WASHINGTON, Nov. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. representatives at the climate meeting in Qatar need to heed lessons from Hurricane Sandy and take matters seriously, a lawmaker said.
International officials are gathered in Doha, Qatar, for the 18th session for the U.N. Framework Convention on Climate Change. The meeting follows a World Bank report that says trends in global weather patterns may spell trouble even if world governments uphold current climate commitments.
U.S. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., the top Democratic on the House Natural Resources Committee, called on U.S. representatives in Doha to take a strong position on cutting carbon emissions.
"American negotiators at these climate talks must heed the warnings from Sandy and other extreme weather supercharged by climate change," he said in a statement.
Hurricane Sandy struck the U.S. East Coast in late October. More than 200 people died in seven countries in a storm said to have formed over an Atlantic Ocean that was warmer than average for October.
Markey said it is leading economies like the United States' that are driving the increase in emissions said to affect the climate.
