National Wildlife Federation, Harvard, NAACP, and the Apollo Alliance hosted a Congressional briefing to highlight the following issues:

Global warming is making hot days hotter, rainfall and flooding heavier, storms stronger, and droughts more severe. These will be the most visible impacts of global warming in our everyday lives and will have grave implications for public health and social justice. With global warming pushing these extremes beyond their historical limits, we can no longer plan for the future based on past climate conditions.

We are already seeing these impacts across the nation. The long-term warming trend is undeniable: according to NASA, the ten warmest years on record globally all occurred within the 12-year period 1997-2008. Weather and climate disasters are becoming more common and more expensive in the United States. In the 1980s a billion-dollar weather disaster was relatively rare. The last decade has seen multiple billion-dollar disasters each year.

Some people are more vulnerable than others to intensifying weather and climate extremes. Underserved communities and people who are old, young, or already sick are at greatest risk.

Read the Full Report: More Extreme Weather: Global Warming's Wake Up Call -- Implications for Public Health and Social Justice (2009) (983 Kb, PDF help)

Do your part to help reduce global warming by taking the Good Neighbor Pledge today. Help cool the planet one home at a time!