It's hot. Fossil fuels made it hotter.
And it'll still be the coldest summer of your life if Trump's "Big, Beautiful Bill" passes this week.
It’s 20.6°F hotter than normal today in Concord, New Hampshire. Nearby, in Montpelier, Vermont, it’s 19.1°F hotter than normal.
Further south, in New York City, it’s 13.6°F hotter than normal. Over in Philly—where I live, pray for me—it’s 13.8°F hotter than normal. It’s 14.2°F hotter than normal in Detroit; 10.9°F hotter than normal in Chicago; and 9.6°F hotter than normal in Washington, D.C.
All of these extreme temperatures were made more likely by climate change—a phenomenon primarily caused by fossil fuels—according to Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index (CSI). The CSI uses peer-reviewed methodology to map out how much climate change influences the temperature on a particular day.
Across nearly the entireties of Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C., climate change made this week’s extreme heat five times more likely.
In Atlanta, Nashville, Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Louisville, Orlando, and many other major American cities, climate change made this week’s extreme heat four times more likely.
I’m focusing on the United States because that’s where the majority of our readers are (63 percent, to be exact). But temperatures are higher than average across the entire globe this week.
Western Europe in particular is experiencing temperatures up to 28.6°F hotter than normal. That heat was also made up to five times more likely by climate change.
I’m probably not telling most readers anything they don’t already know. When heat-trapping gases are accumulated in the atmosphere, it results in more extreme heat. Duh.
But I’m saying it anyway, because these are the moments when it’s most impactful to communicate the reality of climate change—in the moments when people are personally experiencing it.
I’m willing to bet that loads of Americans who are theoretically in support of climate action have disengaged on the issue lately due to sheer overwhelm, which is exactly what the Trump administration has always intended to accomplish by “flooding the zone” with controversy.
So it is exactly now, as millions of Americans are suffering under the very real, very dangerous, and very scientifically-well-documented effects of climate change, that it matters most to remind folks about it.
It especially matters because Republican congressional leaders are looking to pass major anti-climate legislation within the next week and a half, and potentially by the end of this week. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, in its current form, would pull an emergency brake on America’s transition to more climate-friendly energy sources and sell off millions of acres of public lands.
The bill would rapidly phase-out federal support for wind and solar power, and eliminate programs that make cleaner energy technology more affordable for consumers, including heat pumps, rooftop solar panels, as well as electric vehicles.
Altogether, the bill would rescind more than $6 billion in unspent federal climate and energy funding approved under the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. “That would leave the country and its people burning more fossil fuels despite strong popular and scientific support for a rapid shift to renewable energy,” wrote Rice University civil engineering professor Daniel Cohan in a recent piece for The Conversation.
The bill also includes an unprecedented plan to sell off between 2.2 million and 3.3 million acres of public lands, ostensibly in order to build more affordable housing. However, as the Center for American Progress notes, the bill text includes “no requirements for affordability or density, and there would be no significant guardrails to prevent valued public lands from being sold for trophy homes, pricey vacation spots, exclusive golf communities, or other developments.”
The bill would also seeks to mandate a massive amount of oil and gas leasing in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska, one of the country’s most ecologically sensitive areas.
Unsurprisingly, the bill’s current version is being pushed hard by lawmakers and lobbyists with significant fossil fuel industry backing.
But the anti-climate and public lands provisions in the bill are not yet a done deal. Mayors and business leaders in the clean energy sector are ramping up their lobbying efforts to get the bill amended. A revised version of the bill is expected some time this week.
With so many day-to-day atrocities, it can easy to forget about the climate crisis if it’s not smacking you directly in the face. But millions of us are feeling the heat this week. Lawmakers in Congress should, too.
Other stories I’m following
The climate cost of war. In 2020, I wrote about the climate consequences of a declared war with Iran, which go far beyond the emissions of bombs.
