How is Climate Change Impacting YOUR State?
We know you’ve heard about climate change — increasing temperatures, rising sea levels, and melting glaciers — but bear in mind that these are global averages and changes are not uniform in every community. What do we mean? Sea level is expected to rise at least five feet in south Florida by 2050, but, at the same time, it’s falling along the southern coast of Alaska. Confusing? Absolutely. To help you better prioritize your preparation for climate impacts, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration released state climate summaries. Click on YOUR state to learn what future climate you should be preparing for now.
The Reality of Climate Change
If 97% of medical specialists told you that you have cancer, would you seek out the 3% to help you deny its existence? Likely not but if you did, those who care for you would move heaven and earth to get you to move quickly toward treatment, towards health, and a plan of care. 97% of climate scientists have diagnosed our planet Earth as in the throes of climate change. We ignored them and moved past Stage 1. Stage 2. Where are we now? It's time to look at the reality. In the video above Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) calmly outlines the challenging days and years ahead in a call for nonpartisan action.
As the Climate Changes, Risks to Human Health Will Accelerate, White House Warns
From frequent natural disasters to worsening air quality, climate change is bound to impact human health. On April 4, the White House released a new report detailing just what these impacts will be and how severely we will be affected. The report serves as a reminder of just how close to home the risks of climate change can be and how important it is to curb the effects while we can.
Warming up to Climate Change by Sean Cunningham
Warming Up to Climate Change
It’s here, it’s clear, get used to it
Better still, learn about it
Climate change and global warming are here. This double-barreled phenomenon has and will continue to have impacts on your everyday life - some good, some bad, some unpredictable. But climate change and global warming have indeed arrived.
Whether you are among those most likely to be affected - a climate scientist, environmentalist, public health worker, developer, insurance adjuster, ark builder or just your average man or woman on the street - you will be affected. In fact, you are realizing the impacts at this moment, never mind those your children will experience. But the process can sneak up on you. It’s like gaining those first few ounces that turn into pounds. So let’s be clear: this is not a call for future generations to be on the alert and see how these activities play out. Climate change and global warming are with us right now, and it is time for people to start learning about them and taking action. Temperatures are getting higher, storms are getting more severe in every season, and it is not your parents’ environment anymore.
by Arthur Mead, Jr.
“Blue About Sea Level Rise” - The face of Providence could be dramatically altered by rising sea level in the 21st century.
The goal of the Climate Change Collaborative is to help us all become better educated about the ups-and-downs that the years ahead hold for us, our families and our communities as the planet and its inhabitants evolve and adapt to this shifting scenario. Now “adapt” may sound like we’ll just to buy a bigger pair of pants to accommodate those extra climate pounds. It’s not quite that simple. Just as extra pounds can increase the risk of diabetes or heart disease, raise your blood pressure and shorten your lifespan, climate change can put some added risks in your life. And the corporate trick of increasing that 34” waistline to 38” and still calling the pants a 34 doesn’t change the reality.
Leading Voices on Climate Change: Naomi Klein, author
In her best-selling book, This Changes Everything, Klein investigates how climate change is big enough to change everything. But, we still have a very brief time to determine the nature of that change.
The materials and information on this Climate Change Collaborative web site can not only point out what you may expect to see in your backyard, regionally, and around the world, but provides steps you can take — personally and/or professionally — to successfully cope with the challenges ahead, all the while explaining how they occur. C’mon, get the jump on the ounces before they become pounds. Nobody — no country, for that matter — wants to be “the biggest loser” when it comes to climate change.
"Often times when you face such an overwhelming challenge as global climate change, it can be somewhat daunting — it’s kind of like trying to lose weight, which I know something about." - Hillary Clinton
Leading Voices on Climate Change
Time to Wake Up: Why Don't We Care?
Is Climate Change Real?
When it comes to climate change, controversy remains where there should be none. One of the biggest challenges we face is that many members of the general public avoid, discount or ignore the overwhelming scientific evidence. Yes, that’s you and me or our neighbors and friends. A major element in the Climate Change Collaborative’s overall approach is to help people understand and accept what the vast majority of the world’s best scientists have come to unequivocal agreement upon: that these impacts will occur over you and your children’s life spans and beyond.
While all of the topic areas featured have relevance to you wherever you live or work, the Climate Change Collaborative has taken special note of the effects climate change and global warming will have on Rhode Island. But wherever you call home, whatever language you speak, whatever your education or socioeconomic status, climate change and global warming is an equal opportunity event.
“I’ve heard some folks try to dodge the evidence by saying they’re not scientists; that we don’t have enough information to act. Well, I’m not a scientist, either. But you know what — I know a lot of really good scientists at NASA, and NOAA, and at our major universities. The best scientists in the world are all telling us that our activities are changing the climate.”
- President Barack Obama,
2015 State of the Union Address
Hot Topics & Upcoming Events
Splitting of the Polar Vortex: The Arctic Is Melting in the Dead of Winter
The atmospheric barrier that usually traps cold air around the Arctic has been letting warm air in, making temperatures not much colder than they are now in Rhode Island. Forbes
2017 Was the Hottest Year on Record Without an El Niño, Thanks to Global Warming
It was the second hottest year on record overall, and the only hotter one included the short-term warming El Niño events bring. The Guardian
Hurricanes, Wildfires Made 2017 the Most Costly U.S. Disaster Year on Record
Extreme weather events, which are often influenced by climate change, caused record-breaking amounts of expensive damage. Washington Post
The major scientific agencies of the United States — including NASA and NOAA — agree that climate change is occurring and that humans are contributing to it.
Many places have experienced changes in rainfall resulting in more intense rain, as well as more frequent and severe heat waves.
The planet’s oceans and glaciers have also experienced changes: oceans are warming and becoming more acidic, ice caps are melting, and sea levels are rising. All of these changes are evidence that our world is getting warmer.