The main purpose of this ongoing blog will be to track United States extreme or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day. I’ll refer to extreme or record temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: How Impeachment And Other Prosecution Will Bolster Climate Justice
Dear Diary. This week in the United States the 1000 pound guerilla in the room is the impeachment of Donald Trump. It’s very doubtful that 67, or 2/3rds of our senators, will vote for impeachment despite overwhelming evidence, so the goal of not allowing Trump to ever run again for public office won’t be attained. It’s pretty obvious that Trump encouraged an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which seven people were killed and scores injured on January 6th. And yes, if it wasn’t for some skilled police the situation would have been much worse.
Yet, I don’t see the second impeachment of Trump as an exercise in futility. With each passing hour bad actors and actions are being exposed. The public is seeing just how corrupt, racist, and evil the Republican Party has become looking at video and hearing audio of Trump’s supporters from January 6th. I have no doubt that once the senate trial is over other entities like the Southern District of New York and from Georgia will prosecute getting guilty decisions.
This will have the effect of putting a check on populism in this nation, which has married itself with anti-environmental entities, unfortunately. In the populist worldview we should mine and drill to our little heart’s and pocketbook’s content, with the rest of the world be damned. Or will it? If Trump and his associates go down as martyrs some other younger, smarter populist leader might emerge out of the political ether to become President someday. Trump and his ilk set the environmental movement back four years. We can’t afford another such critical setback during the last decade that we actually can implement wholescale changes to prevent our climate from exceeding +2.0°C above preindustrial global a average temperature conditions.
I’ve written about climate justice before, thinking that coal and oil companies, many propped up by Trump, should be prosecuted for crimes against humanity. By doing so their actions of muddying the waters of the inconvenient scientific truth of carbon pollution can be exposed. Also, much needed funds can be drawn out of the hides of fossil fuel companies and passed along to those needing help. And, if fossil fuel beasts don’t evolve into tamer, greener animals, law suits will aid in putting down these rabid animals. Eventually billions of dollars will need to be spent to relocate people from coastal areas, which will be a huge task for the second half of the 21st century.
So, if anyone asks why impeachment and why there are so many lawsuits against energy companies, tell them it’s all part of creating a fairer, greener society for all. Tell them that their children, when reading the history of the early 2020s, will be grateful.
Related:
Here is some more climatological notes from Thursday:
Here is more climate and weather news from Thursday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)
Now here are some of today’s articles and notes on the horrid COVID-19 pandemic:
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Guy Walton “The Climate Guy”