05/04/2012 // 1:36 pm // Add a Comment // Maggie L. Fox, President & CEO

© 2010 Flickr/Jonathan Doig cc by 2.0

When scientists talk about climate change, they often begin with a statistic. 2010 was tied for the hottest year on record. We just lived through the warmest March in the United States since 1895. There is 4 percent more water vapor in the air since 1970. There are strong indications that global temperatures could rise 6 degrees Celsius by the end of the century.

These are some of the most important numbers you will ever hear: The vital signs for the health of our planet.

But for people all around the globe, climate change isn’t just about statistics. It’s about a village in Nepal where people live with the increasing risk of deadly flash floods. It’s about native people in Alaska who are at risk of losing their homes and their heritage as the ice around them melts. It’s about a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York that faces the impacts of sea level rise.

And we feel it in the hotter days, longer droughts and more intense storms we see more and more each year. These are not simply isolated events: They are part of a larger change in our climate that increases our risk of extreme weather. An increase in average temperature across the globe raises the chance of a crippling heat wave in your community. Warmer temperatures put more water vapor into the air, which increases the likelihood of extreme storms.

We learned more about how climate change is impacting our weather around the world during our 24 Hours of Reality event last fall. At this event, we connected the dots between the alarming rise in extreme weather events and the scientific facts of our changing climate. And early this year, we heard from leaders who organized expeditions around the world to better understand how the melting of the world’s ice threatens us all.

Now, our friends at 350.org are hosting a day of action this Saturday, May 5 to continue to help connect the dots between global climate change and the impacts we are all seeing and feeling. It’s called Climate Impacts Day – and I encourage all of you to participate. Taking place all over the world, Climate Impacts Day will connect the dots between extreme weather and the reality of our changing climate. You can take part by finding an event where you live.

As our Chairman, former Vice President Al Gore said back in 2006: “The challenge for the rest of us is to connect the dots and see the picture clearly. H. G. Wells wrote that ‘history is a race between education and catastrophe.’ And this is potentially the worst catastrophe in the history of civilization.”

But this is still a catastrophe we can prevent. We can still win the race to educate and empower citizens all over the world to act before extreme weather events become the norm. This Saturday, I hope all of you will stand up for the reality of climate change and help make Climate Impacts Day a success.