As Climate Catastrophes Surge, GOP Remains in Denial
July 27, 2021
Think of climate denial as that patient who just got out of intensive care from Covid, and still doesn’t want the vaccine “crammed down his throat”.
A week ago, three lawmakers from the Northwest joined dozens of their Republican colleagues in creating the new Conservative Climate Caucus to show they were serious about addressing the growing threats to the planet.
Then they went silent as a devastating heat wave hit the region.
The trio — Reps. Cliff Bentz of Oregon and Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state — have been largely invisible as the heat wave shattered temperature records, melted streetcar power cables and caused rolling blackouts, all the symptoms of a warming climate that scientists say will only become more common in the future.
For conservatives outside of government who are anxious to see some congressional action to combat climate change, it’s simply a sign that Republicans haven’t fully recognized the threat.
“Conservatives are learning to think differently about climate change but they don’t yet know what to think,” said Alex Flint, executive director of Alliance for Market Solutions, an organization of conservatives seeking market-friendly climate policies. “Despite this new approach, many conservatives are not yet comfortable with the scale of the policy needed to address climate change,” he added.
Much like past GOP responses to hurricanes, floods and other climate-linked calamities, the Northwest Republicans’ lack of responses to the heat wave raise questions about whether even deadly consequences in their home districts can dislodge Republican lawmakers from their usual stances and talking points on global warming.
And at least one, McMorris Rodgers, is also continuing to lambaste Democrats’ and President Joe Biden’s climate proposals as too expensive and grandiose in what she slammed Tuesday as the “left’s ‘rush to green’ agenda.”
Democrats’ push for massive spending on wind, solar and new electric transmission would burden workers and families, she warned at a committee hearing on Tuesday, and proposals to slash greenhouse gas pollution by 2030 could “take us backwards to a time before reliable electricity and modern conveniences.”
That was more than her colleagues offered when asked if they supported spending on climate measures in an infrastructure bill. Bentz declined to comment, while Newhouse’s office did not reply to requests for comment.
While progressive Democrats are fuming over the lack of climate measures in the framework agreement for a bipartisan infrastructure bill announced last week, Republicans are warning against any linkage between that $1.2 trillion measure and a more climate-focused bill that would promote clean energy and electric vehicles that Democrats are expected to push on their own.
Democratic Washington Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray and Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden all called for attaching climate investments to the infrastructure package.
McMorris Rodgers’ spokesperson for the Energy and Commerce Committee, Jack Heretik, said in a statement in response to a query that “she believes that in order to address climate change risks, America must embrace and unleash innovation in a wide range of energy solutions, including emission-free and low-emission energy like hydropower, nuclear and natural gas.”
But climate experts say those measures on their own won’t stop the planet from warming above thresholds that will lead to catastrophic changes, including devastating storms, droughts and worsening heat waves — like the one that’s driven up temperatures in Seattle to levels 35 degrees Fahrenheit over the normal June highs and notched the highest temperature ever recorded in Canada.
Flint said Republicans are stepping onto the climate politics turf while the “reality is setting in” that the limited solutions to combating the issue are daunting given the party does not want to endorse Democrats’ proposals that would curb fossil fuels.
“They see the evidence, they acknowledge the reality, but they don’t want to embrace progressives’ climate policies because everything in Washington is political,” Flint said.
The science notes one major truth: Reducing human-caused emissions, largely produced by burning fossil fuels, will be needed to keep the planet from overheating. Scientists say the world needs to cease emitting greenhouse gases by 2050 to avoid crossing a dangerous tipping point that would bake in the worst effects of climate changes.
Meanwhile, another “Dome of Death” heat wave settling in over the midwest this week.
As climate extreme impacts hit home in suburbs, the issue takes on new urgency, and Republicans remain in paralysis.
UPDATE:
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
July 27, 2021 at 11:18 pm
There was a Blake Edwards comedy in 1966 called What Did You Do in the War, Daddy?
Right now people are recording the actions and public statements that will be used in a documentary ~2050-2080 called What Did You Do to Stop Climate Change, Mom and Dad?
