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What does the hottest day ever look like?

On the menu: flood, fire, and superyachts

Author

Brad Johnson
July 06, 2023

PRESENTED BY MOTHS ATTRACTED TO THE LIGHT

What does the hottest day ever look like? We can look at Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday . . . all by far hotter globally than any other day in human history, thanks to the burning of hundreds of billions of tons of fossil fuels, mostly in the past thirty years.

In Chicago, it looks like this:

Torrential rains flooded Chicago’s streets and forced NASCAR officials to postpone a fossil-fueled car race through the city.

In Chongqing, it looks like this:

Evacuating residents during a flood in Chongqing, China, on Tuesday. At least 15 residents were killed.

In Japan, it looks like this:

Heavy rain pounded parts of western Honshu and the Kyushu region on Saturday, with record-breaking hourly precipitation reported in several locations, causing one fatality and leaving two others missing.

In Cambodia, it looks like this:

Phnom Penh was battered on Monday by at least 6 inches of rain.

In Mexico, it looks like this:

In Washington, it looks like this:

You can read takes from Earther, Mother Jones, the BBC, or the Washington Post on us reaching “uncharted territory.” Inside Climate News’ Bob Berwyn interviewed climate scientist Kevin Trenberth:

“I expect a step change to higher global mean temperatures starting this year. And next year will be the warmest on record, either 1.4 or 1.5C above pre-industrial. I expect it then to oscillate about that value and not come down again.”

Or, as Vox’s Benji Jones wrote, “while this summer might be unbearably hot, it’s likely to be one of the coolest summers for decades to come.”

Trenberth also pointed out, however, that if we stopped burning fossil fuels, things would get better immediately:

“It is not global temperature that matters but Earth’s energy imbalance. If you have a pot of water on the stove, while heating, convection occurs. Ultimately it boils off water as steam. But as soon as you turn off the heat source, all that behavior stops. The temperature is the same, but the heating is no more.”

moth say: continuing to burn fossil fuels is luna-cy

Meanwhile, the perfect Semafor PRESENTED BY FRACKING GIANT NEXT ERA ENERGY climate sentence:

“Also in today’s newsletter, the author of a new book about the climate crisis reassures me that flying long-haul and eating steak is nothing to feel guilty about, smoke from Canada’s wildfires has reached Europe (where I live), and how you could one day have a truly carbon-neutral pint of beer.”

Check out the galaxy brain on Prashant Rao. No wonder Ben Smith dumped Bill Spindle, who lacked the requisite ability to string together public-relations pitches with fracker propaganda. Bill’s since joined team Bill Gates at Cipher By Breakthrough Energy.

Better than jet-setting: public transportation.

F Minus is a great new initiative tracking state-level fossil-fuel lobbyists:

It shows the reach of state-level fossil-fuel lobbyists into almost every aspect of American life, spanning local governments, large corporations, cultural institutions such as museums and film festivals, and advocacy groups, grouping together clients with starkly contradictory aims.

For instance, State Farm, the insurance company that announced in May it would halt new homeowner policies in California due to the “catastrophic” risk of wildfires worsened by the climate crisis, employs lobbyists that also advocate for fossil fuel interests to lawmakers in 18 states.

Meanwhile, Baltimore, which is suing big oil firms for their role in causing climate-related damages, has shared a lobbyist with ExxonMobil, one of the named defendants in the case. Syracuse University, a pioneer in the fossil fuel divestment movement, has a lobbyist with 14 separate oil and gas clients.

Activists with Extinction Rebellion are camping outside the Massachusetts State House every single day until officials “declare an ecological emergency.” “We’re protesting the governor’s inaction on addressing the climate crisis,” Julia Hansen told WBZ’s Carl Stevens. “There’s always two, three, or more of us here at any given time.”

Congress is returning from its Independence Day break next week, so Hill Heat will be back as well.

Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word. Connect with me—@[email protected] and @climatebrad.hillheat.com on BlueSky

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