Welcome to Don't Just Sit There Do Something for Climate News, Science, and Easy Ways to Help. I'm Joy Let Portlock. You know, it seems like it was just summer around here. Like we just missed fall entirely. Fall did feel like an extended late summer over much of the country. 2015 was the hottest year ever recorded. That hottest year ever thing seems to be happening a lot lately. According to NASA, quote, 2015 shatter the previous mark said in 2014. I've heard something like this before. There's every reason to expect the next El Nino year will shatter the high temperature records. The record-breaking temperatures happened because El Nino was layered on top of long-term man-made climate instability. 2016 has a chance of being even hotter. I am enjoying this weather. Okay, I just thought forward to what happens in July. January 2016 was the warmest January ever, and never before seen high temperatures in the Arctic are already causing record melting. 15 of the 16 warmest years on record have happened in the 21st century. There's only been 15 years in the 21st century. Yep. Since the late 1800s, we've burned fossil fuels for energy, natural gas, coal, and oil. These fuels create pollution that collects in the air, trapping heat. Maybe we'll just start having Christmas barbecues. Climate change is more than warmer weather. The more we burn, the more deadly consequences we experience. Extreme heat, droughts, changes in spread of disease, national security problems, and severe storms. The closing months of 2015 saw record floods here at home, and the biggest hurricane ever hit Mexico. 2015 also saw, however, a bunch of news that may mean better choices for the climate. The biggest climate news is that countries around the world met in Paris in December, and in a historic agreement finally agreed to do something. Was it just like the People's Republic of Somerandom Guy, Istanbul, 155 nations? For those keeping track, that's all of them. We agreed in Paris to make better energy choices together. A whole new world, a new fantastic point of view. Just because Disney signed that climate pledge doesn't mean we have to do covers. The agreement happened with leadership from the US and China, the world's biggest polluters. Yay, climate change is solved! Now? Now, it's up to each of the countries involved to make good on their commitments to the global solutions puzzled. A key part of the US contribution to the global agreement is the Clean Power Plan. This rule, finalized by our Environmental Protection Agency, would reduce climate pollution from electricity generation 30% by 2030. The fossil fuel industry has been getting a free pass on absorbing the climate cost of its products, forever. Law suits against the EPA over the plan have been filed by 27 states and many industry groups, though Supreme Court has suspended the rule until the case is heard in June. I'm cracking down on certain industries, cost people jobs, but I do think we should get our act together and solve this whole climate change thing. The Clean Energy Transition is just getting started in the US and Clean Energy is our fastest growing energy sector. Believe it or not, more people already work in the solar industry in the US than in the coal industry. But is Clean Energy even remotely realistic? I mean, this has to happen, what? In the next 30 years, according to researchers, a transition to 100% Clean Energy for power transportation, everything is absolutely possible by 2050. The business world is taking notice. In 2015, a record amount was invested in Clean Energy and seems likely to only increase after the Paris Agreement. If you want to see humanity build on the progress towards Clean Energy that we made in 2015, don't just sit there, do something. I can make a difference in my own energy use. I'll do what my parents always said and turn out the lights when I leave a room. The electronic devices can also suck power even when they're not being used. One give away is a light being on, even when a device is off. So cut the power to these energy vampires entirely. A power stretch or times charger may help. Secondly, learn more about climate science from the experts. As it turns out, the planet NASA's studies most is Earth. Check out climate.nasa.gov for lots more easy to understand information. In other words, don't just sit there. Don't just sit there. Don't just sit there. Do something. And that wraps up this episode. Follow us online in any of these convenient ways. Watch again and tell your friend.