Body
WHEREAS, the decade from 2000 to 2010 was the warmest on record, and 2005 and 2010 tied for the hottest years on record; and,
WHEREAS, the current level of CO2 in the atmosphere is approximately 392 parts per million (ppm); and,
WHEREAS, one of the world's leading climate scientists, Dr. James Hansen, stated in 2008: “If humanity wishes to preserve a planet similar to that one which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted, paleoclimate evidence and climate change suggest that CO2 will need to be reduced from its current 385 ppm to at most 350 ppm”; and,
WHEREAS, according to the Global Humanitarian Forum, climate change is already responsible every year for some 300,000 deaths, 325 million people seriously affected, and economic losses worldwide of U.S. $125 billion; and,
WHEREAS, extreme weather events are striking with increased frequency, with deadly consequences for people and wildlife, in the United States alone:
· 2005 had the most hurricanes on record since 1851;
· Blizzards plagued the Northeast during the winter of 2011;
· Intense rainfall and snowmelt forced the Mississippi River to overflow its banks across the Midwest and South in summer 2011;
· The unprecedented 2011 Texas drought lead the U.S. Department of Agriculture to declare the entire state a natural disaster zone;
· Heat waves scorched the Midwest and East in summer 2011, with many cities hitting record-high temperatures and for example, Oklahoma on pace to break its record for days over 100 degrees; and,
WHEREAS, climate change is threatening food security as crop growth and yields diminish and droughts, floods, and changes in snowpack depth are disrupting water supplies; and,
WHEREAS, scientists have concluded that by 2100 as many as one in ten species may be on the verge of extinction due to climate change; and,
WHEREAS, the world's ice is rapidly melting, threatening water supplies, raising sea levels, and jeopardizing ice-depen...
Click here for full text