To anyone who still believes that climate change is an elaborate hoax, look no further than what’s transpired in much of the northeastern United States recently. On Friday, many cities in the region recorded their highest temperatures ever for the month of February, NPR reports. Instead of the usual wind and snow that characterize this time of year, temperatures rose into the 70s, giving way to the kind of warm weather usually associated with summer.
On Saturday, Boston experienced its third straight day of record-breaking temperatures, the Boston Globe reports. Other cities that enjoyed an early taste of summer included Pittsburgh, New York, Washington D.C., Chicago, and Hartford. Even Toronto, a city known for its frigid winter months, set an all time February high on Thursday.
Though the record temperatures may feel good in the moment—after all, who doesn’t want to do some outdoor day drinking in the middle of February—but the implications of the last few days are chilling (no pun intended). Now that Scott Pruitt—a climate change denier—has taken control of the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Power Plan which the EPA put into place to limit carbon pollution from power plants, is expected to be scrapped.
Many scientists contend that carbon pollution is the leading cause of global warming.
