June 30, 2022
When Jason Smerdon heard about the Supreme Court’s ruling limiting the Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants, the climate scientist said it felt like “a punch in the gut.”
The ruling came at a time when scientists like Dr. Smerdon say we need to be utilizing every tool available to fight climate change. The planet has already heated an average of 1.1 degrees Celsius since the Industrial Revolution, and 1.5 degrees is the threshold scientists say will result in catastrophic heat waves, increased extreme weather events and widespread species extinction.