By Conrad Swanson, Seattle Times

The trend is clear: Earth is warming because of our longstanding reliance on fossil fuels.

As our cars, buildings, refineries, large industries and power plants burn fossil fuels, emitting harmful and noxious greenhouse gases, the planet will continue to warm, according to the federal government’s latest National Climate Assessment, published last week.

Like the rest of the world, the Northwest is at risk. Washington, Oregon and Idaho are home to some 14 million people and 43 Native American tribes. The region is already experiencing climate change and more will come in the decades ahead, the state’s climatologist and one of the report’s authors told The Seattle Times.

But the region is not without influence or options.

In the coming years, polar ice caps will melt, sea levels will rise and weather disasters like wildfires and floods will become more common and intense, the report says. Food sources are at risk, and so is the stability of the global economy as well as the longevity — and even the quality — of our lives.

These changes won’t happen overnight, Washington state climatologist Nick Bond said. You might not notice them every day, every month or even every year. But they are happening, and the poorest among us, in communities of color and rural areas, are likely to suffer the worst.

“Climate change is inexorable,” Bond said.

States like Washington are scrambling to cut greenhouse gas emissions as quickly and painlessly as possible, with mixed degrees of success and local opposition. Others resist the change or even lay the groundwork for the continued reliance on the fossil fuels that have brought us to this point.

The faster the U.S. and the rest of the world cuts emissions, the quicker the risks diminish, the report says. The immediate benefit — and the benefit to future generations — will “far outweigh” the costs those changes would impose.

We still have time to shape our future, for better or for worse.

“Although the window is narrowing, it’s still open,” said Deepti Singh, a climate scientist with Washington State University and one of the assessment’s many authors.

The federal climate assessments, published about every five years, contain information compiled by hundreds of scientists and experts looking to explain the effects of climate change on the U.S. and examine what the future might hold.

Here are five things to know about the Northwest from the latest National Climate Assessment: