We occupy a worsening climate crisis.

Extreme temperatures are killing people and accelerating.

On this week’s edition of the Jessie Frees Show on InsiderNJ Radio, the host welcomes Jeff Tittel, retired president of the New Jersey Sierra Club.

Tittel considers the intensifying hazards of climate change, including the impact of Canadian wildfires and the consequences of water warming on whales and what it means to the human population.

“The cycles of heat and flooding are accelerating. We may have to adapt. We’re experiencing record temperatures. Pretty soon we’re going to have to be wearing an air-conditioned suit outside. We’re getting to that point, unfortunately. …It’s a paved new world.

“When you look at seven out of the ten warmest summers, they’ve all happened within the last decade or so,” Tittel added. “There’s no place to hide. Wherever you go there’s going to be problems. Even two days ago, people outside swimming went inside because they were so tired of breathing in smoke and particulate matter and high levels of ozone coming from cars. Going outside and enjoying a day is now akin to smoking a pack of cigarettes.”

Raised in Hillside by politically engaged parents, Tittel grew up with a deep sense of environmental justice.

He attended the 1963 March on Washington, where he received the vision of Martin Luther King, Jr., which he fused with his own family’s radicalism and the raw political pragmaticism he learned locally from people like the late Charlotte DeFilippo.

A veteran of the 1968 Presidential Campaign of Bobby Kennedy, Tittel built himself into one of the state’s leading environmental authorities. Throughout his 23-year stewardship of the NJ Sierra Club, he combined those unique qualities to become New Jersey’s leading environmental leader and activist.

The show originally aired on Sunday, July 23, on WMTR Radio, sponsored by InsiderNJ.

You can access the full show here: