Extreme heat continues across the American south this week while Canada experiences its worst wildfire season on record, also driven by extreme heat. 

According to Reuters, the searing heat is part of a global pattern of rising temperatures, attributed by scientists to human activity.

Mark Dunlea, founder of the Green Education and Legal Fund of New York (GELFNY) and author of “Putting Out the Planetary Fire: An Introduction to Climate Change and Advocacy," said the New York state Legislature hasn’t lived up to the climate promise it made with passage of the 2019 Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA). 

The goals of the CLCPA include calling for an 85% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 with an interim target of 40% by 2030.

“The climate emergency is a catastrophe, and it threatens the well-being of all of us,” he told Capital Tonight. “We need every level of government to take more action. We’re running out of time and we’re putting band aids on this problem.”

When asked why New York should take action on climate change when it’s only a single state and climate is a global issue, Dunlea, a member of the Green Party, quoted a well-known motto adopted by Greens: “Think globally, act locally.”

While Dunlea acknowledged passage of the All-Electric Building Act and the Build Public Renewables Act, he said he was especially disappointed by the Assembly’s inaction on two bills that the Senate managed to pass, the NY HEAT Act and the Climate Superfund bill.

Dunlea blamed “campaign donations and the political power of the fossil fuel industry and the utilities” on why the two bills didn’t receive a vote in the Assembly.