The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change finds that "The poorest segments of societies are most vulnerable to climate change." Thus reducing the magnitude of climate change is integral to caring for the world's poor.

A more recent study published in January 2015 in the journal Nature found that the rate of sea level rise is actually increasing, from less than half and inch per decade from 1900-1990 to 1.2 inches per decade since 1990.

Land areas are warming faster than oceans because of the larger capacity for water to absorb heat (IPCC AR5 Summary for Policy Makers http://www.ipcc.ch/pdf/assessment-report/ar5/wg1/WG1AR5_SPM_FINAL.pdf)

"The proportion of corals threatened with extinction has increased dramatically in recent decades and exceeds that of most terrestrial groups." Carpenter et al., Science, 2008

Alternative energies are not necessarily economically inferior: http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/11/24/renewable-energy-starts-win-price/1qaykTeSKnfZSf5UZoLwfN/story.html

In 2014 the extent of Arctic sea ice was larger than the minimum in 2006 but still 243,000 square miles less than the 1981-2000 average. This timeseries figure from the National Snow and Ice Data Center (http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/) shows that although there is year-to-year variability, the long term trend in sea ice extent is decreasing.

Although "natural" changes in solar irradiance can account for some of the warming since the Little Ice Age (Lean and Rind 1999, http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364682698001138 and Crowley 2000 http://www.sciencemag.org/content/289/5477/270.short), Crowley states that "the greenhouse effect has already established itself above the level of natural variability in the climate system" and Lean and Rind state that "while solar variability likely played a dominant role in modulating climate during the Little Ice Age prior to 1850, its influence since 1900 has become an increasingly less significant component of climate change in the industrial epoch. It is unlikely that Sun–climate relationships can account for much of the warming since 1970."

" 81 percent of Americans think global warming poses a serious problem in the United States. In addition, 81 percent think the federal government should limit the amount of greenhouse gases that American businesses can emit." Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/world/asia/in-climate-deal-with-china-obama-may-set-theme-for-2016.html?smprod=nytcore-ipad&smid=nytcore-ipad-share

Sheldon Whitehouse is a senator from Rhode Island, not New Hampshire

Global climate models have difficulty accurately characterizing variability in the tropical Pacific (Jin et al. Climate Dynamics, 2008 http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00382-008-0397-3), so if increased tradewinds in this region are the source of the warming hiatus, it is not surprising that global climate models have not accurately predicted it. This points to the need for a better representation of the tropical Pacific in global climate models, but does not indicate that warming due to greenhouse gases has ceased to be a problem.

This is not the first observed hiatus in warming: "A pause in surface warming in the mid-20th century coincided with increases in the atmospheric concentrations of sulfate aerosols, which are generally understood to cool the planet" (Clement and DiNezio, Science, 2014). Two recent studies point to decadal-scale natural variability in the tropical Pacific as a source of the recent hiatus: stronger trade winds expose more cool subsurface water, which is able to absorb more heat from the atmosphere (Kosaka et al., Nature, 2013 and Meehl et al., Journal of Climate, 2013).

The word counteract implies a logical connection between natural influences and human influences, which may not be the case at all.

In a study comparing human impacts and natural impacts on climate over the 20th century, Wigley and Santer write that "Our results show that the expected warming due to all human influences since 1950 (including aerosol effects) is very similar to the observed warming. Including the effects of natural external forcing factors has a relatively small impact on our 1950–2005 results..." in "A probabilistic quantification of the anthropogenic component of twentieth century global warming," (Climate Dynamics, 2013).

This is based on a single decade of relatively low temperatures and is not necessarily a good representation of ECS for the multidecadal timescales over which climate change is a concern.

Taking into account increased heat stress, only C3 plants increase their photosynthesis under increased CO2 conditions.("A meta-analysis of plant physiological and growth responses to temperature and elevated CO2", Wang et. al., Oecologica 2012) When subjected to heat stress, C4 plants have a net reduction in photosynthesis. In addition according to a 2013 World Bank synthesis report, "The vulnerability of the agricultural sector to both climate change and variability is well established in the literature. The general consensus is that changes in temperature and precipitation will result in changes in land and water regimes that will subsequently affect agricultural productivity. Research has also shown that specifically in tropical regions, with many of the poorest countries, impacts on agricultural productivity are expected to be particularly harmful.(https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/16616)

The AR5 SPM states, "Risks of global aggregate impacts are moderate for additional warming between 1-2°C, reflecting impacts to both Earth’s biodiversity and the overall global economy (medium confidence)." The statement in the article is not consistent with the AR5 statement. In addition, "Climate-change-related risks from extreme events, such as heat waves, extreme precipitation, and coastal flooding, are already moderate (high confidence) and high with 1°C additional warming (medium confidence)." "With increasing warming, some physical systems or ecosystems may be at risk of abrupt and irreversible changes. Risks associated with such tipping points become moderate between 0 - 1°C additional warming, due to early warning signs that both warm-water coral reef and Arctic ecosystems are already experiencing irreversible regime shifts (medium confidence)."

Although there is a downward shift in the temperature rise projections, sea level rise predictions have increased from AR4 to AR5.

In the AR5, "extremely likely" signifies a 95-100% probability. In both reports, "very likely" signifies a 90-100% probability. In AR5, "likely" signifies a 66-100% probability. Thus AR5 assigns a 66-100% probability that ECS is greater than 1.5C, and AR4 assigns this a 90-100% probability.

"Next several generations" is not a specific timeperiod, but we can assume this refers to the period of present-2100. The AR5 Summary for Policymakers (SPM) finds moderate risk of global aggregate impacts for the 1-2C temperature rise possible before 2100. Impacts will accelerate with increasing temperature.