We know that global warming threatens our way of life.
The impacts of global warming are now being observed nearly everywhere and experts predict changes in weather patterns, agriculture and sea levels will only get worse. For starters, doing nothing would lead to chronic flooding over nine percent of New Jersey's land, including places like Cape May, Atlantic City, and Long Beach Island that are sources pride and tourism for our state, in addition to heat waves and increased air pollution that would endanger our health. According to scientists the window of opportunity to avoid the worst effects of global warming is quickly closing.
Solving the problem won't be easy; we need to transform how we use and produce energy, changes that will affect our lives every day. We are going to need new technology and politicians willing to move us to a new clean energy future. But while the scientists and politicians argue about the long-term solutions and haggle over politics, the one thing we do know is that we're ready to start taking action now.
We have a lot of the tools to take the first big steps today. Improvements to solar and wind make those technologies cheaper and better than ever before. We can transform a regular hybrid vehicle into a plug in electric hybrid that gets more than 100 mpg. We can build buildings that are so energy efficient they net energy rather than use any energy.
And we're not just ready; New Jersey has already started. Cape May is soon to have one of the country's first off-shore wind farms. New Brunswick has announced plans to launch the largest local public solar project in the state, putting solar panels on schools, parking garages, and municipal buildings across the city over the next two years and generating enough power for half the city's energy needs. And Rutgers is building a 7-acre solar farm on campus, that will eliminate 1,200 tons of global warming pollution and save the university $200,000 every year.
To stop the worst effects of global warming, we need to reduce global warming pollution at least 25 % below 1990 levels by 2020. We'll educate people across the state about technology that we do have to solve the problem, we'll continue to lead the way by getting these technologies put into place on campus and in our communities and we will call on our elected officials to do what they can to cut global warming emissions.
