Northeast Summer Suffers from Climate Change

Global warming may force me to move from the Northeast if the current weather patterns continue. The average July temperature for Suffolk County is about 83 degrees Fahrenheit with a low of 65 degrees Fahrenheit. Unfortunately, we have been cooler across the board. Here in the northeast we need our warm summers to offset the long winter but so far the warmth is failing to materialize with certainty; we get glimpses but then it disappears. We have just experienced the wettest June on record. Now, it is overcast and cool, 64 degrees during what should be a lovely summer afternoon but instead the temperature is dropping. I have had goosebumps for the last 2 days. A couple of days ago there was snow, sleet and hail in Yonkers, one hour west and just north of New York City. They had to bring out the snow plows and they are still without power. This may not sound like global warming but it is.

Many are quick to dismiss global warming because they fail to understand that global warming creates adverse weather conditions not necessarily warmer weather conditions. Scientists agree that climate change has accelerated over the past century. The surface temperature of the earth has risen .75 degree Celsius/Centigrade (the equivalent of 1.35 degree Fahrenheit - the rest of the world uses the decimal system) since 1900. Prior to 1900 is the time period commonly referred to as pre-industrial climate levels. Industry since 1900 has created greenhouse gasses/dangerous emissions that are causing the earth's surface temperature to rise at a rapid rate. Consider that it normally takes millions of years to reach a one degree Centigrade increase.

The world's scientists are pretty much in agreement that a cap in emissions is necessary to stem the warming trend. Right now the G8 economic summit is underway and leaders of the world's most powerful economies, those who incidentally have experienced their industrial revolutions, are trying to come to terms with the issue of climate change. They are willing to put a cap on emissions to result in no more than a two degree Celsius rise above pre-industrial levels by the end of the 21st century.

Developing nations are reluctant to agree to these caps because they are just now experiencing their industrial revolutions and want to continue unfettered so that they might become the next great world economies. Is that really so wrong? Well, unfortunately, those who come late to the table, even through no fault of their own, have to eat the crumbs; a lesson that we sometimes don't even deserve to learn. It has become increasingly apparent that we all have to adjust our thinking across many fronts.

While we may have been screaming for reforms on a myriad of issues affecting every aspect of our world, we have now reached critical mass in many areas meaning much of the business-as-usual thinking has to change, reluctant as we may be to do so. Perhaps I should take note. I declare that no matter how fantastic New York is and how beautiful Long Island is, if this cold starts to continue year round, I will have to seek warmer climes.