On Monday, 31 senators spent an all-night session on the chamber floor to spotlight the issue of climate change. Led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, these senators used a sleepless night to talk about why the rest of Congress needs to wake up to the reality of climate change.
“The cost of Congress’ inaction on climate change is too high for our communities, our kids and grandkids, and our economy,” Senator Whitehouse
Here are 10 climate change wake-up calls:
- Climate change gets us hot under the collar, making people around the globe more aggressive.
- More hot days mean ripe conditions for ground-level ozone, or smog, which forms when pollutants from tailpipes and smokestacks mix in sunny, stagnant conditions.
- With an average temperature of 77.6 degrees F in the contiguous U.S., the month of July surpassed the 20th century average by 3.3 degrees F and 2012 was the 10th hottest year ever.
- Despite the fact that 97 percent of scientists agree that climate change is real, this legislator insists that it is “not science” and that environmentalists are missing the potential upsides.
- Children, pregnant women, and the elderly are particularly vulnerable to heat because their bodies are not as good at regulating internal temperatures. Heat makes them sicker.
- Smog triggers asthma attacks and worsens other breathing problems. The number of Americans with asthma has more than doubled over the past two decades to 20 million. Continued warming will only worsen the problem.
- Children around the world are “deeply” concerned about climate change.
- The health effect from extreme weather events caused by climate change contribute to mental health impacts such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
- These 7 surprising climate change deniers think global warming is more an inconvenience than a truth.
- Our children will not forgive our inaction on climate change.
Hot enough for you? Arm yourself with the facts about climate change.
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