Climate Change ….
How It Affects Chicago

Have you noticed?  Our climate is changing.  Earth is already a different place than it was just 100 years ago.  According to a recent report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, if we carry on with “business as usual”, toward the end of the century Chicago can expect:

• Every summer in Illinois to be hotter than 1983—the hottest summer during the historical baseline.

• More than 70 days per summer with highs over 90 degrees Fahrenheit (°F) and a month of days with highs over 100°F.

• At least two heat waves per summer like the one that killed hundreds in Chicago in 1995, and one heat wave every other summer like the even deadlier European heat wave of 2003.

• Deteriorating air quality, as hotter weather causes more severe smog problems (assuming similar levels of tailpipe and smokestack emissions). This would have serious consequences for public health, including a greater incidence of asthma attacks and other respiratory conditions.

With “business as usual” Chicago will experience more killer heat waves

Fisk and Crawford coal plants are Chicago’s two largest stationary sources of global warming pollution.  They emit as much carbon dixode each year as that which comes from the tailpipes of nearly 875,000 automobiles!   There are solutions – Cleaning up these two plants would reduce their greenhouse gas pollution by 50% within a three- to four-year time frame.

Don’t sit this one out.  Ask your Alderman to support the Chicago Clean Power Ordinance that will both reduce particulate matter and carbon dioxide emissions.  Scientists tell us our window to take meaningful action is closing.