Ignore The Planet At Your Own Risk

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Global Issues, History, Political commentary, Social commentary

Can anybody honestly still deny that climate change is real, that what the scientists have been predicting for over half a century now is here?  Turn on the news, watch the weather reports from ‘round the globe, or just … step outside and try to take a deep breath!  Thom Hartmann, author of a number of excellent books, ponders on how much longer the politicians can continue to talk out of both sides of their mouths on the environment.

How Long Will Politicians Be Able to Ignore the Planet Becoming Unlivable?

This truly is a climate emergency, and every day that goes by without significant action further endangers the future of almost all life on Earth, including us…

By Thom Hartmann

24 July 2023

Is Phoenix Ameria’s first unlivable city? Will this be the year America and the world wakes up?

CBS News is reporting that people in Phoenix are rationing their air conditioning; a British climatologist has declared it the developed world’s first “uninhabitable city without air conditioning.”

In large parts of the United States this summer, climate change-driven heat domes are making pavement so hot that when people pass out and come in contact with it they end up in the hospital with second and third-degree burns. Multiple hospitals report that their burn units are near capacity.

Dr. Kevin Foster, the director of the Arizona Burn Center, told the CBC:

“We are seeing lots of patients who are falling down onto the concrete, pavement, asphalt, and suffering really, really deep burns as a result of that.” He added that this frequency and severity of burns is “twice the normal that we typically see.”

NBC news reported:

“The burns typically occur when people fall or pass out on sun-scorched pavement and other hot surfaces. During intense heat waves, as has been unfolding across the Southwest, even being in contact with these surfaces for short periods of time can do serious damage, said Dr. Kara Geren, an emergency medicine physician at Valleywise Health in Phoenix.

“‘The burns can be very severe and disfiguring to the point where you have to have what’s called a skin graft, where they take skin from other parts of your body and kind of cover it up,’ she said.”

In 2021, 40% of Americans lived in a county severely impacted by our current climate emergency, and over 600 Americans died from climate-related causes. In 2022, climate change-related weather disasters cost the United States over $165 billion, according to NOAA.

This year will be the worst in human history, as El Niño drives a massive summer heatwave all across the northern hemisphere. The United Nations estimates that climate-related deaths will exceed cancer deaths in our children’s lifetimes. We stand on the precipice of a disaster unlike any that humanity has ever encountered.

And a small group of fossil fuel billionaires and coal barons are getting fabulously rich from humanity’s misery while actively working to block solutions. They’re using small parts of that revenue, with the blessing of five corrupt Republicans on the Supreme Court, to pay off Republican politicians (and a handful of Democrats) to block any efforts to solve this crisis.

Which makes it imperative that President Biden declare a climate emergency to mobilize powers, resources, and tools not currently available to him that could challenge their obstruction. These include the National Emergencies Act, the Defense Production Act, and the Robert T Stafford Relief and Emergency Assistance Act.

In 2019, the Center for Biological Diversity published a legal analysis summarizing the powers available to the president were he to declare a climate emergency. They include:

— Ban new fossil fuel leasing.
— Ban new fracking permits.
— Establish a plan to phase out fossil fuel production.
— Reallocate hundreds of billions of dollars currently subsidizing fossil fuel production toward the deployment of green energy.
— Cap domestic fossil fuel emissions.
— End the export of crude oil, coal, and refined fossil fuel products.

They further suggest that the president veto any legislation that provides immunity from lawsuits to the fossil fuel industry (the GOP is working on this), and begin a comprehensive and systematic investigation into the fossil fuel industry’s cover-up of science they’ve known and concealed for decades about the planet-destroying consequences of their products.

When America entered World War II, we shifted large portions of America’s industrial infrastructure toward the production of war material. Factories that once made cars began to manufacture tanks and airplanes; industrial facilities producing clothing or nylon stockings turned out millions of uniforms and parachutes. Food, fuel, and even tires were rationed to provide for the war effort.

This was largely done by President Roosevelt using his wartime emergency powers, and, the Center for Biological Diversity argues, using peacetime emergency powers today President Biden could put America on a similarly consequential course to be free of most fossil fuel pollution within a decade.

Not only would this have a major impact on climate change because America is one of the planet’s two largest polluters, but it would also set an example for the world to follow.

