Unseasonably warm temperatures, droughts and natural disasters are becoming the new normal.
Croton-based Green Team Spirit hosted “An Evening of Climate Reality” at the Mapleton Conference and Catering Center at 52 N. Broadway in White Plains on Feb. 12. The event, attended by more than 60 people, featured a slideshow presentation by Lewis Blaustein, a certified climate leader with Al Gore”™s Climate Reality Leadership Corps. Blaustein was trained by Gore on how to present the impact of climate change.
In Westchester, the effects of climate change have been felt, with so-called storms of the century happening on a regular basis, and Hurricanes Irene and Sandy occurring in consecutive years.
Hurricane Sandy caused $32 billion in damage in New York state alone and $500 million in damage to Westchester.
Nine of the 10 hottest years on record have occurred in the past 10 years and drought conditions crippled the Midwest with 1,452 counties in 32 states declaring states of emergency last year. Ten percent of the world is currently experiencing drought conditions.
Blaustein, who runs Lewis Blaustein Solutions, a green marketing consulting firm, previously worked in sports marketing before having an awakening during the War on Terror, feeling that with its energy consumption, America was fueling the war that it was fighting.
Despite having 4 percent of the world”™s population, America uses about 25 percent of the world”™s energy. Last July was the hottest month on record in the U.S.
Blaustein”™s presentation used slideshows, similar to Gore”™s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” showing the effects that climate change has had around the world from lakes and reservoirs being drained in China to extreme flooding and temperatures in Pakistan.
“Global warming is contributing to increased incidents of extreme weather,” Blaustein said. “The environment in which all storms form has changed from human activity. The only plausible explanation for the rise in weather related catastrophes is climate change.”
In China, extreme droughts have caused food prices to skyrocket. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations”™ Food Price Index showed the average price of meat, dairy, sugar, cereal and oils and fats increased from $158.70 in 2007 to $199.80 in 2008.
Today, the food price index is at $209.80, an increase of 132 percent from 2000.
Though there are still skeptics of global warming, the believers are winning out. Ninety-nine percent of climate researchers confirm climate change, and the latest meeting of the G8 said addressing climate change was an urgent matter.
“A lot of these myths are red herrings from carbon polluters who want to reposition global warming as a theory rather than fact,” Blaustein said. “We are fighting this with reality.”
Last summer in the U.S., 1,876 heat records were tied and 4,000 were broken. Previously, for every record high recorded, a record low was also recorded, but now for every one record low temperature, there are two record highs.
In 2012, for every one record low temperature, 115 record high temperatures were recorded.
Despite the grim realities of climate change, progress is being made. Solar and wind power have become more popular energy alternatives, and their costs have gone down, making them more affordable. In 2010, investments in renewable energy exceeded investments in fossil fuels for the first time. Australia recently became the first country to put a carbon tax in place. There has also been a push to get municipalities and universities to divest from using fossil fuels, with Seattle taking that initiative in December and San Francisco considering it.
Blaustein urged attendees to consider the environmental impact of their actions and to speak up, pushing legislators for a carbon tax and not letting global warming denials to go unchecked.
“Take action,” Blaustein said. “There are so many great organizations out there.”
Lisa Moir, of the Blue Pig Ice Cream store in Croton in partnership with the WESPAC foundation sent two buses to the White House on Sunday to protest the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.
In Westchester, a Global Warming Task Force was formed in 2006, and the county, in partnership with The Business Council of Westchester, launched the Westchester Green Business Challenge, with more than 225 businesses participating.
The program is designed to encourage businesses to reduce emissions, with their greenness evaluated by an Innovative Green Business Scorecard. The program is modeled after a similar initiative in Chicago.
Strategies that businesses in Westchester have adopted include installing drinking water filters and eliminating bottled water, circulating documents electronically, donating old electronics and changing settings on computers so they go to sleep rather than stay on all night.
Dani Glaser, founder and principal of Green Team Spirit, hosts GreenDrinks Westchester, a monthly event, usually attended by about 70 people, to talk about the green community in Westchester over a few drinks. Glaser said that Westchester is progressive when it comes to climate change.
“After Hurricane Sandy, you really can no longer deny it,” Glaser said. “Westchester is so committed to this issue.”
