Golis: For climate change deniers, the heat is on - The Santa Rosa Press Democrat

For climate change deniers, the heat is on - The Press Democrat

Golis: For climate change deniers, the heat is on

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and don’t necessarily reflect The Press Democrat editorial board’s perspective. The opinion and news sections operate separately and independently of one another.

So you can write it down. July was the hottest month in the history of California.

We’re not surprised. July became the month when temperatures in the 80s became a break from the heat, and the morning fog typical of a summer day turned up missing.

“July’s heat was remarkable not only for its sheer intensity … but also for its duration,” wrote UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain on his Weather West blog.

“Temperatures,” he added, “remained extremely elevated for weeks on end and did not substantially cool off at night ...”

This was the month we read stories about heat advisories and red flag warnings and how to remain safe on a hot day. Ukiah broke a century-old mark when it recorded a high temperature of 117 degrees, and temperatures over 100 degrees were commonplace.

And you think it was hot here? Palm Springs, no stranger to hot weather, recorded its hottest day ever, a scorching 124. Two hundred and forty-nine miles to the north, Redding recorded a high temperature of 119. Even Death Valley, one of the hottest places on Earth, set mind-melting new records. Temperatures exceeded 120 degrees on 24 separate days in July — including 129 degrees on July 7.

Fires have burned 30 times as many acres as they did last year at this time.

And it’s early yet. In the past, fire season didn’t begin until September. The deadliest fires in the history of Sonoma County didn’t occur until the second week of October in 2017.

So be careful out there.

There will be folks who insist that heat, torrential rain, destructive storms and all the rest are nothing more than the vagaries of weather. Pew Research Center pollsters reported in October that Republicans and Democrats hold very different views when it comes to the conflicts over climate change.

Climate change, as described by former President Donald Trump, is a “hoax,” which means to him that there’s no reason to worry about reducing carbon emissions.

Which is why the Republican Party wants to use more oil, natural gas and coal. “I don’t know that there is a Republican approach to climate change as an organizing issue,” Thomas J. Pyle, president of the American Energy Alliance, told the New York Times.

“Drill, baby, drill,” says the party platform.

Trump also wants to eliminate tax breaks for electric cars, battery research and solar and wind power.

Ironically, the GOP argument presumes that the development of fossil fuels is declining because there’s a Democrat in the White House, but the opposite is true. According to the New York Times, the U.S. last year pumped more oil than any country in history and has become the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas.

It’s not surprising, of course, that the companies that exist to produce fossil fuels aren’t in a hurry to join the people who say the planet faces an existential threat from climate change.

But extreme weather patterns make it more difficult to refute the scientists who warn that more extreme weather is on the way.

Death and destruction caused by heat and fire, rising sea levels, melting glaciers, torrential rains, the frequency of horrendous storms — climate change, the scientists say, will be defined by extremes of weather more destructive than what came before.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration last week warned that this summer and fall will bring more frequent tropical storms and hurricanes. (The conservative playbook called Project 2025 would eliminate the climate research functions of NOAA and other government agencies.)

Courtesy of Tropical Storm Debby, last week brought torrential rains, flooding, tornadoes, downed trees and power outages from Florida to Vermont.

It doesn’t feel like happenstance that the three hottest years in the history of California all occurred in the past seven years, or that nine of the 10 largest fires have occurred in the past seven years. (At 429,000 acres, the Park Fire, still burning near Chico, is the fourth-largest in state history.)

Nor does it feel like an everyday occurrence that a new report estimates that heat contributed to the deaths of 47,000 Europeans last year.

It’s up to you if you want to deny the existence of climate change, but it’s not debatable that heat, fire and smoke threaten human health and safety. In a single week in 2017, fires in Sonoma County destroyed 5,300 homes and killed 24 people.

With an economy reliant on wine grapes and other climate-dependent farm products, this becomes a subject of more than passing interest.

Whether it’s heat-related deaths in Morocco, or damage to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, or catastrophic fires in California, it doesn’t get easier to argue that these are acts of nature unrelated to climate change.

As with many aspects of life, time will deliver a verdict. The scientists who study these things warn that the planet is approaching a tipping point. It becomes more difficult, they say, to stave off the worst impacts if we ignore the risks and pretend no response is necessary.

Pete Golis is a columnist for The Press Democrat. Email him at golispd@gmail.com.

You can send letters to the editor to letters@pressdemocrat.com.

The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and don’t necessarily reflect The Press Democrat editorial board’s perspective. The opinion and news sections operate separately and independently of one another.