Local officials want extreme heat to be declared a federal disaster

Swarming@sh.itjust.works to politics @lemmy.world – 391 points –
Local officials want extreme heat to be declared a federal disaster
nbcnews.com
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Wouldn't that imply that the federal government needs to do something to prevent similar events in the future? Like actually doing something to reduce CO2 emissions in the US?

It would activate the FEMA fund and allow for a pool of executive spending for disaster relief, yes.

Oh you mean, oh no, big oil and legacy auto are struggling with the switch to EV.. they need relief money so they can destroy the ecosystem and come up with a 0 emission plan by 2050....

No, I mean that our dear president and his cabinet get to decide to continue with BP's BS and lose 2024, or prove that he's tackling climate change earnestly and with all due seriousness over the next 5 years.

"Oh, haha, now that I am personally getting inconvenienced by climate change, I demand the government take action to assist me."

You know, we could have worked to prevent this all together decades ago for everyone when we were told this would happen over and over. Man we're a shitty species. Maybe the heat will teach some of those who need it some much needed humility.

Nah.

It's been over 100°F for two or three weeks here. Of course I live in a redhat reichwing state and people are quick to point out "yeah, it's always 104° in July" the problem is its been over 100° every day since June. That's unusual. Or it was unusual.

This article didn't even mention deadly wet bulb conditions (ie, humidity so high that sweating no longer cools a person down).

We'll be hearing more and more about that as climate change progresses. Talk about a disaster... combine that with a power failure, and you'll start seeing a true catastrophe.

It was 95F and 98% humidity at my house the other day. I thought I was going to die every time my dogs had to go out to pee.

This prompted me to look up how humidity percentages work. It's the amount of water in the air relative to it's current maximum based on temperature and pressure. Going above 100% is possible above 25000 ft due to the purity of the air. Clouds formed when impurities are introduced or pressure and temperature allow. (This is all just my cursory pleb 'knowledge' and may be partially or entirely wrong)

How about we compromise and just declare the oil industry itself a federal disaster and nationalize it?

Between fires and floods half the country already is. Add in heat and you will be hard pressed to find an area of the country not in a disaster. How can anyone at this point not see global warming is a thing and has horrible effects.

I have it on good authority from the butcher down the road who says climate change is bullshit because he has lived in this town his whole life. Checkmate!

I asked him why we never had temperatures above 40c prior to 1960 and now we have rolling heat waves that are that hot. Apparently they are lies that all scientists say so that climate scientists can get grant money.

You should ask him who has more money invested in being right- scientists or fossil fuel companies.

He would have to wait for Joe Rogan to say something about it to have an answer

Goes beyond warming. Wait till Nashville gets buried under a foot of snow and they'll all cry "hur dur where's the global warming!"

Its kind of silly for Nevada, Arizona and Texas to ask for aid. They are basically asking for a yearly donation which is stupid. You guys live in ~100% arid areas... your leadership should be crating infastructure given your needs by taxing higher. The constituents pride themselves on affordable housing and low taxes yet the governement is asking for a yearly bailout.

The problem with neoliberal capitalism is that other people's money runs out.

Especially when all your policies are devoted to hollowing out the middle class for the benefit of the rich.

It's like the meme with the dog:

image

(Edit: I'm having problems with image embedding: https://imgflip.com/i/7ubf3v)

Its kind of silly for Nevada, Arizona and Texas to ask for aid. They are basically asking for a yearly donation which is stupid. You guys live in ~100% arid areas…

Houston is not arid. The Rio Grande Valley is not arid. Corpus Christi and Beaumont are not arid. Texas has 367 miles of oppressively humid coastline.

Naw, it's what we do as a nation. Blue states subsidize red states every year because it's the right thing to do. The gov't helps coastal states in the Gulf and East Coast when they get hit by hurricanes every year. The gov't (ie, all of us) support midwest towns when they get hit by tornados, floods, or train derailments, because... we are a country. Less and less these days, but still.

Unusually very hot here in the Philippines too but for several days every two weeks it gets cancelled out by the biweekly typhoon.

I do lawn care and I've had heat exhaustion/minor heat stroke more times this year than every other year combined. I'm in Canada and I remember when 30 celsius with the humidex was hot. Now it's getting to nearly 40 fairly consistently.

Honestly, with how crap everything is getting and how many times governments have had to give out various relief funds the past few years, why do we not have a universal basic income yet? At least that way they wouldn't have to pass a new law every few months to give out a bit of pocket change that doesn't actually make a difference with how high the cost of living is now.

Let's declare summer a federal disaster. But sure, it's primarily Arizona and Nevada. Two states that shouldn't exist and already receive more than their fair share of federal aid. Why not add a few more bucks who cares?

While this is a pretty callous take, I do think it that a mass relocation effort from desert cities primarily reliant on the rerouting of rivers that are beginning to shrink due to climate change (i.e. Colorado River) needs to start being considered. What are they going to do once their water source is completely gone?

I think we are on the cusp of some seriously epic population migrations. It's going to be ugly,the other is going to be in serious danger. Hopefully I've checked out before it happens, because I'm pretty much completely lacking in survival skills.

A vast majority of Nevada (80%) isn't even owned by the state of Nevada but rather the federal gov't, so of course a majority of their funds also aren't state-generated.