“Well, son, I Gish-galloped fossil fuel talking points on climate blogs while other readers were trying to understand the science and learn how best to deal with it.”
July 28, 2021 at 1:56 am
From The Conversation (July 28 – 2021) – Associate Professor of Environmental History, Georgetown University
===========================
“Small climate changes can have devastating local consequences – it happened in the Little Ice Age
For thousands of years, Earth’s climate has not changed anywhere near as quickly or profoundly as it’s changing today.
Today, the temperature shift is going in the other direction – with global temperatures already 1 C (1.8 F) higher than before the industrial era, and local, sometimes devastating, extremes occurring around the world.
https://theconversation.com/small-climate-changes-can-have-devastating-local-consequences-it-happened-in-the-little-ice-age-164916
July 28, 2021 at 2:09 am
Good piece.
July 28, 2021 at 4:43 am
redskylite Says: “Today, the temperature shift is going in the other direction – with global temperatures already 1 C (1.8 F) higher than before the industrial era, and local, sometimes devastating, extremes occurring around the world”.
This observation, using 62,245 different sites from around the world show a minus temperature
Deviation: -0.22°F/-0.12°C
The Earth’s Temperature
Currently: 56.98°F/13.88°C
Deviation: -0.22°F/-0.12°C
Stations processed last hour: 62245
Last station processed: Beaufort, United States
Update time: 2021-07-28 09:29:15 UTC
Average (Jan 2015-June 2021): -0.341°C
Source: Temperature.Global
Data: NOAA global METARs 2015-current
NDBC global buoy reports 2015-current
MADIS Mesonet Data, NOAA OMOs
Previous Years
The recorded global temperature for previous years:
2015 average: 0.98 °F (0.54 °C) below normal
2016 average: 0.48 °F (0.27 °C) below normal
2017 average: 0.47 °F (0.26 °C) below normal
2018 average: 1.33 °F (0.74 °C) below normal
2019 average: 0.65 °F (0.36 °C) below normal
2020 average: 0.00 °F (0.00 °C) below normal
http://www.temperature.global/
July 28, 2021 at 8:34 pm
Now who is temperature.global and why are the numbers so different from so many other databases. And then I read this at that site “Temperature.Global calculates the current global temperature of the Earth. It uses unadjusted surface temperatures. The current temperature is the 12M average mean surface temperature over the last 12 months compared against the 30 year mean.”
July 28, 2021 at 11:22 pm
Mark Mev Says that the site states; “Temperature.Global calculates the current global temperature of the Earth. It uses unadjusted surface temperatures”. Who is Mark Mev comfortable with doing the temperature adjusting? Are the 62,245 different sites from around the world worth nothing to Mark Mev?
This below explains how surface temperatures are adjusted.
Hansen – The Climate Chiropractor
Need your climate adjusted? – call Dr. James Hansen at GISS. Below is a chronology of the destruction and politicization of the US and global temperature record. The Northern Hemisphere used to have a broken hockey stick problem. According to the National Academy Of Sciences in 1975, the hemisphere had cooled 0.7C since the 1930s, and was colder than it was at the turn of century.” https://stevengoddard.wordpress.com/hansen-the-climate-chiropractor/
July 29, 2021 at 9:16 am
Tony, now why would you ever post a link from steve goddard?
July 28, 2021 at 11:36 pm
But RSL, they use a “QC processor”!
How can you beat a QC processor?
How much more rigorous can you get than with a QC processor?
I bet it has flashing lights and everything!
Ain’t this scientifical?
July 29, 2021 at 12:10 am
Oops.
s/RSL/Mark/
July 28, 2021 at 4:53 am
“In recent weeks, catastrophic floods overwhelmed towns in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, inundated subway tunnels in China, swept through northwestern Africa and triggered deadly landslides in India and Japan. Heat and drought fanned wildfires in the North American West and Siberia, contributed to water shortages in Iran, and worsened famines in Ethiopia, Somalia and Kenya.
