During the second week of March, our state senators declared two important bills “inexpedient to legislate,” thus killing them. SB 115’s goal: “Establishing greeenhouse gas emission reduction goals for the state and establishing a climate action plan. SB 71’s goal: “Establishing a commission to develop science- based emission reduction goals for the state of NH.”
As the senators were voting “no,” we saw excessive warmth that forced a premature end to snowmobiling. It was so warm that several nights did not dip to below freezing, so that the maple sap did not run. Winters have warmed over four degrees in New England since 1885, and the anomalies that we experienced last week are consistent with the overlying climate trends predicted by scientists.
Since the 1970s, 80 percent of winters have been above the long-term average, and the top-five warmest winters have occurred since 1998.
Our neighbors – Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island – have all recently set requirements in greenhouse gas emissions, as well as our northern neighbor of Quebec. Do our state senators think that they’re smarter than our neighbors? Do they think that they know more than 97 percent of he world’s leading climatologists?
Susan Shamel
Hillsborough