Global Warming Solutions News Releases

As Hurricane Sandy and its aftermath prompt more Pennsylvanians to call for action to tackle global warming and the rise in extreme weather, PennEnvironment released a new report today that shows that Pennsylvania’s current power generation from wind energy displaces as much global warming pollution as taking 218,000 cars off the road per year.

Ten months after Tropical Storm Lee led to record flooding that devastated the Susquehanna Valley, a new PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center report confirms that extreme rainstorms and snowstorms are happening 52 percent more frequently in Pennsylvania since 1948. Based on an analysis of state data from the National Climatic Data Center, the new report found that heavy downpours or snowstorms that used to happen once every 12 months on average in the state now happen every 7.9 months on average.  Moreover, the biggest storms are getting bigger.  The largest annual storms in Pennsylvania now produce 23 percent more precipitation, on average, than they did 65 years ago.

As Pennsylvanians get ready for summer road trips, a PennEnvironment Research & Policy Center report finds that cleaner, more fuel efficient cars would significantly slash oil consumption and global warming pollution across the state. The report, Summer on the Road: Going Farther on a Gallon of Gas, was released as the Obama administration is on the verge of finalizing fuel efficiency and global warming pollution standards for cars and light trucks that achieve a 54.5 mpg standard by 2025.

After a year that saw many parts of hit by severe storms and record flooding, a new PennEnvironment report documents how global warming could lead to certain extreme weather events becoming even more common or more severe in the future.   The report found that, already, more than 9 out of 10 Pennsylvanians live in counties affected by federally declared weather-related disasters since 2006.