Extremes like these are increasingly caused or worsened by human activities heating up Earth’s climate. For thousands of years, Earth’s climate has not changed anywhere near as quickly or profoundly as it’s changing today.
https://theconversation.com/small-climate-changes-can-have-devastating-local-consequences-it-happened-in-the-little-ice-age-164916
It is amazing just how much power to change the Earth’s climate that the climate change alarmist ascribe to the trace gas, CO₂, that is only .03-.04% of the Earth’s total atmosphere and it is 1.6 times heavier than the rest of the atmosphere it is in; therefore, it readily sinks to ground level.
“Average global temps
In the 1880s: 56.7 F.
1920s to 1980s: 57.2 F.
Circa 2000 to 2010: 58.1 F.
These are not ‘hot’ temps. Below 60 degrees most people start putting on sweaters and jackets. At 58⁰F in your living room you’re probably gonna turn up the heat! It is a good temp for longer term wine storage”.
https://www.iceagenow.info/temperatures-have-been-falling-for-8000-years/
58.1⁰F – 56.7⁰F = 1.4 ⁰F in 130 years is nothing to wreak a nation’s economy over, unless that is your plan.
July 28, 2021 at 5:09 am
redskylite & Dagomar Degroot Says; “Today, the temperature shift is going in the other direction – with global temperatures already 1 C (1.8 F) higher than before the industrial era, and local, sometimes devastating, extremes occurring around the world”. One can realistically wonder why the UAH Global Temperature satellite readings do not confirm what redskylite & Dagomar Degroot are trying to get us to believe?
UAH Global Temperature Update for June 2021: -0.01 deg. C
July 2nd, 2021
The Version 6.0 global average lower tropospheric temperature (LT) anomaly for June, 2021 was -0.01 deg. C, down from the May, 2021 value of +0.08 deg. C.
REMINDER: We have changed the 30-year averaging period from which we compute anomalies to 1991-2020, from the old period 1981-2010. This change does not affect the temperature trends.
The linear warming trend since January, 1979 remains at +0.14 C/decade (+0.12 C/decade over the global-averaged oceans, and +0.18 C/decade over global-averaged land).
http://www.drroyspencer.com/
July 28, 2021 at 8:21 pm
“The satellite data are the best data we have.” BUT, https://skepticalscience.com/print.php?r=466, and https://www.pbl.nl/en/what-causes-the-differences-between-the-data-series
Satellite temperature measurements difficult to compare with surface measurements
In addition, it is important to note that satellite and surface measurements are difficult to compare. This is due to the fact that satellite series are based on the temperature of the entire lower troposphere (the lowest 5 km of the atmosphere). The temperature of this atmospheric layer is, for example, much more sensitive to El Niños than surface temperatures are. This is illustrated in the graph below by the relatively high peak for the two satellite series at the time of the super El Niño in 1997–1998 and the less strong El Niño of 2010. The reverse is the case for La Niñas, such as the strong one of 2008; here, satellite series typically show a lower temperature.
I know I don’t live at an altitude of about 5km, you on the other hand I’m not sure about.
July 29, 2021 at 12:14 am
If Mark Mev does not want to believe the satellite data, then he can rest assured that no one is forcing him to believe the satellite data. If the recent UAH Global Temperature Update for June 2021 shows -0.01 deg., then by all means do not believe what the satellites are tell everyone else, other than your go to for information, skeptical science. Do these actual ground based thermometer readings align with his believe that the Earth is about to be incinerated due to the trace gas, CO₂?
