Conservatives Are Funding Aquatic Extinction
Although boiling fish sounds like a delicious dinner, the rate at which the ocean is warming is causing a near extinction event for our favorite aquatic food source. The above photo shows the hordes of fishing washing up on the shores of the Gulf of Texas from overheating, their bodies unable to take the rising heat and lack of oxygen within our poisoned oceans. This isn't just localized to Texas beaches. The average daily global sea surface temperature is 20.96C (69.73F) in the EU. This is far exceeding average temperatures for this time of year. Europe is not the traditional place for warm waters and tropical vacations, but it may have a new draw for its tourism boards no longer rooted in art, history, food, and architecture. For water to feel like a bath when you jump in, you should be in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, or another tropical destination that boasts pearly white sand and warm inviting turquoise water.
The ocean is necessary for regulating the climate. The majority of earth is covered by oceans which soak up the heat and produce oxygen through coral reefs and underwater plant life. This of course affects temperature and weather patterns by limiting CO2 emissions. The hotter the water gets, the less carbon dioxide is absorbed and the more toxic the underwater plant life becomes. The sea is dying. It can be seen with the Great Barrier reef which has gone from vibrant colors to a lifeless gray. Formerly, it was one of the largest carbon sinks in the world. Now its barely even a tourist attraction.
Marine species like fish, whales, and shellfish are being forced to move to cooler waters or suffer the fate of those pictured above. Their former homes have become too hot to be maintained. This has been felt across the planet. The UK, North Atlantic, The Mediterranean, and the Gulf of Mexico have all had marine heatwave with temperatures in the UK waters being 3C to 5C higher than average. In Florida sea temperatures have hit 38.44C where they would normally be between 23C and 31C.
This trend will continue thanks to the hard work of the Republican party and the flavors of right wing parties throughout the globe being coupled with the various industries who lobby them to maintain this status quo. If the extinction of sea life seems like the first sign of the decline of our global system you wouldn't know it looking at Republican climate policies. The Heritage Foundation is a right wing think tank funded by Charles Koch an oil billionaire. It has created a strategy called Project 2025 for the first 180 days of a Republican presidents policy. This 180 day "suggestion" has a nearly 1000 page plan which aims to fundamentally alter the Executive branch and all agencies controlled by it. The Heritage Foundation worked with multiple other conservative groups such as the Heartland Institute and the Competitive Enterprise Institute, both whom deny climate change's lethality.
The most devilish trick of the Republican Party is its commitment to ignoring its voters wishes yet getting their vote regardless. 70% of Republicans believe that global warming is either a minor threat or no threat at all compared to 90% of Democrats consider it a major threat according to a NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll. Yet the argument is over before it begins. You cannot convince someone of something they believe to be false despite evidence, no matter how hard you try.
Project 2025 has no outlook for curbing CO2 emissions or any interest in keeping fish on the menu. Here's what it says. The first stop on the Republican map is dismantling the Inflation Reduction Act, a bill passed by the Democrats which has helped curve some of the pressures of inflation on the average working class American. The bill also offers $370 billion for wind, solar, nuclear, green hydrogen, and electric vehicle technology with large new investments taking place in Republican run states. The transparency of these corporately funded lobbying groups is to eliminate competition. The second stop is shutting down the Department of Energy loan of $400 million to help any emerging new green technologies.
They do not want any form of green energy to receive subsidies on par with the oil industry. Its not in Charles Koch or the many other investors interest. Thirdly they want to strike climate change as an issue of discussion on the National Security Council which rightly views the effects of climate change as a threat to national security. The US military has acknowledged that the resources used for fighting climate related disasters domestically is drawing resources that could be used in foreign military bases. It has also acknowledged that America's energy grids are not built to sustain rapidly changing weather conditions and will likely result in massive shutdowns and degradation of vital infrastructure at home. All this to say, the changing climate is very much considered a threat to national security. Yet the Republican agenda cannot acknowledge this very real threat to life itself. A shining indifference to suffering in the blind pursuit of profit.
Of course, project 2025 wouldn't be complete without opening up drilling in the Arctic wilderness and promising legal protection to oil companies that kill birds and destroy wildlife during oil and gas extraction. Last, but arguably most sinister is the goal to reverse the 2009 scientific finding from the Environmental Protection Agency which states carbon dioxide emissions are a danger to public health. Not only an insistence on inaction but a commitment to denial by all means necessary. Never before have the oceans boiled killing the fish inside. Never before have we had hotter temperatures and more frequent wildfires. Climate denial at this vital moment in history is a call for a species extinction.