President Biden considered declaring such an emergency last year, but stepped back from it. As Varshini Prakash, executive director of the Sunrise Movement told Bloomberg:

“New York City looks like it’s on fire, kids are choking on dirty air, and the AQI is a serious health threat equivalent to breathing in smoke from cigarettes. We are in a climate emergency, and it’s absurd that our government isn’t acting like it.”

Republicans are fully aware of this potential, which is why they just introduced legislation to block President Biden from declaring just such an emergency.

Cynically, they’ve named their bill the Real Emergencies Act. (You’ll recall that just last week Republican Congressman Scott Perry called climate change a “grift.”)

As Julia Rock notes at The Lever:

“The Real Emergencies Act’s seven sponsors in the Senate received a combined $3.1 million in contributions from fossil fuel industry executives and political action committees (PACs) over the 2017-2022 cycle, according to data from OpenSecrets. The bill’s 19 House sponsors raked in $1.7 million from fossil fuel executives and PACs during the 2021-2022 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets.”

One of the great tragedies of Clarence Thomas casting the deciding vote in Citizens United is that today the cost of bribing politicians represents only a tiny fraction of the profits industry can receive when those politicians do what they are asked.

Invest a few million dollars, make hundreds of billions. The fossil fuel barons succeeded in buying so much of the GOP that it’s almost impossible to find any Republican elected official who will even acknowledge climate change, much less is willing to do anything serious about it.

With Democratic control of the Senate intact, however, this corrupt attempt by these Republicans (the Real Emergencies Act) to prevent President Biden from saving the lives of Americans will not become law.

But just stopping Republican obstruction isn’t enough: we need real and consequential action now.

This past week over 100 million Americans were subjected to deadly levels of heat, and, because warmer air holds more moisture and more energy, the storms and floods unleashed on America have been unprecedented in both their frequency, volume, and violence.

And it’s going to get worse. A lot worse.

This truly is a climate emergency, and every day that goes by without significant action further endangers the future of almost all life on Earth, including us.

Reach out to your elected officials and ask them to demand that President Biden declare a climate emergency and take action now.

The bought-and-paid-for Republican shills for the fossil fuel industry in Congress will react with hysterical squeals and threats of congressional action. Their threats, however, are hollow. Now is the time for action.

As Senator Jeff Merkley told the Washington Post:

“This is a planetary emergency, and the president should declare an emergency. It is the biggest issue facing humankind. We are on a trajectory for a massive increase in climate chaos, affecting us in every possible way.”

One of the best ways to lobby the president is through Democratic members of the House and Senate. The message to President Biden has to be: “You have the power to do this: you must use it.”

The number for the congressional switchboard is 202-224-3121. Most members of Congress also allow constituents to email them through their websites, which you can easily find with a quick web search.

Take a few minutes today and make the call. The fate of our planet, our fellow humans, and future generations is hanging in the balance.

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45 thoughts on “Ignore The Planet At Your Own Risk”

  1. Just ran across this and I thought it appropriate for this post..

    “I had thought that going into space would be the ultimate catharsis of that connection I had been looking for between all living things—that being up there would be the next beautiful step to understanding the harmony of the universe. I had a different experience, because I discovered that the beauty isn’t out there, it’s down here, with all of us. Leaving that behind made my connection to our tiny planet even more profound.”

    “It was among the strongest feelings of grief I have ever encountered. The contrast between the vicious coldness of space and the warm nurturing of Earth below filled me with overwhelming sadness. Every day, we are confronted with the knowledge of further destruction of Earth at our hands: the extinction of animal species, of flora and fauna . . . things that took five billion years to evolve, and suddenly we will never see them again because of the interference of mankind. It filled me with dread. My trip to space was supposed to be a celebration; instead, it felt like a funeral.”

    Willam Shatner

    Liked by 1 person

    • Yes, it is happening all ’round the world! Meanwhile, I read this morning that the idiot Glenn Beck said there’s nothing to worry about … it’s only hot right now because “the sun’s on fire”. Where the #$%@ did this dude go to school?????

      Liked by 1 person

      • Green Beck has always been an idiot. And there’s this..

        CNN
        —
        Former Vice President Mike Pence on Wednesday released an economic proposal to tackle high inflation that includes cutting government programs, the Environmental Protection Agency and President Joe Biden’s incentives aimed at curbing impacts of climate change.

        In campaign speeches, Pence has called for the elimination of the Education Department and pushed for reforms to entitlement programs including Social Security.

        Pence’s plan would eliminate the EPA, tax credits for electric vehicles, Biden’s “residential clean energy credit” and repeal Biden’s subsidies for automakers to make electric vehicles batteries.