Major weather stations’ new all-time heat or cold records in January 2021
Among global stations with a record of at least 40 years, 34 set, not just tied, a new all-time cold record in January, and two stations set all-time heat records:
Vega de Liordes (Spain) min. -35.8°C, January 7: New national record low for Spain (unofficial, recorded in a sinkhole);
Huailai (China) min. -24.3°C, January 7;
Chengde (China) min. -27.2°C, January 7;
Xingtai (China) min. -17.1°C, January 7;
Zhangjiakou (China) min. -26.8°C, January 7;
Baoding (China) min. -22.0°C, January 7;
Datong (China) min. -31.1°C, January 7;
Mount Wutai (China) min. -32.8°C, January 7;
Naran Bulag (China) min. -39.2°C, January 7;
Jining (China) min. -30.0°C, January 7;
Chifeng (China) min. -29.5°C, January 7;
Shangdianzi (China) min. -26.5°C, January 7;
Tongzhou (China) min. -22.4°C, January 7;
Shunyi (China) min. -20.6°C, January 7;
Changping (China) min. -19.7°C, January 7;
Haenam (South Korea) min. -17.1°C, January 8;
Uljin (South Korea) min. -16.1°C, January 8;
Towada (Japan) min. -20.1°C, January 9;
Furue (Japan) min. -6.9°C, January 9;
Wakayanagi (Japan) min. -19.9°C, January 9;
Kawatabi (Japan) min. -14.3°C, January 9;
Komanoyu (Japan) min. -15.5°C, January 9;
Furukawa (Japan) min. -17.6°C, January 9;
Shiogama (Japan) min. -9.6°C, January 9;
Kamigori (Japan) min. -10.3°C, January 9;
Fukuwatari (Japan) min. -10.1°C, January 9;
Wake (Japan) min. -10.6°C, January 9;
Soeda (Japan) min. -7.5°C, January 9;
Yorii (Japan) min. -9.2°C, January 9;
Seosan (South Korea) min. -19.7°C, January 9;
Rakna (United Arab Emirates) min. -2.0°C, January 9: New national record low for the United Arab Emirates (for low-elevation places);
Ras Al Khaimah Airport (United Arab Emirates) min. 4.3°C, January 9;
Madrid Cuatro Vientos Airport (Spain) min. -13.0°C, January 12;
Madrid University (Spain) min. -11.0°C, January 12;
Maquinchao (Argentina) max. 38.9°C, January 22; and
Cipolletti (Argentina) max. 43.8°C, January 22.
One all-time national/territorial cold record set or tied in 2021
As of February 12, 2021, one nation or territory had set or tied an all-time national cold record:
United Arab Emirates (for places at low elevations): -2.0°C (28.4°F) at Rakna, January 9.
https://yaleclimateconnections.org/2021/02/noaa-january-2021-was-ninth-warmest-on-record-in-the-u-s-seventh-warmest-globally/
This is the caption for the photo in the Yale report. “Spain lies blanketed in heavy snow on January 12, 2021, in the wake of Windstorm Filomena, Earth’s most expensive weather-related disaster of January, with $2.2 billion in damage to Madrid alone. (Image credit: Modified Sentinel-3 satellite data from Pierre Markuse)
July 29, 2021 at 9:21 am
Tony, I just never realized that land based temperature measurements of cold records are believable to deniers like yourself, but the same land based temperature measurements of averages or maximums or maximum nighttime temperatures are all deviously manipulated. I say sir, you are a thermometer hater. Or partial thermometer hater.
July 29, 2021 at 9:30 pm
Mark Mev Says: “Tony, now why would you ever post a link from steve goddard?”
This is what this site that is as bogus as Snoops said about Tony Heller, (formerly known as Steven Goddard).
Overall, we rate Real Climate Science a Quackery level pseudoscience website as well as a moderate conspiracy website based on promoting that the solutions for climate change lead to communism. We also rate them Low for factual reporting due to failed fact checks and a complete rejection of the consensus of science in regards to human-influenced climate change.
https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/real-climate-science/
It is the ‘fact checkers’ who are corrupt and should not be paid any attention to as is the case with ‘Media Bias/Fact Check’ & also Snoops.
‘Media Bias/Fact Check’ Site Served With Cease And Desist, Gets Fact-Checked
Discredited, self-styled ‘fact-checker’ website was served with a ‘cease and desist’ legal notice today for publishing unsubstantiated and defamatory claims against Principia Scientific International (PSI).
MEDIA BIAS/FACT CHECK site owner admits he is unqualified and misrepresented himself as a seasoned journalist.
