As We Try and Save Our Democracy the Planet Keep Warming

Like so many of my fellow citizens I’m incredibly worried about my country and what is happening to our government now that Donald Trump once more has control of the planet’s most powerful position. Fascism is upon us and to deny this reality is not an option. We must all fight back on various fronts because the USA even with all our faults, and there are many, is still the best bet for freedom in the world wide civilization of 2025.

Yet as we focus on the threats at hand, we must realize that life as we know it is in a critical state. Climate change is the existential crisis of the 21st century. As I write this Queensland in northwestern Australia is having massive flooding. The Aussies are not alone. Destructive flooding has been occurring in various nations and continents across the globe in 2024..

This past summer every country in Europe had flooding, many of them record-breaking. The flash floods in the Valencia area of eastern Spain in late October, had a years worth of rain fall in just a few days. Over 225 people lost their life, many of them elderly and children. The devastation to property was incredible. Other European countries with flooding includes, Austria, the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Ireland, Portugal, Switzerland to name a few.

In Africa Nigeria, Cameroon, Niger and Chad all had record amounts of rainfall. South Asia saw Bangladesh, India, Thailand, Nepal and Pakistan all experience catastrophic storms. The northern provinces in Afghanistan was hard hit in the spring. The list goes on as I did not list any Central and South American counties or China.

Of course as we all know the USA was not immune. Flooding was widespread across the country but Hurricane Helene blindsided the lower Appalachian region with devastation on September 27th. The beloved Blue Ridge Parkway was hit very hard with large sections of the road washed away in mudslides. Hundreds of life’s were negatively effected and the economic future of many small businesses are jeopardized. Many will never recover.

Most of this enormous destruction is a result of a warmer planet due to human activities, mainly the burning of fossil fuels. The greenhouse gasses carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, ozone and chlorofluorocarbons all trap radiant heat from our Sun and keeping it from escaping into space. It becomes a positive feedback loop. Yes, as the climate skeptics say, as nauseum, there has always flooding, many of them seasonal events like monsoon season, but global warming without a doubt increases the amount of water vapor in the air making natural occurring weather events much worse.

Of course global warming also creates more intense droughts. Dead vegetation from lack of water creates the perfect conditions for wildfires. Throw in hurricane force winds and fire fighters don’t stand a chance. Wildfire season is now 12 months long.

In our country we think of the West when the word wildfire is mentioned, but it was only a few years ago that the Smokey Mountain/Gatlinburg fires in Tennessee and North Carolina saw devastating wildfires whipped up by sudden strong winds. In recent years Australia, Canada, Portugal and Greece in particular have seen out of control fires that kill, including untold numbers of wildlife, and cause massive financial loses.

Bottom line is this: Heat kills. If it does not kill you outright with heat strokes it will fuel destructive weather events. In the near future there will be areas of Earth that will be to hot to sustain life. Our food production will suffer. Fresh water will be a scarce resource. If any country should build a wall it just might be Canada.

So with this daunting future threatening the existence of life on planet Earth what is Donald Trumps proposal. “Drill baby drill”. Eliminate subsidies for clean energy, especially for wind energy. (I guess he wants to dominate all things hot air). Withdraw from the Paris Climate Accords. Roll back vehicle mileage goals, etc.

In fact, the Trump administration is removing mentions of the climate crisis from many government websites. After all climate change is a far left agenda item that is adored by the DEI and environmental crowd. The administration instead would rather focus on eliminating excessive government regulations.

I agree that we must fight for our democracy against this sociopathic monster and his MAGA adherents on as many levels as possible, be they legal challenges, organizing marches and save our democracy rallies or whatever forms of protest works. But we must not forget the biggest threat facing us as a civilization.