meanwhile, back on planet earth...

a russell joint

The original is behind the WaPo paywall, so here is a summary from good old Charlie Pierce.

tl;dr: 

The Trump administration now says yeah, the planet actually is heating up, and yeah, it actually is due in no small part from human activity.  Projections are 4C  increase over pre-industrial temps by 2100.

OK, first let that sink in.

Now the fun part - it's already baked in, so what, me worry?  No point in reducing automobile emissions.  

It boggles my mind to be living in the middle of this level of cynical, irresponsible cupidity.   Enjoy those tax cuts!

Comments

[Girl from the North Country]

Simply too awful, reprehensible and appalling. Words fail.

[JanieM]

Memorable lines from a press conference with Ari Fleischer, Bush's press secretary 2001-2003, on May 7, 2001:

Q:Is one of the problems with this, and the entire energy field, American lifestyles? Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?

MR. FLEISCHER: That's a big no. The President believes that it's an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life. The American way of life is a blessed one.

There's nothing new under the sun.

[sapient]

Trying hard not to despair.

[Tony P.]

Relax, ladies. We live in The Economy, not The Environment. The Dow rises in lockstep with fossil fuel consumption. So a 4C rise in global temperature means DJI 40,000 at the very least. Maybe more, if we kill off enough CO2-exhaling job consumers by eliminating their health insurance.

--TP

[CharlesWT]

The US has reduced carbon emissions more than just about any other country.

Where as Germany has painted itself into a green energy corner that has it importing, ripping up communies hundreds of years old and old forest to get enought coal to keep the lights on.

And people in developing countries aren't going to take kindly to being told, "We've got ours. You'll have to be satisfied with having enought light at night to handwash your clothes by."

[CharlesWT]

communies communities

(Always doublecheck the spellchecker.)

[cleek]

The US has reduced carbon emissions more than just about any other country.

good, because we're second only to China in emissions per capita.

[Pro Bono]

The USA is second only to China in total emissions. Way ahead of them in emissions per capita.

There are a few small oil states ahead of the USA.

[Nigel]

Yes, I posted this story a couple of days back somewhere with a WTF comment.
I still can’t get my head around the epochal* stupidity of this.

*Literally, as the geological record will show to anyone around in the far distant future.

[russell]

sorry I missed that Nigel.

4C above pre-industrial levels map.

[Tony P.]

Amidst the Kavanaugh mishegas, I almost forgot about this thread.

CharlesWT: The US has reduced carbon emissions more than just about any other country.

If that was meant to refudiate my " The Dow rises in lockstep with fossil fuel consumption", I not only accept CharlesWT's assertion, but heartily invite him to share it with any climate-change-denying troglodytes of his acquaintance who keep insisting that reducing fossil fuel consumption will kill The Economy or The American Way of Life or something.

Also CharlesWT: And people in developing countries aren't going to take kindly to being told, "We've got ours. You'll have to be satisfied with having enought light at night to handwash your clothes by."

For reasons only a Jarred Diamond might attempt to explain, most "developing countries" are more inundated with sunlight than the "developed" ones. "Developing" countries have no shortage of smart people, and are not burdened by American-Republican-style morons even though they surely have other kinds. It will cost them money to build up an energy infrastructure one way or the other. They may well decide to spend their money more wisely than the Saudis or the Kochs or Putin's pals would prefer.

Hell, they might spend their money on innovative solutions from American entrepreneurs -- although the smart bet is on Chinese ones.

--TP