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We know what we must do to address the climate crisis, so why aren’t we doing it?
In the summer of 2023, researchers “binge-watched 250 of the most-rated movies” of the past 10 years for climate research purposes. A mere 13% of films made mention of climate-related disasters, some more seriously and others “offhandedly” in dialogue. In contrast, since the rise of Hollywood as the center of entertainment over a century ago, more than “2,500 war-themed movies and TV programs have been made with Pentagon assistance.” Why does the Pentagon partner with Hollywood? And why does Hollywood glamorize war at the expense of the planet?
The Pentagon provides multimillion dollar equipment (tanks, planes such as F-35 fighter jets which cost over $80 million dollars, aircraft carriers) and personnel to operate them, giving movies an air of realism at no cost to the filmmaker or director. Partnering with the military obliges Hollywood directors to accept significant script changes by the Department of Defense, telling directors “what to say—and what not to say.” In the end, movies portray the U.S. military as a force for good in the world and nuclear weapons (in our hands) as critically needed for national security. They use racist stereotypes of Asians and Africans while portraying U.S. soldiers as noble in purpose and making it appear that U.S. wars “are fought to spread freedom, democracy, and human rights.” They hide the profit motives of Hollywood and the self-serving motives of the Pentagon, which are public approval for their existence and mission, gaining public acceptance of war thus attracting new recruits. And the result is: Hollywood glamorizes war for greed at the extreme expense of the planet.
War is a driving force in the climate crisis, with the Pentagon being the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world powering fighter jets, warships, and 800 military bases. Perversely the U.S. used sustained influential effort to keep the military’s impact on climate out of the 1997 Kyoto protocol counting process. And consequently, there is silence on U.S. military emissions and the climate crisis.
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump’s nihilist administration cut staff and the budget from our key climate agencies NOAA and NASA while furiously promoting oil and coal, we were in trouble with our injured Earth.
Furthermore, the damage to the world’s economy from fossil fuels has been massively underestimated, according to Timothy Neal and colleagues’ recent research. To date it has been thought to be mild to moderate, they stated, the flawed assumption being that damage to a country’s economy is caused within a country by extreme weather and it doesn’t account for how flooding in one country, for example, affects food supply in another. The team found that “if Earth warms by more than 3°C by the end of the century, the estimated harm to the global economy jumped from an average of 11% (under previous assumptions of isolated damage) to 40%,” devastating the livelihoods of a huge part of the world.
Other studies on drought find that increasing evaporation from rising temperatures due to global warming has disrupted the global water cycle in vast regions of North and South America, Africa, East and Central Asia, and Europe. Some regions would need 10 years of significantly above average rain to recover from long periods of drought. The southwest U.S., for example, has been drying out for 30-40 years—a megadrought, hemorrhaging groundwater, threatening its food security and economy. “About 40% of the contiguous U.S.” are in some stage of drought. Expected hotter temperatures and prolonged die-off of trees are the recipe for future wildfires. After a drought for a year or two, scientists would see recovery. No longer: “Drought is a creeping disaster.”
James Hansen, an early and outspoken expert on the climate crisis, and colleagues have published the most critical warning to date. We are experiencing sudden global warming of 1.6°C, and temperatures will oscillate “near or above that level for the next few years.” Their warning is unvarnished: more powerful tropical storms, tornadoes, more extreme floods; intensity of heatwaves, increase in drought in places of dry weather. The polar ice melt and freshwater injection into the North Atlantic Ocean will increase and could slow down AMOC in the next 20-30 years—locking our coasts into sea-level rise of several meters. AMOC, the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation, circulates water from north to south and back in a long cycle within the Atlantic Ocean. This circulation also brings warmth to various parts of the globe and also carries nutrients necessary to sustain ocean life.
Another frightening factor in faster warming is the fact that the planet’s plants and soils peaked in their capacity to absorb carbon dioxide in 2008. “Natural sequestration of carbon dioxide is in decline: Climate change will accelerate,” concluded the authors of the study.
We are heading toward catastrophe, though it can be mitigated: Though solar is doubling every few years, energy demand is increasing faster and being met by fossil fuels. “Science is clear...: stop using fossil fuels, respect and protect Nature, use resources sustainably.” Why aren’t we doing it?
Even before U.S. President Donald Trump’s nihilist administration cut staff and the budget from our key climate agencies NOAA and NASA while furiously promoting oil and coal, we were in trouble with our injured Earth. Trump has accelerated our ecocide. But human societies have been created by us, our human-made problems can and must be unmade. We owe it to the billions of young people who inherit this Earth.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act may be putting profits ahead of people and the planet, but real climate leadership remains possible—and urgently needed—at the local level.
On July 4, as rescue teams searched for children swept away by flash floods in central Texas, U.S. President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law—a legislative package that represents a catastrophic retreat from climate safety precisely when Americans need protection most.
The cruel irony was impossible to ignore: As the floodwaters rose in San Antonio, the federal government was rewarding fossil fuel companies driving the climate crisis while pulling protection away from those in its path.
The OBBBA delivers a devastating one-two punch to American families. First, it guts the very programs designed to keep us safe from extreme weather. The Federal Emergency Management Agency's disaster prevention funding faces a 40% cut. The National Weather Service—already dangerously understaffed—will see deeper cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration that cost lives. Texas' recent floods tragically illustrated how staffing gaps in weather offices directly translate to preventable deaths.
Wildfire prevention efforts have already been halted by White House funding freezes ahead of peak fire season, and the OBBBA eliminates another $100 million in firefighting capacity. Meanwhile, toxic waste cleanups face defunding, exponentially increasing health risks for the 1 in 5 Americans living within three miles of contaminated sites.
By supercharging this growing insurability crisis, the act risks unleashing a climate-fueled version of the 2008 financial meltdown—but this time driven by underinsured climate risk, not subprime mortgages.
The social safety net that helps the most vulnerable disaster victims avoid permanent destitution is being shredded too. The act slashes federal assistance with energy bills by 34%, strips an estimated 6.2 million people of Medicaid, and denies over 3 million people food assistance—the largest Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts in program history.
Adding fuel to the fire, 350.org's analysis shows that oil, gas, and coal companies are set to receive over $200 billion in OBBBA handouts over the next decade. This includes bargain-basement royalty rates for extraction on public lands and the restoration of controversial tax loopholes. At the same time, OBBBA kneecaps renewable energy competition, forcing families to rely on expensive fossil fuels and pushing up annual utility bills by hundreds of dollars.
The math is simple: We need to halve fossil fuel emissions by 2030 to keep America livable. Instead, U.S. emissions will spike by 8-12%, making it less likely that other countries will agree to reduce their own oil and gas consumption, and driving more extreme weather.
Main Street and family farms will pay the price. Insurance companies rely on predictive weather data and disaster prevention programs that the OBBBA undermines. Premiums have already surged over 35% nationwide since 2020, with the steepest hikes in the places most exposed to extreme weather. State Farm and Allstate have withdrawn completely from fire- and flood-prone regions of California, Florida, and Louisiana.
By supercharging this growing insurability crisis, the act risks unleashing a climate-fueled version of the 2008 financial meltdown—but this time driven by underinsured climate risk, not subprime mortgages.
Fortunately, cities and states still hold powerful tools to fight back and build clean and safe futures for their residents.
Steps like these will help to protect communities from the worst of the climate chaos that OBBBA unleashes. They can also build national momentum that political parties will not be able to ignore come 2026 and 2028.
The OBBBA prioritizes fossil fuel profits over public safety and future generations' survival. But this story isn't over. While Congress may be putting profits ahead of people and the planet, real climate leadership remains possible—and urgently needed—at the local level.
Cities and states must lead now. Our lives depend on it.
Congressional Democrats want investigations "at every level of government of what went wrong" and to "stop the dismantling of federal agencies."
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem renewed her call Wednesday to "eliminate" the Federal Emergency Management Agency, calling it "slow to respond" to the deadly floods that have killed more than 120 people in Texas over the past week.
But that "slow" response was the direct result of a policy put in place by Noem herself, according to four FEMA officials who spoke to CNN.
Last month, the network reported on a new policy introduced by Noem that required any contract or grant above $100,000 to cross her desk for approval.
The administration billed the move as a way of "rooting out waste, fraud, [and] abuse." But multiple anonymous officials, including ones from FEMA, warned at the time that it could cause "massive delays" in cases of emergency, especially as hurricane season began to ramp up.
That appears to be what happened in Texas. According to the four officials who spoke to CNN, "FEMA ran into bureaucratic obstacles" as a result of this requirement. Compared to the billions that are typically required to respond to disasters, officials said $100,000 is essentially "pennies."
FEMA officials said they were left to ask for Noem's direct approval on virtually every action they took in response to the catastrophic flood, which created massive delays in deploying Urban Search and Rescue Teams.
The sources told CNN that "in the past, FEMA would have swiftly staged these teams, which are specifically trained for situations including catastrophic floods, closer to a disaster zone in anticipation of urgent requests."
Multiple sources said Noem waited until Monday to authorize the deployment of these search and rescue teams, more than 72 hours after the flooding began. Aerial imagery to aid in the search was also delayed waiting for Noem's approval.
On Wednesday, Noem used these very delays to justify her calls to disband FEMA entirely.
"Federal emergency management should be state and locally led, rather than how it has operated for decades," she said. "It has been slow to respond at the federal level. It's even been slower to get the resources to Americans in crisis, and that is why this entire agency needs to be eliminated as it exists today, and remade into a responsive agency."
President Donald Trump said last month he is in the process of beginning to "phase out" FEMA and that it would begin to "give out less money" to states and be directed out of the White House.
He first took a hatchet to FEMA back in February using the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), which eliminated 2,000 permanent employees, one-third of its total staff.
Noem has also boasted about using FEMA funds to carry out Trump's mass deportation crusade, including allocating hundreds of millions from the agency to build the so-called "Alligator Alcatraz" immigrant internment camp in Florida, as well as other detention facilities.
Before a House panel last month, former FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell noted that the administration's cuts have made it harder for FEMA to respond in disaster areas.
"It just slows down the entire response and delays the recovery process from starting," Criswell said. "If the state director asks for a resource, then FEMA needs to be able to quickly respond and mobilize that resource to come support whatever that is. They still need the staff that are going in there. And so when you have less people, you're going to have less ability to actually fill those senior roles."
The revelation that Noem's policy may have contributed to the slowdown has only amplified calls by congressional Democrats to investigate how Trump administration cuts to FEMA and other services like the National Weather Service may have contributed to the devastation.
"During disasters, every second matters," said Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas). "Noem must answer for this delay."
Congressman Greg Casar (D-Texas) said this disaster in his home state highlighted the need for federal agencies like FEMA.
"Year after year, Texans face deadlier fires, freezes, and floods." Casar said. "As we continue to support first responders and grieving families after the terrible flooding, we will need investigations at every level of government of what went wrong and what could save lives in future."
"We must stop the dismantling of federal agencies that are supposed to keep us safe from the next disaster," he added.