Ironically, the self-styled ‘MEDIA BIAS/FACT CHECK‘ (MB/FC) which negatively fact-checked PSI admits it relies on the subjective bias to decide how biased others are. In other words, MB/FC is a pseudoscientific fact checker!
Apart from unlawfully smearing PSI, Mr. Van Zandt has smeared other websites that publish scientific articles critical of man-made global warming claims. Among the unfairly smeared are:
Climate Change Dispatch
CFACT
WUWT
https://climatechangedispatch.com/media-bias-fact-check-site-served-cease-and-desist/?fbclid=IwAR1MUTtO6CRfC7IgYuvxBCYhsWKpSLMFyb28rlpFri4FpjTkSEabokklPIg
Below we help readers to fact-check the pseudo-fact-checker. We put Dave Van Zandt the faceless fact-checker under the microscope and discovered the following:
• Van Zandt Cites No Scientific Qualifications At All
• Van Zandt Was Exposed By WND As A Fraud And A Liar
• Van Zandt’s Website (MBFC) Does Not Apply Any Objective Scientific Method
• MBFC Relies On Unverifiable Subjectivity (Own Bias) To Make Judgments
July 30, 2021 at 4:16 pm
March 13, 2020 Climate Change Dispatch issues a cease and desist to Media Bias/Fact Check. Media Bias/Fact Check on February 15, 2021 rates Climate Change Dispatch Moderate on the Conspiracy Level, Quackery Pseudo_Science Level, and Low on Factual Reporting. That cease and desist just hasn’t seem to have worked. Maybe time to sue in court!
July 29, 2021 at 1:48 am
“Then they went silent as a devastating heat wave hit the region.
The trio — Reps. Cliff Bentz of Oregon and Dan Newhouse and Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state — have been largely invisible as the heat wave shattered temperature records, melted streetcar power cables and caused rolling blackouts, all the symptoms of a warming climate that scientists say will only become more common in the future.”
One can wonder with amazement where all of far left climate change zealots were when this was happening in Texas just this past Feb, 2021.
Could you elucidate regarding this bazaar comment? “The science notes one major truth: Reducing human-caused emissions, largely produced by burning fossil fuels, will be needed to keep the planet from overheating. Scientists say the world needs to cease emitting greenhouse gases by 2050 to avoid crossing a dangerous tipping point that would bake in the worst effects of climate changes.”. How is what happened this last February in Texas tied to anthropogenic greenhouse emissions?
“Texas told residents they should conserve power due to frozen turbines and equipment. As of 6 p.m. on Sunday night, a little less than half of all its installments were frozen or unable to operate due to the extreme cold, according to ABC Dallas affiliate WFAA-TV.
There are widespread power outages elsewhere, including Oregon, with more than 249,000 customers without power, 166,000 in Virginia, 37,000 in North Carolina, and 11,172 in Kentucky.”
https://dailydodge.com/texas-emergency-proclamation-approved-as-dangerous-winter-storm-causes-power-outages-2/
July 29, 2021 at 1:51 am
One can wonder with amazement where all of far left climate change zealots were when this was happening in Texas just this past Feb, 2021. It appears to not be a big deal when people are freezing in the dark.
More than 1.4 million homes without power as unprecedented winter storm hits Texas
February 15, 2021
More than 1.4 million homes are experiencing power outages across Texas after extremely cold temperatures and frozen precipitation blanketed the entire state, crippling transportation and infrastructure. Governor Gregg Abbot issued a statewide disaster declaration on February 12, warning all residents the state faces an unprecedented winter storm.
All 254 Texas counties were placed under Winter Storm Warning on Saturday, February 13, the same as in Oklahoma and Arkansas on Sunday.
One day after record-breaking energy use across Texas on Sunday, February 14, 2021, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) declared an ‘energy emergency alert three’ — EEA 3 — the third of three alert phases.
In the first phase, ERCOT looks to get electricity from other grids; in the second stage, large industrial users who’ve agreed to cut power in emergency situations are shut down; and in the third phase, the operator starts running rotating outages to reduce demand on the electric system.
