{"id":4530,"date":"2014-01-24T14:58:20","date_gmt":"2014-01-24T19:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/?p=4530"},"modified":"2026-03-14T13:10:34","modified_gmt":"2026-03-14T18:10:34","slug":"some-records-are-not-meant-to-be-broken","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2014\/01\/24\/some-records-are-not-meant-to-be-broken\/","title":{"rendered":"Some Records Are Not Meant to Be Broken"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This post originally appeared on EDF’s blog California Dream 2.0<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

By Tim O\u2019Connor<\/a> and\u00a0Katie Hsia-Kiung<\/a>, with Ilissa Ocko<\/a><\/p>\n

2013 was a record-breaking year in many respects. Peyton Manning broke the record for the most touchdowns and passing yards thrown in a single NFL season. At age 19, Ryan Campbell became the youngest person to circumnavigate the world, and at age 80, Yuichiro Miura was the oldest to climb Mount Everest.While many of the records broken last year demonstrated remarkable human stamina, determination, and grit, there were other \u201caccomplishments\u201d that shouldn\u2019t be received so warmly.<\/p>\n

California\u2019s capital, Sacramento, for example,\u00a0experienced its driest year<\/a>\u00a0since they began measuring rainfall in 1878.\u00a0 Conditions are so dry that some cities in California\u2019s Central Valley are imposing\u00a0water rationing orders<\/a> and more are expected to follow. According to the U.S. Drought Monitoring System, approximately 85% of the state is suffering from severe drought, and the\u00a0snow pack is so meager<\/a>\u00a0in some places, there is simply no snow to measure.<\/p>\n

Across California, temperatures on Christmas Day set new heat records,\u00a0reaching 15 degrees above average in some areas<\/a>. New York City,\u00a0Philadelphia, and\u00a0Atlantic City\u00a0also broke previous high temperature records<\/a> this past December\u00a0\u2013 which has now been followed by extreme cold and snow storms. On the international level, 2013 was tied for the fourth warmest year<\/a> on record.<\/p>\n

One question on the minds of many is what is causing this extreme weather, and whether man-made climate change is the culprit.\u00a0 The response lies in science. The continued rise in record-breaking events is just what has been predicted by scientists and is statistically too significant to ignore. And while it is difficult to attribute individual weather events to climate change, scientists are developing techniques<\/a> to determine a connection<\/a>. To date, certain heat waves<\/a>, droughts<\/a>, and flooding<\/a> events have been linked to human-caused climate change, and scientists are planning to investigate the California drought<\/a> as well.<\/p>\n

Ironically, unlike records from sports or other human feats, it takes drive and determination to avoid<\/i> breaking climate change records.<\/i>\u00a0Scientific experts across\u00a0the world agree<\/a> that after over a century of increasing fossil fuel combustion, the planet is on a path towards more frequent extreme weather events, and we must cut climate pollution to stop this from happening.\u00a0 This will require investment in low-carbon solutions like clean energy, clean fuels, and efficiency.<\/p>\n

Similar to how taking steroids out of baseball brought the sport back to its rightful state, cutting climate pollution through efforts like California\u2019s Global Warming Law (AB 32)<\/a> will bring the atmosphere back towards greater stability.<\/p>\n

Like home runs and touchdowns, droughts and snowstorms will always be a part of the environment we experience, we just don\u2019t need any extra ones. As climate pollution is reduced, we\u2019ll move toward a future with a lot fewer records being broken, letting communities \u2013 and statisticians everywhere \u2013 live a little better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(This post originally appeared on EDF’s blog California Dream 2.0) By Tim O\u2019Connor and\u00a0Katie Hsia-Kiung, with Ilissa Ocko 2013 was a record-breaking year in many respects. Peyton Manning broke the record for the most touchdowns and passing yards thrown in a single NFL season. At age 19, Ryan Campbell became the youngest person to circumnavigate …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":919,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"coauthors":[108153],"class_list":["post-4530","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSome Records Are Not Meant to Be Broken - Climate 411<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.edf.org\/climate411\/2014\/01\/24\/some-records-are-not-meant-to-be-broken\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Some Records Are Not Meant to Be Broken - Climate 411\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"(This post originally appeared on EDF’s blog California Dream 2.0) By Tim O\u2019Connor and\u00a0Katie Hsia-Kiung, with Ilissa Ocko 2013 was a record-breaking year in many respects. 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