Temperatures in Northeast U.S. Heating Up at Record Pace
It’s no secret that climate change is heating up the globe, but a recent study conducted by researchers at the Northeast Climate Science Center (NECSC) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst warns it’s happening faster than many realize in certain parts of the country. In January 2017, NECSC postdoctoral researcher Ambarish Karmalkar and geosciences professor Raymond Bradley, revealed results of their study highlighting climate change across the U.S.
Northeast U.S. Has Fastest-Rising Temperatures in Contiguous U.S.
The pair’s research indicates temperatures across the northeastern U.S. will outpace the global average. Therefore, the 2-degrees Celsius warming target set by the Paris Agreement on climate change would go into effect roughly 20 years earlier in certain U.S. regions than other parts of the globe.
“With the signing of the Paris Agreement to try and limit greenhouse gas emissions, many people have been lulled into a false sense of security, thinking that the 2-degrees C target is somehow a ‘safe’ limit for climate change,” said Bradley in an interview with PLOS One. “But the 2 C number is a global average, and many regions will warm more, and warm more rapidly, than the earth as a whole. Our study shows that the northeast United States is one of those regions where warming will proceed very rapidly, so that if and when the global target is reached, we will already be experiencing much higher temperatures, with all of the related ecological, hydrological, and agricultural consequences.”
Trump Exits Paris Agreement
President Trump has announced that the U.S. will withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement. In the push to combat climate change, this move pins the U.S. against nearly every other country on the planet. Syria and Nicaragua are the only other two countries not part of the climate agreement.
When announcing his decision, Trump declared “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.” This remark didn’t sit well with Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto. He spoke out against the president’s decision, assuring the public the Steel City will continue to follow the guidelines of the Paris Agreement, and will work to have 100% clean and renewable energy by 2035.
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