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This Unexpected Issue Could Turn the Election
I'm sitting here writing this from the northeastern U.S., where we're experiencing an unprecedented "heat dome" that's likely to last til the end of the month, possibly longer. I can safely say that for most of my 57 years on this planet, there had never been such a thing as a "heat dome."
Like "1000-year floods" that now occur every other year, "fire-nados," '"tornado swarms" and other terrifying weather phenomenon straight out of a Jerry Bruckheimer film, "heat domes" that just sit and sit and sit and make people miserable for weeks are new.
250 million Americans are currently experiencing the same thing as I am — oppressive heat and humidity that make you struggle for breath when you step outside. And it wasn't even officially summer until today. India and Pakistan, which appear to be the "canary in the coalmine" countries for global warming, lost hundreds of people in the past week from the heat.
Other parts of the U.S. like New Mexico are dealing with wildfires that just exploded out of nowhere, which has become a yearly occurrence around the world. An entire town was burnt to the ground in Canada (which is yet again struggling with devastating wildlifes this year), with no warning in 2021.
It's extremely odd to me to see the mainstream media finally address global warming, by the way. For over 30 years as scientists grew increasingly more alarmed, the media was carrying water for the fossil fuel industry and lending validity and credence to their pseudo-scientists spewing lies about how "Sure, the planet may be warming, but it's not because of humans."
It says something that even the most conservative skeptics are changing their tune now.
(Sidenote: One day I really hope executives at Exxon-Mobil and Koch Industries are dragged in to the International Criminal Court for their sociopathic actions of sabotaging any meaninful action despite knowing what they were doing to destroy the planet.)
Here's what the media won't tell you, though, and what no one in my immediate sphere wants to hear me say, because I come across as a Debbie Downer.
Climate change is NOT fixable. We can no longer go back to the climate of our childhoods. We're suffering from greenhouse gases that entered the atmosphere decades ago, which makes it even scarier that, except for the brief period of pandemic lockdown, emissions have steadily INCREASED in the last decade.
We could change warming by a matter of degrees for the future-possibly staving off absolutely cataclysmic effects that would occur at 2 degrees C or more of warming, but that's about it. Given that we're losing arable soil at an alarming rate, though, it's crucial that we do this.
WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF SOIL TO GROW FOOD ON. Even CBS acknowledges it.
It's sad to me because back in the 80s, we could have done something to prevent all of this.
If idiots who loved the doddering, charismatic old actor who cheated by negotiating secretly with the Iranians to beat the incumbent President — you know, the guy who put SOLAR PANELS ON THE WHITE HOUSE and wanted to wean us off fossil fuels — hadn't put Ronnie "Raygun" (as us punk rockers used to call him) in office in 1980, we might not be in this mess. Back then, we still had a chance to fix it.
In 2018, scientists conducated an analysis on Republican assaults on the EPA that started with Reagan. Trump claims he'll fight the swamp? This document proves HE IS THE SWAMP.
The really important question for the future health of your children and the entire planet is — are CURRENT Republican voters finally done denying man-made climate change? Because, if they are, then they'd better take a good hard look at what a 2nd Trump administration would mean for doing something about it. It's obvious Trump will continue his assault on our water, air, food, and everything necessary to life.
Let's not forget that Trump was busted a couple of weeks ago selling out the planet like a fatter, oranger Dr. Evil to the fossil fuel execs for $1 billion. They've got the executive orders already written for him.
Trump even gleefully — practically drooling on his foot long red tie — yells "drill, baby, drill" at his rallies, showing how easily bought he can be. His poorly educated cult base screams out in joy at that, seemingly clueless that they're the ones who'll be drowning in flood waters, or struggling to procure water and food, or losing their homes to tornados, hurricanes, etc. Or even dropping dead of heatstroke soon enough.
I guarantee only a small percentage of Trump rally attendees are rich enough to save themselves by building a bunker like Mark Zuckerberg is doing.
When civilization collapses thanks to his inaction, Trump will slink off to his own bunker with his own billions in ill-gotten oil money and happily watch them die.
Don't believe me? Read Project 2025, the Koch-funded blueprint for ultimate presidential control of all levers of government, calls for scrapping all climate change research and mitigation policies, as well as any reference to the subject on government websites (something Trump did in his first term, as well.)
George W. Bush did that after SCOTUS handed him the election. How well did that work out for us? Our extreme weather is telling us.
Perhaps the fact that even Fox News or Newsmax's denial can't cover up the fact that it's 113 degree in Texas in June will wake our Trumper relatives up. Or that Maryland just saw an unprecedented swarm of powerful tornados traveling up I-95 2 weeks ago. Or that Florida is still flooded from last week's storms. Or that Floridians can't get insurance for their homes because of their vulnerability to climate change.
All I can say is, we were warned. An Inconvenient Truth predicted all of this. Al Gore — the man who should have been our President in 2000, save for some right-wing extremists on the Supreme Court (aren't you getting tired of those types? I know I am) was right.
I highly recommend everyone also watch the 2017 sequel, "Truth to Power."
Here's the silver lining behind the dark storm clouds of our warming planet — this extreme summer could be a turning point in the November 2024 presidential campaign.
It oftentimes takes Americans to get right to the brink of disaster before they realize there's a problem. As Winston Churchill famously said, "You can always count on Americans to do the right thing — after they've tried everything else."
With our short attention spans, and the deterioration of our education system, and social media constantly pushing misinformation and propaganda at us..it can be easy to deny something you haven't yet felt, yourself. I think this summer will be so filled with climate catastrophe, that no one can deny it anymore.
I hope the Biden/Harris campaign is on this — making campaign commercials hammering it home again and again and again that Trump and his Republican oil-industry-puppets are AN EXISTENTIAL THREAT to the entire planet. And that they all deserve to melt away in the heat.
Copyright 2024 S. Wade
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