Global Warming is Here: An increase in pollution (known as greenhouse gases) has led to an unexpected and significant increase in the Earth’s average surface temperature. Hundreds of scientific experts, including those appointed by the United Nations to serve on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), have determined with even more certainty that our burning of fossil fuels (coal, oil and gas), over the past 250 years has led to higher temperatures. In fact, the warm temperatures of the last half century have not been seen for at least the previous 1,300 years. If greenhouse gases are not significantly abated, temperatures will continue to rise at an even more rapid rate.
More Pollution will have Devastating Impacts: If unchecked, global warming will radically change the character of New York. Human influence on the climate has already changed regional temperature, causing “discernible impacts on many physical and biological systems”. If emissions are not reduced, summers in New York State will feel like those in South Carolina or Georgia today. More specifically, the number of days over 100°F will dramatically rise in New York’s urban areas. Sea-levels will rise along New York’s highly vulnerable coast, affecting ecosystems, homeowners and businesses along the coast of Long Island, New York City and the Hudson River up to Albany. In fact, severe weather events in the New York City metropolitan area will cost tens to hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure damages alone. This is at least partly because many of the entrances to the area’s bridges, tunnels and subways are less than six feet above current sea-level.
Need for Federal Action: As a world leader, the Unites States must set mandatory global warming pollution limits. The nation emits about 25 percent of the world’s global warming pollution, but has less than 5 percent of the world’s population. Despite overwhelming scientific evidence and strong public support for mitigating our impact, the federal government has been unable or unwilling to set mandatory standards on the nation's top global warming polluters to date. That is beginning to change.
States are Stepping in: A number of states are acting because the federal government has failed. California was the first state to pass a law capping global warming pollution; Florida, Minnesota, and New Jersey have their own limits for major sources of global warming pollution. During the 2008 state legislation session, the New York Assembly passed legislation implementing the IPCC’s recommendation of cutting greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. There is substantial support in the New York Senate for this legislation (Democratic Bill and Republican Bill). NYPIRG is working to get this bill enacted into law.
In addition to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, NYPIRG has fought for other measures to reduce the threat posed by global warming. California, New York and other states are fighting for their continued right to regulate cars’ and trucks’ greenhouse gas emissions. Also, through the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, New York and nine other regional states agreed to cap carbon dioxide emissions (the predominant greenhouse gas) from power plants.
Main Energy Page | Fighting Global Warming | Clean and Green Energy Sources | Curbing Energy Costs