I’m thinking of republishing it for this current moment, with updated information as necessary. If you think that’s a good idea, let me know. It’s paywalled for non-subscribers (as are most HEATED stories more than a year old), but here’s an excerpt:Climate scientists have modeled out how global temperatures might shift in different geopolitical scenarios. And the scenario that always ends up with the planet in fiery climate chaos is the so-called “regional rivalry” scenario—to put it simply, the one where everyone is fighting, borders are closed, and rich white-led countries like the U.S. are super racist toward less-wealthy countries filled with brown people.
It makes sense why a nationalistic, conflict-ridden political environment would be a planetary death-knell. The solution to global warming has to be global. Countries have to work together toward the shared goal of a livable climate for all. They have to share technologies and solutions. This does not happen when we’re spending trillions of dollars blowing each other up. It certainly does not happen in the 10 year time frame it needs to happen in.
World’s biggest banks increased fossil fuel financing by $162 billion in 2024. From the Guardian:
The world’s largest banks boosted the amount of financing given to fossil fuel companies last year, committing $869bn to those involved in coal, oil and gas despite the worsening climate crisis and the banks’ own, fraying, environmental commitments, a new report has found.
The Trump EPA is telling some staff to stop policing the oil and gas industry. From CNN:
The Environmental Protection Agency has told staff overseeing the country’s industrialized Midwest — a region plagued by a legacy of pollution — to stop enforcing violations against fossil fuel companies, multiple sources told CNN.
The directive, which sources say was issued verbally to stunned staff in recent months, comes as EPA insiders say there is broad pressure within the agency to ease scrutiny of the industry.
EPA drops case against prison company that has donated heavily to Trump. From the Guardian:
The Donald Trump administration has dropped up to $4m in potential fines against the private prison operator Geo Group over the latter’s use of a toxic disinfectant in a detention center that allegedly put employees’ and detainees’ health at risk.
The administration made the move after Geo donated over $4m to the president and Republican leadership, as well as Trump’s inauguration fund.
Campaigners issue mass call for reforms to UN climate process. From Climate Home News:
More than 200 climate campaign groups have issued a joint call for reforms to the way United Nations (UN) climate talks are conducted, saying that the negotiations have “reached breaking point.”
The campaigners want decisions to be adopted by voting rather than requiring consensus among governments, as well as an end to what they call the “trade show” aspect of COP climate talks. They also proposing measures to reduce polluting industries’ influence in a set of demands released at the Bonn mid-year talks on Monday afternoon.
Catch of the Day: This is Yuki, a rescue pup whose breed and ear twitches are mysteries to reader Anna. Yuki just lost her puppy teeth, but the next set are coming in nicely.
Want to see your furry (or non-furry!) friend in HEATED? Just send a picture and some words to catchoftheday@heated.world.
I would definitely like to read your updated take on the Iran conflict. I'm a firm believer that our capitalistic aggressions in the Middle East are and always have been over petroleum.
The only thing Trump understands is transactions that make him richer. The fossil fuel industry donated heavily to his campaign election and we're seeing the results. The selling off of public lands for timber is for the lumber industry, who, you guessed it, donated to his campaign. The same an be said for all of the controversial things he does.
Trump is the world's greatest, to date, grifter. He doesn't care about anything other than doing whatever it takes to get people to pay attention to him and gather more money for himself at anyone else's expense. He doesn't care if he steals it right out from under everyone's noses. He's not trying to hide it anymore because he doesn't have anything left to lose.
He doesn't care about the environment, unless there's money in it for him. He doesn't care about anyone dealing with the extreme temperatures as he is living in the best air conditioning the tax payers can pay for. The same can be said for his golf weekends. He doesn't care because someone else is paying the bills. He's eating fancy food in his comfy quarters without a care in the world, other than figuring out where his next million dollars is going to come from at someone else's expense.
He also knows on a sub-level, that he will be dead before climate change will ever affect his personal comfort. Not that his kids are much better but they're pretty much stupid beyond reason anyway. They don't care about anything more than what their father tells them to.