Texas Toast !

Now, we don't know who will win next year's presidential election. But the odds are that one of these years the world's greatest nation will find itself ruled by a party that is aggressively anti-science, indeed anti-knowledge. And, in a time of severe challenges – environmental, economic, and more – that's a terrifying prospect. Let’s explore their stance on climate change.

Texans are famous for their creative ways of describing their hot summer weather.

Colorful sayings include “hotter than a stolen tamale,” “so hot the hens are laying hardboiled

Eggs and “hotter than Lucifer’s oven.” But, as the state of Texas displays more

And more of the harmful effects of global warming, we may need to add new—if less

Elegant—turns of phrase, like “hot enough to triple heat-related deaths,” “warm enough

To wipe out coastal communities as sea levels rise,” or “hot enough to turn spring into

Summer.”

The “greenhouse effect” is what makes life on our planet possible. Greenhouse gases like

Carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor trap some of the sun’s energy to warm the

Earth’s surface to a livable temperature. But an overabundance of CO2, through the

Burning of fossil fuels like coal and oil, are turning the greenhouse effect from a

Beneficent process into a harmful one. As humans burn fossil fuels, greenhouse gases

Have accumulated to where they exceed their natural levels in the atmosphere and trap

More heat than needed. The greenhouse gas most implicated in this process of global

Warming is carbon dioxide. This is not news because we have been teaching it in general science class

For years.

Signs f climate change, or global Warming are

Floods are expected to increase in frequency and severity

The United Nations weather agency says

That large cities can expect to suffer twice as many deaths from heat waves by 2020.

Drought.

Change in Seasons

Global warming already has disrupted our normal cycles of spring and fall. The increase

In CO2 has led to the spring arriving 10.8 days earlier than it did in 1959. Likewise, the

Winter season has come progressively later in the Northern hemisphere since 1840. Lakes

And rivers freeze an average of 8.7 days later, and ice cover begins melting 9.8 days

Earlier than it did 150 years ago.

According to a 2004 study published in the Nature, up to 37% of 1,103

Species studied could face extinction or near-extinction as a consequence of global

Warming.

Rising Sea Levels/Melting Ice Caps.

Another health risk global warming poses for Texas is that warming weather is expected

To be favorable to the spread of pests, including some species not indigenous to the state

Which will migrate north as the climate changes? The West Nile Virus, for instance, has

Succeeded in spreading beyond its original tropical home partly because the climate of

The U.S.’s southernmost states are gradually becoming more suitable for disease-bearing

Mosquitoes and other invasive tropical species.

Ozone/Pollution that can damage lung tissue.

Insurance

A less-understood aspect of the economic costs of climate change is how global warming

Will rise—and likely already is rising—Texans’ insurance rates. Although the federal

Government doesn’t appear to take global warming seriously, insurance companies most

Assuredly do, and must adjust their rates accordingly.

The sad part of this whole outcome is that the states in the South, the ones who vote for climate change deniers will be the first affected.