Rolling blackouts, typically lasting from 15 to 60 minutes, could repeat all the way through Tuesday morning.
https://watchers.news/2021/02/15/massive-power-outages-winter-storm-texas-february-2021/
July 29, 2021 at 1:54 am
The AGW folks didn’t scream about climate change when this was happening, did they?
Extreme cold hits United States – electricity and heating prices surge as infrastructure fails to deliver
February 13, 2021
As a cold arctic air mass remains in place across much of the United States, wintry precipitation will bring hazards to the Pacific Northwest, the Southern Plains, Mississippi Valley into the Ohio Valley, and the Mid-Atlantic to Northeast this weekend into at least early next week. Temperatures will remain 11 – 22 °C (20 to 40 °F) below normal across the center of the country on Saturday, February 13, 2021.
https://watchers.news/2021/02/13/extreme-cold-hits-united-states-electricity-and-fuel-prices-surge-as-infrastructure-fails-to-deliver/
Everything that was happening this past Feb. 2021 did not matter to the goofy global warming charlatans, it appears because a cold event is just weather, while a few hot days in summer is a sure sign of climate change.
July 29, 2021 at 1:59 am
The AGW alarmist will not want to believe this valid information about how cold kills more than what heat waves do. We analysed 74 225 200 deaths in various periods between 1985 and 2012. In total, 7·71% (95% empirical CI 7·43–7·91) of mortality was attributable to non-optimum temperature in the selected countries within the study period, with substantial differences between countries, ranging from 3·37% (3·06 to 3·63) in Thailand to 11·00% (9·29 to 12·47) in China. The temperature percentile of minimum mortality varied from roughly the 60th percentile in tropical areas to about the 80–90th percentile in temperate regions. More temperature-attributable deaths were caused by cold (7·29%, 7·02–7·49) than by heat (0·42%, 0·39–0·44). Extreme cold and hot temperatures were responsible for 0·86% (0·84–0·87) of total mortality.
Interpretation
Most of the temperature-related mortality burden was attributable to the contribution of cold. The effect of days of extreme temperature was substantially less than that attributable to milder but non-optimum weather. This evidence has important implications for the planning of public-health interventions to minimise the health consequences of adverse temperatures, and for predictions of future effect in climate-change scenarios. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(14)62114-0/fulltext?fbclid=IwAR2Id8XzfMb8d5zUDq4HJg546zzUlr9MDNr94PKSfBW1CvCAOX2U4bC__go
July 29, 2021 at 10:01 pm
Mark Mev Says: “Tony, I just never realized that land based temperature measurements of cold records are believable to deniers like yourself, but the same land based temperature measurements of averages or maximums or maximum nighttime temperatures are all deviously manipulated.” I would, first off, like for the alarmist, Mark Mev, to try to tell me what it is that I am ‘denying’. I certainly do not deny that the climate changes or we would still be in the last Ice age. It is up to alarmist such as yourself to present empirical evidence that it is the trace gas, CO₂, that is now causing the climate to change.
Mark Mev post a comment that features the web site ‘skeptical science’ while making caustic remarks about Tony Heller.
About Skeptical Science
This site was created by John Cook. I’m not a climatologist or a scientist but a self employed cartoonist and web programmer by trade. I did a Physics degree at the University of Queensland and while I achieved First Class Honours and could’ve continued onto a PhD, I instead quit academia and became a professional scrawler. Too much doodling in lectures, I think. Nevertheless, I’ve pursued a keen interest in science and if anything, found my curiosity about how the world works increased once I wasn’t forced to study for impending exams.
My interest in global warming began when I drew a cartoon spoof of the TV show 24 that wondered what Jack Bauer would do if Al Gore was President and global warming was the “threat du jour”. I watched An Inconvenient Truth for research which I found thought provoking although I didn’t know what to make of all the science.
http://web.archive.org/web/20080213042858/http:/www.skepticalscience.com/page.php?p=3
Since Skeptical Science is Mark Mev’s go to site for his kind of climate science perhaps that is why Mark Mev appears to be so out in left field that he cannot find out what the truth about the Earth’s climate actually is.