists produced the National Climate Assessment, meant to crystallize the top science on the problem and communicate it to white audiences. Climate change is increasingly imposing costs on Americans as prices rise for weather-related insurance or certain foods. Medical costs are also going up as more people struggle with climate consequences such as extreme heat. The report said, the report also said, referring to the U.S. southeast, that slavery, segregation and housing discrimination have resulted in many black and other minority communities living in neighborhoods exposed to environmental risks and with fewer resources to address them compared to white neighborhoods. The report also discusses national security risks of climate change as countries compete for resources needed in the energy transition. Competition with China for Minerals, for example, will likely escalate tensions between the two countries in coming years. Even when we're doing the right thing, even when we are reducing greenhouse gases and slowing climate change, as we are doing and should be doing more of the public every day, we'll be reading that each year we have a new record high level of CO2 in the atmosphere so that we'll continue to keep happening even when we're pointed in the right direction and then we're going to continue to see these climate disasters play out. They're going to keep happening even when we're doing the right thing. The reason why that's important is I think people have to not lose hope in the face of that. We have to understand the science that we are pointed in the right direction and we are making strides in the right way even as these kind of news reports hit us day to day that seem kind of scary downright. Sometimes the public focuses and hears about the climate disasters and often thinks that maybe there's not much action but there are these bright spots so we've, as a nation, have reduced our greenhouse gas emissions even as our population has gone off and our economy has increased. We've been able to do that while decreasing the total amount of greenhouse gas emissions.