        Liked by 1 person

        • And Mike Pence, of all people, should know better! I read this evening in The Guardian that British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is talking about cutting clean energy and green programs, too! I guess it’s okay if we all suffocate! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr … Fortunately, Pence has about as much chance of winning the Oval Office as you or I, but unfortunately he is not alone, and DeSantis has also made similar statements about cutting a number of critical government agencies, including the Department of Education. Apparently the Republican goal is to turn this nation into one of mostly ignorant, stupid people who don’t even know how to read!

          Liked by 2 people

  4. I take heart in we seem to be ~ seem to be ~ moving in the right direction albeit slowly, like that rowboat is finally turning that tanker, and confess to a small measure of satisfaction in seeing conclusions I had drawn

    Like

    • ~ predictions if you wish ~ fifteen, twenty and twenty-five years ago turn up in print (so-to-speak).

      I also a little bit angry about how I’ve been harping on this, on-line, for thirty years now, and nobody listened. Career ruined, family estranged, run out of my hometown

      Liked by 1 person

      • Wow, Ten Bears … career, family and home all lost because of your climate advocacy? I … don’t know what to say. Thumbs up for being the voice we all need, but I’m so very sorry for the price you’ve paid.

        Like

          • I hear you … and I well understand your frustration. But, sometimes when it seems we’re spitting into the wind, we have actually made some small difference in someone’s life. I suspect you have done just that, probably many times.

            Like

    • Some days it seems as if we are moving in the right direction, but then other times it seems we are still far too dependent on the fossil fuels that are killing us. Overall, I think what we are doing is too little, too late. I hope I’m wrong, but I think that with the current attitude of the general populace toward climate initiatives, we may have passed the tipping point.

      Like

  5. Pingback: Ignore The Planet At Your Own Risk – THE FLENSBURG FILES

  6. A powerful post Jill, filled with facts and undeniable evidence.
    Except for that one element Terminal Stupidity.
    People these days have a knack of putting a political element into every facet of Life particularly if a view does not suit their overall outlook or nags at fears they would rather not have to confront.
    It therefore follows they will gladly listen to and snatch up on any scrap of propaganda and distortion which will make them feel comfortable. Thus since Phoenix voted in the main for Democrats and the city is perceived as broadly ‘liberal’ – there is the answer the deniers will look for ‘It’s all the fault of those socialists’. It’s a plot to take away your liberties….Blah-blah-blah-blah

    Liked by 2 people

    • Thanks, Roger. You’re right … it was that Terminal Stupidity that got us to this point and it is continuing to take us closer and closer to the brink. No doubt you are right about how the climate deniers, largely Republicans, will no doubt point to the largely Democratic government of Phoenix, but I contend that even they, somewhere in their cloudy minds, know the truth. Humans discovered they had the power to build machines, then extract resources from the ground to run the machines and use them to build even more machines, without a thought about what this would do to nature’s ecosystems. And now, we know better, but nobody wants to be inconvenienced, so they just keep closing their eyes and singing “la la la la la” endlessly … until they can no longer get a breath with which to sing. Humans brought about their own extinction, and also the extinction of many other more worthy species. Eventually, after several millennia, the Earth may repair itself, but I hope human are kept away.

      Liked by 1 person

      • (A) Conspiracy theorists and (B) Climate deniers are well aware of the facts, and those facts scare them.
        In the case of (A) they cannot cope with the randomness of Life, that living is conditional that something from somewhere out of the blue can upturn and wreck your life or at least something you relied on. They have to find a solid ‘reason’ manufactured consciously by some folk. They cannot accept random nor accidental. With 9/11 there is also a twin element of racism (i) That only White Guys (and Jews) are clever enough to do it (ii) only White Guys (and Jews) are evil enough to do it. Stupid.
        B. Climate Deniers either have a group god complex that Humanity is the pinnacle and can control all. Or deep down their instincts tell them hat the planet and its systems has the final say and there is frib all we can do about it, apart from adapt to what the planet wants. And they, also cannot cope with that.
        And there it is Jill, the whole damn blurred picture- Fear and Arrogance, bottom lines, everything else bleeds out of them.

        They do not want to deal with the idea that we evolve or we become small specks on a fossils record.

        Liked by 1 person

  7. Jill, the term “unlivable city” should get people’s attention. Just as the term “sunny day flooding” should get people’s attention in coastal cities.

