Climate change is driving a succession of increasingly severe extreme weather events. Warmer seas are causing more precipitation. In the span of six months two once in 500 year storms have devastated Louisiana. Similar catastrophic flooding has gripped many pats of the world including China, India, Macedonia,Pakistan and Sudan.
July was the hottest month in recorded history the latest in a string of record setting months. This is yet another data point in the climate constellation. El Niño is gone but the heat persists. This year is certain to be the warmest on record, eclipsing the record set last year, which beat the record set the year before. We have not seen "normal" temperatures in more than 30 years. Decades of hot data are the harbingers of a climate catastrophe.
It is impossible for an honest thinking person to refute the long term trend, the earth is warming and we are the cause. Consecutive strings of climate records make the case convincingly enough for there to be a broad scientific consensus.
What makes this election cycle so critical is the fact that when it comes to climate action it is now or never. Republicans are heading into an election with a platform that is an affront to the most pressing issue of our times. Trump has shared his policy perspective on the economy and energy. He has promised to kill climate action and double down on fossil fuels. If Trump is elected president it is game over for efforts to combat climate change. His policies will push us past tipping points from which we will not be able to recover.
A string of data dating back to the dawn of the industrial revolution makes it impossible to seriously refute the veracity of climate change.
So why do they do it? Republicans eschew science because their policy positions are informed by the interests they serve. They know better, but they refuse to look beyond unconscionable short term self interest.
If you want to know who is driving the GOP's policy agenda follow the money. The trail leads back to the fossil fuel industry. The GOP continues to try to conceal their malfeasance. The sweltering heat and apocalyptic rains should remind us of Republican complicity in the fossil fuel industry's crimes against humanity.
With polls suggesting that a growing number of Republicans accept the veracity of climate change, the GOP's ongoing denial and support for fossil fuels is increasingly untenable.
0 comments:
Post a Comment