Summary: Welcome to this week's edition of the Climate Minute. This week Ted and Rob talk about hometown hero Gina McCarthy's confirmation as EPA administrator, the spectacular heat we're experiencing in Massachusetts and how it might just be a tease for things to come, and our usual potpurri of climate news and views. Regular listeners will know we're huge fans of new EPA administrator Gina McCarthy. Rob had the distinct pleasure of working with her twice in state government and has no shortage of admiration for her talent and drive. Gina was finally confirmed by the Senate yesterday in a bi-partisan 59-40 vote. You can read Washington watching blog The Hill's coverage here. If you're not familiar with Gina, check out this sampling of what some pro-McCarthy business and organizational leaders had to say about Gina on a website which was produced to support her nomination.We spoke abafe Climate Caucus" put together by California Representative Henry Waxman. At this moment there are no Massachusetts members of congress on it, perhaps you should contact your Representative and ask them to them join?The coal industry has finally caught on to something we've known for ages: we're winning. Mother Jones recently obtained a copy of slides used during a webinar this spring where industry leaders discussed the "strength of the environmental narrative" and the community's ability to "drive national attention." We spoke about the heat, and how these sort of temperatures could become the norm in New England. Several years ago the Union of Concerned Scientists did a report called the Northeast Climate Impacts Assessment which highlighted likely outcomes under high and low emissions scenarios. The long and short of it is: get ready for more of this. Even under the low emissions scenario, New England is projected to have 6 days a year over 100 degrees -- as opposed to the historical average of one day per year. You can check out the summary of the Massachusetts report here. Climate Central did a piece about 90 degree days in Boston a couple of years ago, and likewise took a look in their crystal ball to see what 2050 might be like. You can read it here, if you dare... Might just be too depressing... For some background on our chat about conservative support for carbon taxes, check out this piece. And the story about the local Tea Party supporting renewable energy in George is here. Finally, here's the story about a current congressional aide who makes the case for conservatives to be on top of climate and clean energy -- but has to stay anonymous given the atmosphere in his party. For more information about 350MA's program of "Summer Heat" focused on the Brayton Point coal plant, check out their site here.Finally, what would the temperature record over the last 130 years sound like? Read more about this here. Here's our temperature record, as interpreted by cello: Sounds pretty ominous right there at the end, no?Remember, for climate activities near you check out ourMCAN climate action calendar. You can enter events as well as browse for interesting things to do. As always, it’s been a pleasure sharing climate news and views with you. You know, you can subscribe to our iTunes feed and get our podcasts automaticallyhere. Feel free to give us your thoughts on ourFacebook page, or through old-fashionedemail.You can even follow us on twitter @MassClimate , so there are lots of ways for you to listen and participate in the dialog. When you are on the website, pleasecontribute to MCAN. Every dollar you give will be doubled by a generous supporter. So we will close the way we always close, by saying that because we recognize the necessity of personal accountability for our actions, because we acce