    I am long past tired and frustrated with climate change naysayers, especially those puppets who are renewing the current fossil fuel industry push. I left the GOP 15 or so years ago, one key reason being their stance on climate change then. For many reasons, but especially this one, people should not vote for any politician that is not on board the climate change action bus. That would include the significant majority of Republicans.

    Coupling this with their focus to step on women’s rights, white wash history, denigrate the LGBTQ+ community, rationalize a deceitful and possibly seditious former president, etc., while ignoring key issues – water crisis, health care, job retraining, renewable energy, etc.

    We need to move forward. Quite simply, a party that is too busy trying to repaint the past is looking in the wrong direction.

    Keith

    Liked by 3 people

    • I fully agree! That term, ‘unlivable city’, certainly caught my eye and made me do a double take. What city will be next? Where do the people who can no longer breathe in Phoenix go? Like you, my friend, I am past being fed up with the climate deniers and have neither the time nor the patience to even listen to them any longer. We need ACTION and we need it NOW! It is unconscionable that so many members of Congress are so indebted to the fossil fuel industry that they are voting against the very lives of our grandchildren! I’ve had enough! It’s not like we haven’t known for half a century what our habits are doing to this planet. It boggles the mind.

      Liked by 1 person

      • No criticism dear, but “we” are awake. The problem is those who are afraid of woke. 🙂 It will be different but it will never be too late. There are those among us who are preparing to live on Mars. We are the naked ape without tooth or claw. We don’t adapt we adjust.

        Liked by 2 people

        • I have to disagree with you on one point … that it will “never be too late”. When there is no potable water, no food, and the air cannot support life, then humans will have effectively extincted themselves and yes, the Earth will survive and someday restore itself, but humans will be gone. Mars cannot support human life, contrary to what some seem to hope. Other species have become extinct, as will we, either from use of nuclear weapons or lack of care for the environment.

          Liked by 2 people

  9. “Can anybody honestly still deny that climate change is real”

    Unfortunately, they can (and will).

    Just last week, I noticed a climate denialist pointing out that it is winter in Argentina and in New Zealand. He apparently thought this was an obvious proof that climate change doesn’t exist.

    Liked by 3 people

  10. Yes you are right, the evidence that global warming is happening is conclusive. Scientific organizations around the world, such as NASA, NOAA, national meteorological organizations, etc., are keeping track of temperatures and they are measuring the same thing. Ground based thermometers and satellites agree. Glaciers are melting, ecozones are moving, satellites have been measuring the shrinking arctic ice, satellites are measuring overall sea level rise, and in many places, people are observing the warming with their own eyes. Notably northern Sweden where I am from.

    As your graph indicates it is hardly natural.

    The evidence that we are causing it, chiefly due to our greenhouse gas emissions, is overwhelming. Natural phenomena cannot explain the warming that is taking place, it cannot be the sun which has grown slightly dimmer, not orbital cycles, and not natural sources of greenhouse gases. However, our emissions can explain the climate change we are seeing very well. The way the lower atmosphere is warming, and the upper atmosphere cooling can only be explained by greenhouse gas emissions. The spatial and temporal distribution of the warming shows that it is greenhouse gases causing the warming. The relatively rapid recent increase in temperature is also unnatural. Spectral analysis of gases in the atmosphere shows that it is greenhouse gases that are causing the warming we measure. It is mostly the increase of carbon dioxide. Isotope studies show that the greenhouse gases added to the atmosphere to a large extent originate with the burning of fossil fuels.

    However, some people just say, I decide what’s true, to heck with the scientists and the evidence. Luckily, the deniers are getting fewer as well as losing influence and things are being done about the problem around the world. Even Ted Cruz voted yes on a climate bill, the Growing Climate Solutions Act.

    Liked by 2 people

  11. Denial of climate change requires a serious disconnect from reality. Unfortunately a lot of people – left wing and right wing – have a disconnect where climate change is concerned. Keeping the wheels turning and the money flowing matters more than the welfare of our planet.

    Liked by 3 people

    • Indeed … a serious disconnect from reality or an unwillingness to make any of the lifestyle changes that would be required if one actually admitted that humans are destroying the environment. People are selfish beings … asking them to walk instead of driving down the street to the corner market, to turn down the thermostat, to trade their gas-guzzling SUV for a smaller, more fuel-efficient car, to use reusable bags instead of single-use plastics … why, that would make their little lives less convenient, don’t you know! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr …

      Liked by 2 people

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