Heating Up

Nothing like a little sweat to get Americans all in a tizzy. Headlines blaring the frightening news. Wonks wonking about the Inflation Reduction Act. Bernie saying we must act now. A little heat wave and they suddenly stop trusting The Market to solve problems? Fickle bastards. Invest in deoderant, air conditioners, ammunition and stop your belly aching. Ultra-progressive Ezra Klein went deep in the weeds on the IRA, interviewing some liberal from heatmap.org. They talked green investment and hydrogen and carbon capture, and permitting blockages and yada yada and came to the conclusion we are fucked twice over. But they still believe in capitalist democracy and "policy" with all their hearts. In the end, it comes down to nuclear and geoengineering. Just face it. and oh yeah, Joe Manchin. Bernie pours his progressive heart out pleading that "members of Congress must develop an unprecedented sense of urgency about this global crisis." You don't know whether to laugh or cry. "The world must come together" he says, echoing John Lennon. We must take on the powerful special interests like fossil fuels. More yada yada, or "blah blah blah" as Greta would have it. Bill Mc Kibben on Democracy Now. Ezra, Bernie, whatever. Someone not heard from lately is the other Klein, Naomi. She would at least use the "C" word. It's pretty easy to see that Kim Stanley Robinson had it right. It will take an event where millions die to initiate any kind of real change. Pretty much the thesis of my own novel. Immigration stresses will take down more governments, resource wars will get hotter than Sudan, but Americans will buy bigger trucks in order to pull their giant campers into the great outdoors. We know but we act as if we don't.