Support 100% Clean Energy for Pennsylvania

From PennEnvironment (http://www.pennenvironment.org):

Summer is in full swing here in Pennsylvania, which should mean getting out and enjoying the sunshine. But over the last few weeks, extreme heat waves, flash floods, and some of the worst air quality we’ve seen in years have put a damper on summer fun.

As our climate warms, trends of record-breaking extreme weather like this have slowly but surely become the new normal.¹ If we want to keep our communities safe from more frequent and severe downpours and unbearably smoggy summer days, we need strong action to address global warming—and that means moving from climate-changing fossil fuels to 100% renewable energy. Tell Pennsylvania’s leaders to get serious about protecting communities from devastating summer weather and support a safer energy future for our climate at https://pennenvironment.webaction.org/p/dia/action4/common/public/?action_KEY=27588.

The science has been settled for decades, but the toll on our neighborhoods and quality of life becomes clearer every year. Already this summer:

• Spiking temperatures contributed to smoggy skies and the second string of days-long code orange air quality alerts in a month in cities throughout Pennsylvania. That’s forced children, people with asthma, and seniors to take extreme caution and stay inside for days.²
• Line after line of intense storms slammed Pittsburgh’s North Hills last week and caused the worst flooding the borough of Millvale has seen in over a decade.³
• Six consecutive days of temperatures over 90 degrees baked Philadelphia, causing one death in the city. That same heat wave killed 70 people in Quebec.^{4 5}

We know what needs to happen to stop the increase in extreme weather—we need to move away from dirty energy that’s fueling climate change and embrace 100% renewables as soon as possible. Here in Pennsylvania, our leaders have a choice: grab the opportunity to be national leaders in the transition to renewable energy, or let our state stand as an example of what can happen if we fail to act.

Let your legislators know you want them to protect our communities from the disastrous impacts of global warming and support 100% clean energy. Let’s make sure we can keep summers safe from the threat of climate change.

1. Ryan Deto, “As climate warms, expect more Pittsburgh power outages during the hottest days,” Pittsburgh City Paper, July 6, 2018.
2. Daniel Urie, “Code orange air quality alert issued for several central Pa. counties,” PennLive.com, June 29, 2018.
3. Jacob Tierney and Theresa Clift, “Heavy rain, flooding wallop Pittsburgh’s North Hills,” Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, July 5, 2018.
4. Anthony R. Wood, “Philadelphia reports first heat wave death in two years; flood watch in effect,” The Inquirer,  July 5, 2018.
5. Vanessa Romo, “Estimated 70 Deaths Linked To Canada’s Heat Wave,” NPR, July 10, 2018.