Climate Visas And Other Disturbing Climate Change News

There have been too many news items related to climate change in the last few days that should tell us collectively that we are going in the wrong direction to address global warming and mitigate and adapt to its impacts. Among the recent headlines are the following:

• Once-in-a-century flash floods caused by torrential rains falling on the Texas Hill Country killed more than 130, with 160 or more still missing.
• Wildfires in Western Canada have forced thousands to evacuate, and darkened skies as far south as the Gulf Coast.
• Where I live, the government today issued air quality alerts because of wildfire smoke descending from the north and making the outside air dangerous to breathe.
• Canadian Prairie farmers this week state that everything they are planting is dying from a prolonged drought.
• The latest European heatwave has baked the continent and set new temperature records linked to deaths of an estimated 2,300 people in 12 European cities between June 23rd and July 2nd.
• A heat dome that has seared eastern Canada and the United States in the last month has set new day and nighttime record high temperatures.
• Rising sea temperatures and sea levels, caused by melting polar and alpine ice and ocean thermal expansion, continue to put coastlines at risk and are impacting ocean wildlife.
• Finally, the Pacific island nation of Tuvalu has seen a third of its population apply to the Australian government for climate visas to grant them the right to move to Australia in the face of rising sea levels.

It is not hard to jump to the conclusion that our planet is running a fever largely attributed to human activity. Yet, with Donald Trump’s second coming, the government of the United States has become a bastion of climate change deniers.

The Trump administration is putting in place at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Energy Department, climate change contrarians and skeptics.

The implications for U.S. climate policy, scientific research, and regulatory enforcement are dire. The Trump administration displays little respect for the science of climate change and rejects the link between global warming and human activity, in particular, the burning of fossil fuels.

So, who are the contrarians who, on behalf of Trump, are agreeing with him when he calls climate change a hoax and points to the Chinese as the perpetrators? A recent New York Times article has listed some of these “special scientists.” These include Steven Koonin, a physicist who worked for fossil fuel giant BP, John Christy, an atmospheric scientist who denies that human activity has any impact on the climate, and Roy Spencer, a meteorologist and former NASA scientist, who blames clouds for any climate change observations.

These special people join Scott Pruitt, the former Oklahoma Attorney General, a well-known critic of climate action who currently heads up the EPA, and Lee Zeldin, a lawyer and former Congressman, who has downplayed climate risks and prioritized “energy dominance” over environmental protection. Zeldin wants to eliminate the EPA’s authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

Meanwhile the above-mentioned John Christy and Roy Spencer are working with Judith Curry at NOAA. Curry is a climatologist outlier who questions current climate models and derides the tribal nature of climate change scientists. The three join David Legates, a University of Delaware professor and climate science denier, and Ryan Maue, appointed as NOAA’s chief scientist, who describes himself as a “lukewarmist.”

The EPA and NOAA have both faced mass firings and budget cuts that threaten their capacity to do climate research. The impact on the science of climate change will be dire.