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A map showing world temperatures last July.
Senator Joe Manchin has graciously allowed the federal government to send several gallons of water to fight the wildfires raging in 15 or so states: some empty pails to Florida to bail out the sea water that threatens to overwash the state; a couple of kayaks to ride out hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico; and billions and billions of dollars to the rich and famous who make (and buy) electric cars and build wind and solar “farms.” Now he’s taking a victory lap as a savior of mankind.
The bill he permitted President Biden to get approved by the Congress is being described everywhere as “the nation’s biggest investment ever in the future of our overheating planet.” With $369 billion in the hopper, that would appear to be true. It’s also a way of pointing out that the federal government has not done squat about our overheating planet until now, an existential dereliction of duty. And it begs comparison with the $850 billion dollars conferred on our vast imperial military-industrial complex just one month ago; largess that included $39 billion more than the defense department requested.
Among other things, the bill includes:
- Billions to subsidize the manufacture and purchase of electric vehicles, which are relentlessly described as producing zero emissions, ignoring the emissions of the power plants producing the electricity with which to charge them. (Granted they cause the emission of less greenhouse gasses than cars powered by internal combustion engines, but it is not zero.) Ignoring as well the fact that our elderly and infirm electric grids, which are barely keeping up with current — and relentlessly increasing — demand, could be broken down by the addition of millions of car chargers.
- A laundry list of benevolence to various industries that manufacture such things as windmills, solar panels, energy-efficient appliances, “emission-reducing technologies.”
The Washington Post describes the measures in the bill as “baby steps.” Baby steps are appropriate in the nursery, not for escaping a raging house fire. People who were serious about the long and deepening emergency of climate change would be talking about ending subsidies to fossil-fuel producers, taxing polluting products such as gasoline, limiting emissions with harshly punitive laws, restoring the EPA’s ability (recently stripped by the Supreme Court) to choke off emissions from dirty power plants. The time when baby steps were acceptable is years in the past.
A few days after taking office, President Biden established by executive order the federal Office of Climate Change, to marshal and coordinate the full power of the federal government to assist people afflicted by global warming. A year and a half later, Congress has not allocated a penny to fund the office, which as a result has no office and no employees. Not even a baby step.
If you doubt the consequences of continuing on our present course, consider the situation that has arisen in London, England. Developers in west London are being told that they will not be permitted to build any new housing projects until about 2035 because the electric grid does not have the capacity to supply them and the fix will take more than a decade. Or take the case of South Africa, where load shedding — deliberate rolling blackouts imposed by the grid managers to avoid total breakdown — are leaving most people without power for six hours a day.
Coming soon to a jurisdiction near you. Thanks to Senator Manchin and baby steps.
OK; two days ago, I commented on this very blog about the coming refugee crisis that will surely engulf the ‘Great Lakes Promised Land’ – a climate-friendly necklace of milk-and-honey territory composed of
northern Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, most of Indiana and Ohio, a sliver of West Virginia, western Pennsylvania and New York, all of Vermont and New Hampshire, and western Maine. While this may seem like a large chunk of real estate, in fact, it comprises barely 10% of US territory.
Meanwhile, Las Vegas is dying even as I type these words. Not only are Lakes Meade and Powell drying up, but the Gallinas River – a primary source of fresh water – has been poisoned by debris and smoke from recent fires. Las Vegas is reported to have only 50 days of water left – 50 days!…I wouldn’t be surprised if some of those desert rascals are Googling my fair city right now, looking for a safe place to land.
Much like the Promised Land of old – an arable sliver of paradise in the midst of an endless baren wilderness, and set upon by hordes of resource-starved barbarians (mostly the tribal Habiru – Sumerian for ‘vagrants’ I believe) – my own sweet soil is now to be victimized due to its own pastoral beauty and gentle climate…’Rust Belt’ my ass!
Greg, Having decamped back to my native land motivated largely by getting out of the impending, soon to be uninhabitable regions, I have the same questions and worries. (Have to admit, also driven by monetary viability too – that is, what will your property asset be worth when no one wants to buy it?).
This has driven my on-and-off fascination with observing the Colorado River system and comparing the metrics and demographics to our own river systems. Going back 10 years, having over 30 million people dependent on one watershed should have sent alarm bells ringing at Defcon 1. But nope, wait until Lakes and Mead and Powell get to 27% capacity to think about declaring an emergency.
The U.S. Southwest reminds me of the line from The Oil Drum, “The train is heading for a cliff and everyone wants to be in the Dining car”.
A past VPOE (Vancouver Peak Oil Executive) colleague whom is an Architect and Urban Planner co-authored a study about the migration of peoples from the U.S. southwest to the Pacific Northwest region due to Peak Oil and Climate Change. IIRC, they estimated 10 million people would be seeking to relocate to BC. An equal amount in Washington State. (What most don’t realize is a good portion of Washington is actually quite dry – we live due north of that region). Maybe Steinbeck’s “Grapes of Wrath” should be required reading. What do we call the modern day Okies? Phoenars and Veegars?
Then there will be hordes at the gates heading back to put a burnish on the rust belt. Coming from Las Vegas one can only imagine what that decorative enhancement would be like – Liberace comes to mind. As I have been saying for years, there is a reason Cleveland is where it is, where Detroit is where it is, Duluth, Sault Ste. Marie, and Port Huron, etc. (I have lived in those areas as well). The same can be said for Jacksonville, FL and why our family still lives there. Florida will be Florida and those from the south will want to move just enough north.
Do we want them? And do we have a choice? If they were stupid enough to locate in Las Vegas or Phoenix, what value can they add to our climate redoubt? At least we won’t make them pick lettuce to get by.
I used to think that the Pacific Northwest would be a viable emergency destination. Now I’m not so sure.
“…burnish on the rust belt.” – nice!
The only meaningful change will be undertaken by individual households and small groups.
We’re TOAST
Literally!
😎
The way I see the predicament we are immersing ourselves into is a Sophie’s choice; if we stop burning fossil fuels billions will die. If we don’t everyone dies. Party on, Garth.
It’s interesting to mote that there are still people who loudly declare climate change a hoax.
https://www.theepochtimes.com/the-big-green-lie-almost-everyone-claims-to-believe_4639112.html?utm_source=partner&utm_campaign=ZeroHedge