Hotter than a blister bug in a pepper patch

The average global temperature on Monday was 62.6 degrees, the highest on record, according to the U.S. National Centers for Environmental Prediction.

So the last four days have been the hottest ever recorded on our planet in about 120,000 years according to this article, We're experiencing Earth's hottest weather in 120,000 years and it's just getting started. So far this week anyway, I am sure that it will get a lot worse. Average sea surface temperatures have been the highest ever recorded and Antarctic sea ice extent the lowest on record.

That article took me to this nifty link, the Climate Reanalyzer, from the University of Maine.

You see that upward spike on the right going straight up through rainbow bands of color like a float at a gay pride parade? That is the trajectory we are on. But not to worry. If we survive long enough, the author assures us that we will look back on our time today as the cool period. Positively brisk.

Of course if you live in Texas they will say, of course it is hot, it is summer or something like that. Dad gummit.

I have followed climate change and those that deny it for a long time. It has had an interesting pattern, the first outright denial that things were getting hotter and of course some contrarians that would try to tell you that it was actually getting colder.

Or to shut up, that it was so much worse in the Pleistocene Age.

The denialists tried all sorts of funny tricks with where to start or stop their graphs, or complained about the hot asphalt at the sensor stations, anything they could with their lame explanations. 

They said climate had nothing to do with weather.

Finally they said that it might be getting hotter but man's contributions to global emissions have nothing  to do with it. 

Then they said well, yes, our emissions might have something to do with it but why penalize us when India and China are so much worse, blah, blah, blah. Let's all sit on our hands instead and go down with the ship, it is obviously god's will.

Now they basically say that we better find a way to adapt to the heat or die. And why not double down on oil, gas and coal while we are at it and lets penalize all that green energy bullshit.

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If you look at the principal denialists, they are all connected to places like the Heartland Institute (with glossy websites like Climate Realism), or the Cato Institute or the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Why? Because they are all funded and financed by big money and fossil fuel interests and they are afraid that seriously dealing with the problem will cost their benefactors dough. They like to tell you that up is down or that it really isn't that hot. No problem with wildfires or heatwaves. Nothing to see here, move along.

They found the dumbest people on Capitol Hill to carry their flag, people like James Inhofe and Myron Ebell. And they basically started the war on science. All under the correct assumption that most people were too stupid to see through their lies or even care, frankly.

They are really good at sleight of hand and changing their story but the one thing you never hear from them is a willingness acknowledge the problem and to help constructively solve the issues that we face. Because they are paid not to. Simple as that.

According to NASA, 97% of scientists agree that humans are causing global warming and climate change. 

Most of the leading science organizations around the world have issued public statements expressing this, including international and U.S. science academies, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and a whole host of reputable scientific bodies around the world. A list of these organizations is provided here.

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It has been hotter than hell in Texas. I have had friends there recently and they said that the heat, coupled with the humidity made things just unbearable. Now I bag on Texas a lot, having lived their from 1964 to 1968, but their are some very nice Texans and some very nice communities, places like Austin and San Antonio.

And some of those communities, concerned about the life and well being of their workers and citizens, passed laws telling employers that they had to give their workers regular breaks to drink water during the hot days.

But no, we couldn't have that. The incredibly stupid governor Abbott, just signed a law that made those local and municipal laws illegal. No water for you bastards. 

House Bill 2127 passed the state Legislature and Gov. Greg Abbott promptly signed it into law on June 14. The bill, which goes into effect in September, strips construction workers in Austin and Dallas of the right to water breaks every four hours and time to rest in the shade while on the job.

What the fuck is going on down there? And how could he do this during the worst heat spell on record? These are some sick puppies.

The new law comes as Texas endured three straight weeks of high humidity and triple-digit temperatures in June. Such intense and long-lasting heat waves are expected to become more common in a warming world, climate scientists have said.

Backlash to the legislation is mounting. Earlier this week, the city of Houston filed a lawsuit that seeks to block the state law and have it declared “unconstitutional.”

The measure has been nicknamed the “Death Star” bill because it broadly pre-empts legislation at the local government level if it clashes with state law. The bill covers eight areas of government — including labor, business and agriculture — overturning local ordinances that are already in place and preventing local governments from passing new ones if they conflict or deviate from state regulations.

I can't wait until sea level change from global warming swallows up large chunks of the red state nation, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, all of the deniers. They are going to cry and wail and plead for federal help but I will have little sympathy considering they have been so whole hog on oil and gas. Sorry folks. You made your bed. If you can get through the NYT paywall, great article on the Texas and Arizona heat today by Jeff Goodall.

I talked to a friend in Phoenix today. It was only 108 when I was there a week or two ago, now the high is about 111. His radiator just cracked in his car, mechanic says it is too hot to work on it. I could not live in that kind of heat but we actually get close to that in late August and September.

He told me that if there was a brownout and power shutoff, it is so hot that people would just start croaking. And it looks like things will only get worse in time.

Better start adapting quick, folks.