Two years ago in a post (Smoke-filled Air, Ochre Skies Provide Preview Of Life At Cusp Of Runaway Greenhouse Effect) I cited a report:
in which it was noted it's much easier to reach the horrors of the runaway greenhouse effect than previously thought, i.e.:
It might be easier than
previously thought for a planet to overheat into the scorchingly uninhabitable
“runaway greenhouse” stage, according to new research by astronomers at the University of Washington and the University of Victoria published
July 28 in the journal Nature Geoscience. In the runaway greenhouse stage, a planet
absorbs more solar energy than it can give off to retain equilibrium. As a
result, the world overheats, boiling its oceans and filling its atmosphere with
steam, which leaves the planet glowing-hot and forever uninhabitable, as Venus is
now.
This isn't hyperbole either. In his 1990 book, 'It's A Matter of Survival' David Suzuki showed how easily a once earth-like world could be converted into another Venus with temperatures hot enough to melt lead:
He also showed (with co-author Anita Gordon) how our planet was already on track to experience the first "year of no seasons" by the year 2040. That was 35 years ago, and the planet's temperatures have more than doubled since then, bringing us closer to the 'no going back' tipping point. See:
Despite that, our own leaders seem determined to expedite this hellhole world and devil take the hindmost. Three years ago, for example, the Supreme Court's rightist nuts and Trump collaborators ruled the EPA lacked the power to regulate CO2 in line with the Clean Air Act,
The planet is baking. But what’s reality to this Supreme Court?
in which Eugene Robinson observed:
"Another day, another
utterly catastrophic ruling from the activist hard-right
majority on the Supreme Court. This new decision does even wider damage than taking away the reproductive rights of women in this
country. It potentially imperils the future of every human being on Earth.
In a 6-to-3 ruling, the court went out of its way to limit the ability
of the EPA to meaningfully regulate carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas
emissions from existing power plants, under the provisions of the decades-old
Clean Air Act.”
As if to corroborate that perfidy, the Trump Environmental Protection Agency yesterday unveiled a proposal to officially rescind the original landmark legal opinion that underpins virtually all of its regulations to curb climate change.
This feral move would end EPA regulations on greenhouse gases emitted
by vehicles from lightweight cars to heavy-duty trucks, while also undercutting
rules that limit power plant emissions and control the release of methane by
oil and gas companies. The EPA’s new proposal - following the corrupt Supreme Court ruling earlier - argues that Congress, in the
Clean Air Act, does not give the agency the authority to regulate greenhouse
gas emissions. But this is balderdash.
Recall in 2009 the valid EPA released what is known as the “endangerment
finding”. It concluded that greenhouse gases endanger public health and
welfare, establishing a legal basis to regulate them as air pollutants under
the Clean Air Act. There is nothing sketchy about this and with CO2
concentrations now approaching 430 ppm it means we are rushing toward an irreversible
‘tipping point’ that will precede a runaway greenhouse Earth.
We’re already seeing a prelude in the super hot temperatures –
with high humidity- affecting over 180 million Americans, as well as much of
southern Europe.
The EPA’s latest proposal seeks to revise the agency’s own past interpretation of the Clean Air Act. Worse, should the Trump administration’s EPA prevail in court, the rule would severely limit the ability of future presidents to curb fossil fuel emissions. It would emphatically send our planet and all future generations into a catastrophic crackup.
In the words of Zealan Hoover, a former senior adviser to the EPA administrator under President Joe Biden:
“This is not just an attack on science but on common sense. The National Climate Assessment provides over 2,000 pages of detailed evidence that climate change harms our health and welfare, but you can also ask the millions of Americans who have lost their homes and livelihoods to extreme fires, floods and storms that are only getting worse.”
Are David Suzuki's warnings about the conversion of our Earth to another Venus about to unfold at an accelerated rate? It seems likely, thanks to a radical Right corrupted high court and an administration saddled with poltroons determined to wreck what's left of our nation as well as our planet.
See Also:
by Karl Grossman | July 31, 2025 - 5:00am | permalink
“Trump’s EPA to repeal core of greenhouse gas rules,” was the Reuters headline this week as Lee Zeldin, chosen by Donald Trump to be administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, announced what Reuters said “will rescind the long-standing finding that greenhouse gas emissions endanger human health, as well as tailpipe emission standards for vehicles, removing the legal foundation of greenhouse gas regulations across industries.”
“Zeldin announced the agency’s plan to rescind the ‘endangerment finding’ at a truck factory in Indiana, alongside Energy Secretary Chris Wright, and called it the largest deregulatory action in U.S. history,” reported Reuters.
The move was anticipated.
And:
And:
And:
Smoke-filled Air, Ochre Skies Provide Preview Of Life At Cusp Of Runaway Greenhouse Effect
And:
New UN Report Issues "Code Red" For Humanity On Climate - Is It Hyperbole?
And:
Bjorn Lomberg - Climate Change Clown Has No Clue Concerning Adaptation To A Rapidly Warming World
