The Ohio Public Interest Research Group has just published a new report showing this summer's heat wave is part of a broader trend of rising temperatures in Ohio. Using government climate records, the report found the average temperature in Cleveland is up 1.4 degrees since 2000. That may not sound like much, but scientists say it's a clear link to global warming and the impacts of climate change that are already being felt. Physicist Phillip Taylor of Case Western Reserve University worries that if the U.S. doesn't take action soon, cities like Cleveland could suffer economic consequences.
Phillip Taylor: We could see industries that are based on fossil fuels become fossil themselves. Empty shells existing like dinosaur bones as a relic that didn't adapt to the changes that climate change is bringing.
Ohio PRIG is urging Cleveland Congresswoman Stephanie Tubbs-Jones and other Ohio delegates who have yet to take a position to back the Safe Climate Act introduced in Congress this summer. Karen Schaefer, 90.3.