If you think that it’s been abnormally hot in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä lately, you’d be right. June had 13 days with high temperatures over 90 degrees. And July had 16 days over 90 degrees with four days above 95 degrees. The number of days in June and July when the average high temperature in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä reaches 90 degrees? Zero, according to the National Weather Service. This hot summer followed an unusually warm winter: half of the days in January and February had highs above 50 degrees. That’s not a normal ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä winter.
It’s not just ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä with warmer than normal weather. It’s happening across the globe. June 2023 was the hottest June in recorded history. Followed by the hottest July ever recorded and the hottest August. Monthly heat records have been set for 14 straight months. And Earth’s hottest day ever recorded occurred last month on July 22.
What’s causing this warming? Two things stand out. One, there has been a strong El Nino, which is a climate pattern of unusually warm waters in the Pacific Ocean. But that’s a small portion of the increase in the warming trend. The vast majority of the warming trend is from burning fossil fuels and their emission of greenhouse gases. Greenhouse gases act like a blanket trapping heat in the Earth’s atmosphere.
Unfortunately, climate skeptics are promoting several misconceptions about global warming. One is that humans haven’t caused the Earth to warm. Bullpucky. The UN International Panel on Climate Change, the world’s climate scientists, has found that human activity has “unequivocally caused global warming.†And while several human activities contribute to global warming (for example, deforestation), it is “principally through emissions of greenhouse gases,†that we are causing the planet to warm, according to the IPCC.
Nor is it correct to assume that the unusually warm winter and the scorching hot summer in ÂÒÂ×ÄÚÉä is the “new normal.†It’s not the new normal, but rather just the beginning of ever-increasing temperatures unless there are “deep, rapid and sustained reductions in greenhouse gas emissions,†which is the IPCC’s reasoned recommendation. We’re nowhere near that level of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
Another false claim by climate skeptics when discussing global warming is that the coal burned in the United States is the cleanest in the world. It’s true that the Clean Air Act has resulted in substantial reductions in lead, sulfur dioxide and other criteria pollutants. But none of these regulated pollutants are greenhouse gases.
When it comes to greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide, John Amos and every other power plant in West Virginia uses the same emissions control devices that are used in China’s coal-fired power plants: none. The coal-fired power plants in West Virginia and China simply discharge all of their carbon dioxide into the atmosphere unabated, as if to say, “What could possibly go wrong?†We are witnessing every day what could go wrong and our children will see even more clearly what could go wrong unless there is a “deep, rapid and sustained†reduction in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
We don’t have to accept an ever-increasing warming planet. We can reap the benefits from transitioning to a clean energy economy with solar, wind and battery storage.
“The [energy] transition represents an opportunity to build a more competitive U.S. economy, increase the availability of high-quality jobs, build an energy system without the social injustices that permeate our current system, and allow those individuals, communities and businesses that are marginalized today to share equitably in future benefits.â€
That quote is not from the Sierra Club or some other environmental organization, but rather from the nation’s scientists — the National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. When the scientific community speaks with such clarity, we should listen. Failing to heed their sage advice will be at our, and our children’s, peril.
