Burning, Man
Also: Biden, "practically speaking"
PRESENTED BY MONDRIAN MOTHS AND NUDE ORCHIDS
Hill Heat, like the U.S. Congress, is in recess this month. But the burning of the world isn’t taking a break. Also, there are some field hearings this week.
Maui is on fire, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean. Gale-force winds at the far reaches of Hurricane Dora struck the drought-ridden island, toppling trees and powerlines and rapidly spreading fires that consumed the historic town of Lahaina and killed at least six people. The New York Times is covering those hit hardest by this emerging disaster.
The quadrennial World Scout Jamboree was a catastrophe, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels. More than 40,000 young people from 155 countries came to camp in Saemangeum, South Korea, but were stricken by 95°F heat and then threatened by Typhoon Khanun, forcing a wholesale evacuation.
On Saturday, Juneau was struck by a Suicide Basin GLOF, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean. The glacial lake outburst flood swept away buildings on the swollen Mendenhall River.
The Southeast is under the grip of an unrelenting heat wave, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean. The heat is causing electricity prices in Texas to skyrocket and shattering heat records in Florida.
Most of Slovenia was overtaken by severe flooding over the weekend, killing at least six people and leaving hundreds homeless, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean.
In the mountains of the country of Georgia, extreme rains in the resort area of Racha caused a deadly landslide that killed at least 17 people, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean.
On Monday, Norway and Sweden received a month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours, derailing a passenger train and causing widespread power outages, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean.
Hundreds of firefighters are desperately battling wildfires in Portugal as temperatures hit 114°F, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, drastically altering the chemistry of the atmosphere and ocean.
On Tuesday, President Joe Biden visited Arizona, designating 917,618 acres of public lands surrounding Grand Canyon National Park the Baaj Nwaavjo I’tah Kukveni – Ancestral Footprints of the Grand Canyon National Monument. The name incorporates both Havasupi and Hopi phrases for the region.
As NPR’s Tamara Keith reports, “The move protects lands that are sacred to indigenous peoples and permanently bans new uranium mining claims in the area.”
The Weather Channel’s Stephanie Abrams, interviewing Biden at the Grand Canyon, pressed the president whether he was “prepared to declare a national emergency with respect to climate change.”
“I’ve already declared it,” Biden baldly claimed, citing moves his administration has made. When Abrams checked if there actually was such a declaration, he brushed a bug off her jacket, and amended, “Practically speaking, yes.”
In another part of the hard-hitting climate interview, Biden told Abrams, “I want to stop all drilling on the East Coast, and on the West Coast and on the Gulf. But I lost in court. But we’re still pushing very hard.”
House Republicans are holding two climate-related field hearings this week:
On Thursday, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) is leading an Oversight Committee hearing on the federal response and recovery efforts in southwestern Florida following Hurricane Ian. The witnesses include, among others, Brett Howard and Tom McCool, the FEMA officials in charge of the Hurricane Ian recovery effort since September 2022; Fort Myers mayor Kevin Anderson; and the corrupt local official Brian Hamman.
On Friday, Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) is holding a Natural Resources field hearing in Yosemite National Park on wildfires, in which Republicans will again push their alternative-earth argument that Western wildfires are caused by restrictions on the timber industry. The 18-page memorandum for the hearing assiduously avoids mentioning the fossil-fueled global warming driving the modern era of megafires.
Thursday, August 10
10 AM: House Oversight and Government Reform
Government Operations and the Federal Workforce
Oversight of the Federal Response and Recovery Efforts in Southwestern Florida following Hurricane Ian
Friday, August 11
2 PM: House Natural Resources
Federal Lands
Wildfires and Forest Management at Yosemite National Park
Finally: I’ve been reading Andrew Marantz’s long-form profile of oil heiress and climate-left activist Leah Hunt-Hendrix, who has quietly been collaborating with and supporting the climate movement for over a decade now, and co-founded Way to Win in 2016, one of the most effective political funding organizations for Green New Dealer candidates in the country.
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