The ongoing wildfires in Los Angeles are yet another alarm warning us of the dangers of climate change.
Catastrophic extreme weather events have now become almost routine: intense, massive hurricanes, record flooding, record heat waves, droughts and firestorms. We can’t afford to let them become routine. These deadly events are a grim reminder that we’re running out of time to address this global crisis.
Last year was the hottest year on record, topping the record-breaking year of 2023, according to the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service, which today released its annual climate summary report. The last 10 years were the 10 hottest years on record since 1850.
In 2024, the average global temperature for the first time exceeded by 1.5ºC (or 34.7ºF) the pre-industrial average global temperature. In the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, nearly all nations committed to limiting global warming to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels, with efforts to cap it at 1.5°C, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions and enhancing climate resilience.
Rising global temperatures are linked to greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, a direct result of burning fossil fuels. In 2024, carbon dioxide levels reached a record high of 422 parts per million, further intensifying the greenhouse effect and contributing to global warming.
We cannot afford to pretend this isn’t happening.
We cannot afford to pursue policies that will make this crisis worse, instead of working to reverse the damage.
Yet, instead of heeding these warnings, some world leaders, including our incoming president, continue to push policies that will only intensify this global crisis by increasing reliance on fossil fuels — oil, natural gas and coal. Burning fossil fuels is the primary cause of greenhouse gas emissions globally.
The U.S. ranks 12th from the bottom among 59 industrialized nations worldwide in the climate change performance index, which combines a weighted average of four main factors: greenhouse gas emissions, energy use, renewable energy, and climate policy.
But beyond that ranking, the U.S. is one of the world’s biggest polluters, second-biggest emitter of greenhouse gases, biggest oil producer and one of the largest consumers of petroleum products..
Drill, baby drill.
The consequences of such short-sighted, if not outright fantastical, policies should be getting harder and harder to ignore. Yet somehow, we seem content to sacrifice the very future of our planet for a quick buck.
Those consequences won’t be covered over by simply erasing the phrase “climate change” and removing climate data and research from federal government websites — or just pretending that what we can see with our own eyes isn’t really happening.
This week former President Jimmy Carter was laid to rest. Carter understood the importance of energy independence and environmental stewardship. In 1977, Carter led the establishment of the Department of Energy. To make a statement about renewable energy, he had solar panels installed on the White House roof. His vision was a sustainable future powered by clean energy.
Unfortunately, Carter’s successor presided over a retreat from his forward-thinking policies, symbolized by the removal of those solar panels from the White House. President Ronald Reagan sought and got severe reductions in renewable energy funding — slashing funding for solar energy by about 90%. He prioritized fossil fuels and nuclear energy, rolled back efforts to promote energy conservation, and proposed eliminating the Department of Energy altogether. He believed market forces, not government intervention, should determine energy production.
Today, we’re still grappling with the consequences of those policies and decades of delayed action. After four years of progress, for the most part, toward a sustainable energy future and away from fossil fuels, to paraphrase Reagan: here we go again.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to reverse course and pick up where he left off in 2021, implementing an energy policy that ignores these realities and increases reliance on fossil fuels, in pursuit of global energy dominance, just like the “good old days” he longs to bring back — stepping up drilling for oil and gas, weakening emissions standards, and undermining renewable energy initiatives. He has called climate change a hoax and during his first term appointed to key positions people who rejected climate science. He promises to once again withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate treaty.
Much of the energy agenda Trump pursued in his first term, with steps to take for its expansion, is set forth in the Project 2025 “blueprint.” The document calls for rolling back existing climate initiatives aimed at addressing climate change. It calls for repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, which allocates funding for clean energy investments. It calls for rescinding regulations that limit greenhouse gas emissions. It recommends downsizing or eliminating agencies involved in climate research and policy, like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It calls for expanding domestic oil, gas and coal production and advocates for drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Trump is already on record supporting these measures.
So, we’ll just let the market continue to work its magic. Problem is, the market best serves the interests of the industry, and the industry serves its own interests, not those of the public or the planet. And in this case, the industry knew since the mid-1950s that fossil fuel consumption was increasing CO2 in the atmosphere and increasing global temperatures. The put profits over the planet then, and they continue to do so today — and they use their wealth to control politicians and get laws and regulations passed that benefit their bottom line.
The L.A. wildfires we’ve watched destroy entire communities this week should remind us we are confronting a global crisis that, without urgent action — today — jeopardizes the very existence of our planet. We cannot afford to bury our heads in the sand. Unfortunately that seems to be exactly what’s on tap. But the clock keeps ticking anyway.
This editorial was updated Jan. 11 at 7:45 a.m.
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