Thank you for publishing The Associated Press story "Less snow, in really big doses," Feb. 19, bringing attention to the increasing severity of storms due to global warming. It's more clear than ever that global warming is fueling extreme weather.
Global warming doesn't just mean stronger snowstorms, it also means more frequent and severe hurricanes and flooding. New Yorkers have recently seen how such storms can impact our economy and threaten our safety; tropical storms Lee and Irene and Superstorm Sandy devastated our state. In Environment New York's report, "When It Rains, It Pours: Global Warming and the Increase in Extreme Precipitation from 1948 to 2011," we showed the biggest storms are getting bigger and it's almost impossible to attribute this trend to anything but global warming. What used to be the "storm of the year" 60 years ago is now happening on average every seven months. New York's largest storms are also more intense and severe; they produce an average of 25 percent more precipitation than they did in 1948, causing more catastrophic flooding.
It's clear global warming is real, and it's already having devastating effects. These effects will only grow worse until we cut the pollution that is fueling climate change.
Thankfully, we have clean energy solutions at our fingertips. What we need now is for our elected officials to put these solutions to work. President Barack Obama has the opportunity to set up the first-ever federal carbon pollution limits for new and existing power plants. I urge him to move ahead with these much-needed standards, so we can address the dangerous effects global warming is already having, as well as those predicted to unfold in the future.
Eric Whalen
Field organizer, Environment New York
New York City