Climate Change, What Climate Change?

A map of the U.S. plotted with 28 weather and climate disasters 

each costing $1 billion or more that occurred between 

January and December, 2023. (Image credit: NOAA/NCEI)

“Given that we’ve seen an unprecedented jump in global warmth over the last 11 months, it is not surprising to see worsening climate extremes so early in the year… If this record pace of warming continues, 2024 will likely be a record year of climate disasters and human suffering.” 

University of Michigan environment dean Jonathan Overpeck.

“We’re departing the climate of the 20th century right now, and we just can’t handle these events…So they’re getting slightly more extreme, but they’re passing our ability to handle them.” 

Andrew Dessler, a Texas A&M University climate scientist.

“Climate change is loading the weather dice against us in every part of the world…What this means is that it is increasing not only the frequency and severity of many weather extremes, but also that the risk of compound events is increasing.” 

 Texas Tech climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe, chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy.

The US oil and gas industry has never had it so good. “[The] the sector is booming under the Biden administration—oil production in the U.S. is projected to reach record levels in 2024, with job growth in the sector outpacing the overall job market... ‘Despite the fact that oil is doing incredibly well under President Biden, the industry and its allies have continued to press the misleading talking point that Biden is engaged in war on oil and gas, reality is that he’s been trying to put forward some modest rules on the industry,’ said Alan Zibel, an analyst at Public Citizen. ‘The industry prefers Republicans because they’ll do what they want them to do.’” FastCompany.com May 6th.

Despite the “environmental goals” touted by Big Oil – you see their ads everywhere – their push-back on alternative energy, their taking credit for little more than token efforts to accept the transition away from oil and gas and efforts to lobby Congress tell us that they have every intention to fight the reality of global warming at every turn. Writing for the May 10th Los Angeles Times, Sammy Roth, focuses on this backdoor battle against necessary change: “Exxon and others have waged successful, decades-long campaigns of climate change denial and delay…

“Earth just experienced its 11th consecutive record hot month. Heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods — all of them are deadlier and more destructive than they were a few years ago. We shouldn’t ignore energy costs and smart use of taxpayer dollars. But in the absence of a livable climate, nothing else matters. With scientists telling us we need to cut carbon pollution more than 40% in the next six years, we don’t have time to waste prioritizing the most effective steps. We need to move on all fronts, ASAP…

“And how did we get to this crucial point in human history?... In large part because Exxon and other fossil fuel profiteers waged phenomenally successful, decades-long political campaigns of climate change denial and delay. .. Let’s set aside the fact that Exxon is a member of several trade groups that opposed Senate Bill 253 — the landmark measure approved by California lawmakers last year requiring major companies such as Exxon to publicly disclose their carbon emissions.

“As I watched a livestream of [a recent] Milken Institute Global Conference, I was frustrated but not surprised to hear Woods imply that emerging technologies such as carbon capture and green hydrogen — on which Exxon and other oil giants are spending a tiny fraction of their cash — will be the main drivers of climate progress. We need those technologies for sure. But solar panels, wind turbines and batteries are cheap enough and reliable enough to get us most of the way to 100% clean energy, scientists say…

“The deeper problem with [Exxon Chief Executive Darren Woods’] argument is that ‘prioritizing the most effective steps first’ is a recipe for disaster… Woods, however, said hardly anything about solar and wind power, instead calling on the federal government to ease permitting regulations to make it easier for companies to build large-scale carbon capture and green hydrogen infrastructure… ‘Permitting becomes significant bottleneck to advancing those projects,’ Woods said… He’s not entirely wrong. But he’s not telling the whole story.

“I also shook my head in amazement as Woods suggested that a major barrier to slashing carbon pollution is that the world lacks ‘a system for accounting for carbon.’ Until we can better calculate the costs and benefits of reducing emissions across different sectors of the economy, he said, we’ll continue to spend too much money on some climate programs and not enough on others — wasting taxpayer dollars in some places while missing low-hanging fruit in others.” Huh? We don’t have sufficient metrics on the impact of global climate change to implement the obvious necessary refocus: accelerate our transition away from oil and gas?

If there is one politician who senses what Big Oil is willing to spend to stop that transition and repeal those new tech programs in Biden’s Infrastructure Act, a job creating bill, it is the shameless cash strapped MAGA leader. “Former President Donald J. Trump told a group of oil executives and lobbyists gathered at a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort last month that they should donate $1 billion to his presidential campaign because, if elected, he would roll back environmental rules that he said hampered their industry, according to two people who were there.

“About 20 people attended an April 11 event billed as an ‘energy round table’ at Mr. Trump’s private club, according to those people, who asked not to be identified in order to discuss the private event. Attendees included executives from ExxonMobil, EQT Corporation and the American Petroleum Institute, which lobbies for the oil industry.

“The event was organized by the oil billionaire Harold Hamm, who has for years helped to shape Republican energy policies. It was first reported by The Washington Post… Mr. Trump has publicly railed for months against President Biden’s energy and environmental agenda, as Mr. Biden has raced to restore and strengthen dozens of climate and conservation rules that Mr. Trump had weakened or erased while in office. In particular, Mr. Trump has promised to eliminate Mr. Biden’s new climate rules intended to accelerate the nation’s transition to electric vehicles, and to push a ‘drill, baby, drill’ agenda aimed at opening up more public lands to oil and gas exploration.”

“Mr. Biden has called climate change an existential threat and has moved to cut the pollution that is dangerously heating the planet and supercharging storms, heat waves and drought… Over a dinner of chopped steak, Mr. Trump repeated his public promises to delete Mr. Biden’s pollution controls, telling the attendees that they should donate heavily to help him beat Mr. Biden because his policies would help their industries.” Lisa Friedman, Coral Davenport, Jonathan Swan and Maggie Haberman writing for the May 9th New York Times. Trump also promised a new round of tax cuts with juicy benefits for Big Oil. And damn those EV cars and trucks, a pox on expanding charging stations and accelerating the necessary investment in new technology. Brace, brace, brace for worse… or horribly worse if Trump has his way.

I’m Peter Dekom, and a vote for Trump is a vote to repeal democracy, increase government intrusion into our personal lives and add billions going to trillions of dollars’ worth of climate inflicted misery in our daily existence.