Weather extremes everywhere. Even in my back yard. Whither my daffodils!

"All politics is local," as famously stated by then-Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill.

I'll paraphrase Tip in a way I hope he wouldn't mind: Extreme weather is (now) local. I live in suburban Philadelphia, an area where we have occasional bits of extreme weather but, by no means, an anticipated hot spot for climate change.

That said, I just read Joe Romm's article in ClimateProgress about a new study that connects California's terrible drought with our recent frigid winter in the east -- and anthropogenic climate change. This is written by serious, reputable scientists, and endorsed by Pennsylvania's own climate scientist, Dr. Michael Mann.

Now to my own little bit of extreme weather: Tuesday afternoon, it was 67 degrees in my backyard and raining hard. It's April, so rain is expected. However, within eight short hours, we had frozen precipitation (sleet and snow) falling. It was 31 degrees when I got up yesterday morning, and my daffodils have taken a huge hit. A 36-degree drop in temperature in less than a day is not unheard of and doesn't, in and of itself, prove anthropogenic climate disruption.

But, for much of the country including Pennsylvania, this has been the winter to end all winters and it just won't end. Snow on Tax Day? Ridiculous.

And yes, I do realize I'm being whiny and narrowly focused to complain about my daffodils.

Much more seriously, I also realize that people around the world are dying due to climate disruptions. (And thanks to the excellent premiere episode of "Years of Living Dangerously" this past Sunday, I now see that the drought in Syria -- likely a result of climate change -- has played a huge role in the disastrous revolution in that country with so many thousands of lives lost to violence.)

Climate disruption is now smacking us in the face, every day, in so many ways -- from international headlines to the broken daffodils by my front door.

Memo to Washington and Harrisburg: It's time to wake up, smell the (mangled) flowers, and act.

Joy Bergey is PennFuture's federal policy director and is based in suburban Philadelphia.

Say it ain't so: 400

Other news
The atmosphere's CO2 levels briefly topped 400 parts per million (ppm) --another ominous milestone in the climate crisis -- at an observatory in Hawaii this week. But, alas, that doesn't stop a vocal minority of deniers who've come up with a long list of talking points.

Copernicus also had skeptics -- who persisted for decades after his death --who didn't believe his argument that the sun, not the earth, was the center of the universe. (In 2013, Copernicus' birthday was celebrated with a Google doodle).

But the climate crisis is even more urgent than the 16th century debate over the sun. It's one of the reasons PennFuture has been working on climate change since we were founded -- and recently concluded 100 Days of Action for Climate in Pennsylvania. We're also continuing the fight to confirm Gina McCarthy as EPA administrator: Learn more at www.standwithgina.com.

"It's a natural cycle," "there's no scientific consensus," and "it's a conspiracy" are a few common arguments heavily used by organizations with a stake in dirty fossil fuels.  So we know you'll find good use for these 99 climate-denier rebuttals -- whether you submit a comment to your morning newspaper or drop a line at your next neighborhood cookout.  From Think Progress

Some good news
How many ways can you say it? Environment + economy are not mutually exclusive (it's right in our PennFuture mission). A new report by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) makes clear: over the last decade, EPA regulations imposed about $45 billion in costs, but created $640 billion in benefits. From Triple Pundit

Fun stuff
What would Jules Verne think? A plane has begun a historic around-the-world trip one section at a time. Why is this news? The plane -- Solar Impulse -- is a prototype that flies on solar cells and lithium batteries. From Treehugger

To do
Join PennFuture in Pittsburgh for NWF's Google hangout with renowned climate guru and scientist Dr. Michael Mann. We'll have pizza and snacks as we discuss climate science followed by a Q&A session with Dr. Mann. What's a Google hangout, you ask? It's a virtual meeting -- You can participate right in our Pittsburgh office on Monday, May 13, 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Not in Pittsburgh? You can still participate online from your computer or smartphone.