Dear Donald Trump, It was Sixty Degrees in New York Yesterday
Dear Donald Trump,
In New York City yesterday, December 27th, the high temperature was sixty degrees. Not sixteen, but sixty. That is sixty degrees Fahrenheit. Which leads me to ask you, sir: how could you possibly be denying climate change?
Your immediate response is likely to identify such an occurrence simply as an anomaly. Or perhaps you might disregard it entirely. Yet this is not an anomaly, but rather a recurring topic that warrants more than ample attention.
Yesterday’s high temperature matched the record for the highest temperature observed on December 27th. Moreover, it was twenty-one degrees above the average temperature on December 27th. December, as a whole, has also been above average in regards to high and low temperatures. The year 2016 is set to be the hottest on record, becoming the third consecutive record-warm year in a row.
Changes in weather patterns and extreme temperature conditions are a consequence of increased concentrations of greenhouse gases--the product of human activities and the cause of recent global warming. Occurrences of record temperatures have become increasingly more common recently. In the decade of 2000 to 2009, there were twice as many record highs as record lows. Yesterday’s record-tying temperature is simply more evidence of the terrifying effects of climate change to the planet.
By neglecting these ominous occurrences, you allow for them to happen more often and with greater intensity in the near future. Extreme weather conditions, like yesterday’s, will only become more frequent. Drastic changes in weather patterns will also continue to increase. Other alarming consequences of global warming will also continue to increase from their current condition today. Already, global warming causes around 150,000 deaths and 5 million illnesses per year, but this number is expected to increase. Looking even further forward, over 250 million people could be displaced from their homes by the year 2050 due to disasters related to climate change. Global warming also will cause a severe economic hit, as the increase in frequency and intensity of natural disasters caused by climate change will result in billions of dollars needed to repair damages. On a more personal note to you, your hometown of Manhattan, along with many other populated coastal cities, could be completely submerged under water in the next century due to rising sea levels from the melting of polar ice caps. As if this weren’t terrifying enough, scientists predict that if global warming were to continue to increase at its expected rate, Earth could possibly be uninhabitable in the next two to three centuries.
To combat and prevent such frightening disasters from occurring, proper policies and legislation must be implemented. Unfortunately, Mr. Trump, your policies towards the topic of global warming are shocking and, frankly, insane. Your proposed policy of dismantling the EPA in “almost every form” is ludicrous. Appointing Myron Ebell, a man who has been dubbed as a climate contrarian and a climate change denier, is just as ridiculous. Your promise to “cancel” last year’s Paris climate agreement--a pact between 190 countries that announces their commitment to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, which warm the planet through the trapping of heat--and your plan to disassemble the domestic regulations brought on by the Obama Administration's Clean Power Plan is also preposterous. Finally, your denial of global warming is shocking and absurd; according to NASA, at least 97% of actively-publishing climate scientists believe that human activities are very likely to be driving climate change. By dismissing climate change and not taking the necessary steps to hinder global warming, you are putting people across the globe at a great risk; the U.S. is second on the list in greenhouse gas emissions, and without its commitment to reducing emissions, many other countries will not commit themselves. As a result, global warming will continue at its current rate, and the consequences that we fear will soon become a harsh reality.
Mr. Trump, yesterday’s extreme temperature was not an anomaly, and global warming is most certainly not a “hoax.” No, global warming was not “created by the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive.” These notions, along with your proposed policies that confirm your negligence towards climate change, are senseless. Through these beliefs and policies, you put the lives of Americans and people all across the world at risk. It is time for you, sir, to face the facts, acknowledge them, and use them make this planet great again.
Sincerely,
Zain Jafar
