Why the US is so horribly incapable of meaningful climate action
While the worlds climate is hot and getting hotter, the US government is frozen in time. Runways are melting in the UK. Lakes are drying up in the US. Fires are raging all over. But the federal government is stuck in amber, blocked by a Supreme Court that pines for a pre-industrial age, insisting on new laws for the Environmental Protection Agency to fight climate change, and beholden to a custom in the Senate that makes any new climate law all but impossible. One Democratic senator Joe Manchin, from the coal-producing state of West Virginia held the power to bless or destroy some climate action this year. He chose destruction. Europes second major heat wave of this summer is its worst so far. The UK could record its highest ever temperature if, as expected, it logs 40 degrees Celsius (about 104 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday. Wildfires are destroying areas in France and Spain. Brits more used to the cool and damp have lived without air conditioning, something they might need to rethink since this weeks heat wave is a preview of the worlds new climate. As CNN Senior Climate Editor Angela Fritz wrote last week, the weather the UK is experiencing now was actually part of a hypothetical climate change forecast prepared by the UK government. Its coming true decades earlier than predicted. I asked Fritz why Americans should be looking at the weather in Europe. She sent me these reasons why we should expect more hot than cold as the climate changes and why our way of life is compounding the problem: The second part of this story has to do with the US government, which is witnessing a conservative Supreme Court wield more power to weaken the federal government. Less power for the EPA. In June the conservatives who will control the court for decades denuded the EPA of its ability to, as CNN wrote, broadly regulate carbon emissions from existing power plants. It also upended years of doctrine by which the federal government assumed authority to regulate everything from climate policy to worker safety. Congress is dysfunctional. Busting the federal bureaucracy back to the Gilded Age might sound good in a legal seminar, as in demanding more guidance from Congress. But the problem is that the growing tribalism of US politics means Congress cannot agree to do big things. Climate change, which scientists have long argued is ultimately an existential threat, is the biggest. But inflation. Manchin cited the immediate issue of inflation as his reason for abandoning the other immediate issue of people changing the worlds climate. Inflation is absolutely killing many, many people, Manchin told MetroNews Talkline. They cant buy gasoline, they have a hard time buying groceries, everything they buy and consume for their daily lives is a hardship to us. And cant we wait to make sure that we do nothing to add to that? Well have to wait. And if Republicans take control of the US House after Novembers election, short of a party epiphany, we will continue to wait. White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein told CNNs Dana Bash on State of the Union on Sunday that he didnt understand how Manchin could miss the devastating impacts of the climate crisis. It is beyond me how anyone could miss it, Bernstein said, arguing droughts, floods and wildfires, which have been made worse by the climate crisis, are costing the economy $100 billion each year. The plan Manchin abandoned, already drastically pared back to suit his fancy, included massive investments in clean and renewable energy and electric vehicles to cut down on fossil fuels and incentives to get Americans to become much more energy efficient. This problem is bigger than Joe Manchin. The West Virginia senator is an easy target for frustration since he is a Democrat bucking his party. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, accused Manchin Sunday of intentionally sabotaging President Joe Bidens agenda. But that lets Republicans off the hook for taking a united party position against any sort of climate action. Theres plenty of blame to go around, although that wont help. For now, while the climate crisis continues, the biggest plans to fight it are on ice. Read more: