Remember When We Used to Care About Climate Change?

The Crisis Presidency has managed to shove climate change off our radar

“The situation is so frightening it’s hard to describe. Smoke has covered the entire city. I have severe shortness of breath and burning in my eyes and throat, and many others feel the same. But people still have to go outside because they have no choice. Many places reopened today, but closed again because it’s impossible to stay outdoors.”

Screencap from video by Majid Asgaripour, West Asia News Agency

That’s an Iranian citizen describing what happened after U.S. and Israeli missile strikes on oil depots in Iran. Israel bombed fuel depots in Tehran, causing fires that burned for hours. Tehran, a city of 10 million people, found itself plummeted in darkness from black clouds of soot.¹

Then, an apocalyptic black rain full of toxic fuel compounds fell to the earth and covered the city in a form of black, sooty paint filled with nasty hydrocarbons and sulfurs.²

According to the Guardian:³

Four oil depots and a petroleum logistics sites in and around Tehran were hit. Local authorities said six people were killed and 20 wounded at one of the sites.

This event occurred almost during the precise moment that the rampaging Christo-Nazi Pete Hegseth, responding to the fact that a U.S. Tomahawk missile killed as many as 200 children, claimed that only Iranians target civilians.

Many folks are calling this attack a war crime, one that used chemical warfare under the guise of whatever Trump’s excuse for the day is (these excuses change hourly because his mind is an unyielding fireworks display of shattered neurons).⁴

For Israel, the Tehran bombings on civilian infrastructure were just another Tuesday. Emeritus Professor Paul Rogers from the University of Bradford, in the UK, says Israel’s aerial assault on Gaza amounted to the “equivalent of six Hiroshimas.”⁵

“Back in the Cold War days, we used to say a kiloton is equivalent to a thousand tons of TNT. We are now using explosives that are much more powerful than TNT.

But if we do use that figure – 70 kilotons of weapons dropped across Gaza – Hiroshima was about 12 kilotons, so we are talking about the equivalent of six Hiroshimas... but because these bombs drop individually, they are spread much more, so you get an extraordinary level of devastation. It’s certainly more than Dresden, certainly more than the other 2,000 bomber raids in the Second World War.

“This is about as bad as it [gets] outside the Second World War. Very few people realise just how intense this has been, and how continual. We’ve not seen much of it on the television here, compared to channels in the Middle East, which means right across the Arab world, the degree of anger – and, I have to say, hatred - of what is happening, is palpable.”

Now, this firepower is being unleashed on Iran.

The stricken Iranian citizen continued her description of the black rain:

“Even masks are becoming difficult to find. This is a huge mistake. I ask those who have the ability, especially foreign media, to reflect on this situation. What are people supposed to do under these conditions? This is truly a crime against humanity.

This is no longer just a human rights violation. It is truly anti-human behaviour. If someone has a problem with the Islamic Republic government, that is one thing – but not with us, the people. You cannot attack water systems or refineries. Most of Tehran’s water comes from dams. If those become polluted, what happens then? The government has basically left people on their own.”

If you’re adept at reading between the lines, here’s what I believe you can take from this: “We actually wouldn’t mind if Western nations took out this horrible regime, but this is not the way to do it. You don’t do it by killing us, too. We’ve suffered enough.”

Americans, however, apparently have NOT suffered enough

In September 2024, I was freaked out by numbers. These numbers were from presidential election polls. They showed a dead heat between Kamala Harris, a normal person, and Donald Trump, an abnormal psychotic whose policies directly led to a million American deaths:

The post bounced around just a tad in our echo chamber, like most of our anti-Trump screeds, then died. Then 78 million Americans voted for the psycho.

When they did this, they knew who they were voting for. If they claim they didn’t, they are lying. None of what he is doing is a surprise to anyone paying attention to his first four years, and anyone who wasn’t paying attention must have missed the pandemic. He tortured Americans with his psychosis every morning with a new, insane social media post.

His behavior patterns are the same now as they were during Mad Clown 1.0. The only difference is that, this time, he hired Susie Wiles, his chief of staff, to help fill the Cabinet with more yes men and women than in his first term. That’s it. That’s the only difference between the two installments of Mad King Donald.

This time, he has full compliance from a cowardly, traitorous Republican Congress, with not a small assist from mealy-mouthed Democrats who mostly issue strongly worded memos while claiming outrage as they rack up PAC funds and send you emails begging for five, twenty, or a hundred dollars.

The lethal attacks on Tehran’s atmosphere are just one of a million other crises the lunatic has created.

And all these distractions have created the ultimate distraction: our concerns about climate change have mostly been removed from public discourse.

The pace of global warming has doubled since the 1970s

Right around the time Israel and the U.S. rained oil on Tehran’s 10 million residents, Nature Magazine reported that the rate of climate warming has doubled since the 1970s.⁶

Per the ECMWF: “Global surface air temperature increase (ºC) above the average for the 1850–1900 designated pre-industrial reference period, based on several global temperature datasets. *This figure was updated on 28 January 2026 to reflect full availability of global datasets for 2025. “Credit: C3S/ECMWF

The last three years were the hottest on record. During the last decade, worldwide temperatures have risen 0.35 ºC, double the rate from the 1970s, when environmentalists first began making enough noise about global warming to be heard.

The research was published in a peer-reviewed article in Geophysical Research Letters.⁷

This being a peer-reviewed research study means that it will be rejected out of hand by the regime that is currently raining toxic black soot on Iran.

At a minimum, were they to bother with such a study (they won’t), they’d barf out something about El Niño or some such. But the study accounts for that:

The analysis removes the impact of the powerful El Niño weather phenomenon that contributed to record-high global temperatures in 2023 and 2024. Even with that subtracted from the data, the acceleration of warming is clear, Rahmstorf says. Their research took five of the most widely used global temperature data sets into consideration, including one produced by NASA (see ‘Rate hike’).

Ruh-roh, did you say, “NASA?”

“Cut NASA climate funding!!!” the troglodytes will scream in reply.

By 2030, the planet is on track to breach — and stay above — the threshold of the 2015 Paris agreement: 1.5 ºC above pre-industrial levels.

“Fire the scientists!”

The Paris agreement established a threshold that, if met, might only prevent an extinction-level event. It won’t prevent massive displacement and pain.

Some climate scientists disagree with the high numbers in this study, but they all agree that the rate of climate warming is accelerating at an unsustainable pace, with the rate of change anywhere from 0.20 to 0.30 C per decade. No climate scientist believes that the earth will escape damage, partly because the damage has already begun in earnest.

World Weather Attribution, an international research group, has reported that millions of global climate refugees were created by climate-related weather events in 2025.

(See the footnotes for some details and links describing events over the last decade that can be attributed to climate change.⁸)

Back we go to the Iran War

Now, let’s head back to Iran. The Iranians have shut off the Strait of Hormuz. Trump and Hegseth will blather something about U.S. Navy ships escorting oil tankers that need to squeeze through the Strait at its narrowest width of 20-30 miles, but that’s laughable under today’s drone-infested skies.

A massive U.S. Navy gunship is no match for a swarm of Costco drones, much less those perfected by an Iranian military that has been cranking out drones for the Russians for several years. The drones won’t target the U.S. Navy ship. They’ll target the tankers. Fifty of those drones might fail to get through. The fifty-first will obliterate the tanker and unleash plumes of black smoke into the atmosphere.

Most oil exporters will either quit trying to slip their tankers through the Strait (most already have) or try to take a longer route. Either way, farmers waiting for the fertilizer that comes from Middle East refineries will miss their shipments.

American farmers (and foodies) will suffer plenty, but many of them will figure something else out. But worldwide, we’ll see farmers in poorer countries watch their fields dry up and become victimized by the droughts and hurricanes that are already increasing in ferocity.

We can pretend climate change isn’t happening, but that won’t stop Greenland from melting enough to expose its rare earths or Siberia from melting enough to release new clouds of methane gas into the air. It won’t stop the Antarctic glaciers from disappearing into the ocean, or the Arctic Ocean from becoming navigable 365 days a year. It won’t stop wildfires from consuming homes and choking people with their soot, or hurricanes and tornadoes from increasing their power and taste for human fatalities.

Meanwhile, in a worst-case Iran scenario, entire agricultural regions in places like India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Asia will be completely wiped out, replaced by the loose soil of abandoned farmland.

And if Trump is good at anything at all, it’s worst-case scenarios.

Thanks for reading! Don’t forget to check out the footnotes!

Footnotes

1. Parent, Deepa. “‘Dark, like Our Future’: Iranians Describe Scenes of Catastrophe after Tehran’s Oil Depots Bombed.” the Guardian. The Guardian, March 8, 2026. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/mar/08/dark-like-our-future-iranians-describe-scenes-of-catastrophe-after-tehrans-oil-depots-bombed.

2. Democracy Now. “Toxic Black Raindrops Fall on Tehran Following U.S.-Israeli Attacks on Fuel Depots.” Democracy Now!, March 9, 2026. https://www.democracynow.org/2026/3/9/headlines/toxic_black_raindrops_fall_on_tehran_following_us_israeli_attacks_on_fuel_depots.

3. The Guardian, ibid

4. I know. I didn’t realize that neurons could shatter, either. You can count on Ruminato’s crack (addicted?) scientific team to make discoveries like this, which is yet another reason you should consider becoming a paid subscriber.

5. Bradford, University of. “Gaza Bombing ‘Equivalent to Six Hiroshimas’ Says Bradford World Affairs Expert.” University of Bradford, April 16, 2025. https://www.bradford.ac.uk/news/archive/2025/gaza-bombing-equivalent-to-six-hiroshimas-says-bradford-world-affairs-expert.php.

6. Witze, A. (2026). Climate change is speeding up — The pace nearly doubled in ten years. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-026-00745-z

7. Google.com. “Google Scholar,” 2026. https://scholar.google.com/scholar_lookup?&title=&journal=Geophys.%20Res.%20Lett.&volume=53&publication_year=2026&author=Foster%2CG.&author=Rahmstorf%2CS.

8. World weather events affected by climate change over years, according to the Research Group, World Weather Attribution:

https://www.worldweatherattribution.org/by-year/ (the list below is copied verbatim from the website)

2026

• 12 Mar 26 – Unplanned urbanisation fuels landslide disasters amid emerging rainfall trends

• 26 Feb 26 – Increasingly severe rainstorms put people and structures built on floodplains at risk

• 11 Feb 26 – Climate change fuels the destruction of world’s oldest trees

• 29 Jan 26 – La Niña, Climate change, high exposure and vulnerability combined led to devastating floods in parts of Southern Africa

• 22 Jan 26 – Climate change eclipses La Niña cooling in Australia to drive extreme heatwave and heightened fire risk

2025

• 29 Dec 25 – Unequal evidence and impacts, limits to adaptation: Extreme Weather in 2025

• 10 Dec 25 – Increasing heavy rainfall and extreme flood heights in a warming climate threaten densely populated regions across Sri Lanka and the Malacca Strait

• 21 Nov 25 – Human-induced climate change compounded by socio-economic water stressors increased severity of 5-year drought in Iran and Euphrates and Tigris basin

• 12 Nov 25 – Heavy rainfall leading to widespread flooding in eastern Mexico disproportionately impacts highly exposed Indigenous and socially vulnerable communities

• 06 Nov 25 – Climate change enhanced intensity of Hurricane Melissa, testing limits of adaptation in Jamaica and eastern Cuba

• 16 Oct 25 – Ten Years of the Paris Agreement: The Present and Future of Extreme Heat

• 04 Sep 25 – Extreme fire weather conditions in Spain and Portugal now common due to climate change

• 28 Aug 25 – Weather conditions leading to deadly wildfires in Türkiye, Cyprus and Greece made 10 times more likely due to climate change

• 14 Aug 25 – Intense two-week heatwave in Fennoscandia hotter and more likely due to climate change

• 06 Aug 25 – Climate change intensified heavy monsoon rain in Pakistan, exacerbating urban floods that impacted highly exposed communities

• 17 Jul 25 – Growing exposure and uncertain rainfall trends highlight the critical need for climate resilience in Colombia and Venezuela

• 20 Jun 25 – Climate change turns warm summer days in England into health threat

• 11 Jun 25 – Climate change drives record-breaking heat in Iceland and Greenland challenging cold adapted ecosystems and societies

• 04 Jun 25 – Mixed rainfall trends highlight the importance of climate adaptation in coastal New South Wales

• 30 May 25 – Heat Action Day Report: Climate Change and the Escalation of Global Extreme Heat

• 08 May 25 – Effective emergency management prevented larger catastrophe after climate change fueled heavy rains in Central Mississippi river valley

• 30 Apr 25 – Climate change made weather conditions leading to deadly South Korean wildfires about twice as likely

• 17 Apr 25 – High vulnerability and exposure main driver behind Kinshasa’s deadly floods following heavy, but not unusual rainfall

• 04 Apr 25 – Extraordinary March heatwave in Central Asia up to 10 °C hotter in a warming climate

• 27 Mar 25 – Consecutive extreme heat and flooding events in Argentina highlight the risk of managing increasingly frequent and intense hazards in a warming climate

• 13 Mar 25 – Increasing extreme rainfall and rapid urbanisation, major drivers behind Gaborone’s deadly floods

• 07 Mar 25 – Women and girls continue to bear disproportionate impacts of heatwaves in South Sudan that have become a constant threat

• 28 Jan 25 – Climate change increased the likelihood of wildfire disaster in highly exposed Los Angeles area

2024

• 27 Dec 24 – When Risks Become Reality: Extreme Weather In 2024

• 12 Dec 24 – Climate change supercharged late typhoon season in the Philippines, highlighting the need for resilience to consecutive events

• 04 Nov 24 – Extreme downpours increasing in southeastern Spain as fossil fuel emissions heat the climate

• 31 Oct 24 – 10 years of rapidly disentangling drivers of extreme weather disasters

• 30 Oct 24 – Can we come up with a meaningful number?

• 23 Oct 24 – Conflict, poverty and water management issues exposing vulnerable communities in Africa to extreme floods that are now common events because of climate change

• 16 Oct 24 – Rapid urbanisation and climate change key drivers of dramatic flood impacts in Nepal

• 11 Oct 24 – Yet another hurricane wetter, windier and more destructive because of climate change

• 09 Oct 24 – Climate change key driver of catastrophic impacts of Hurricane Helene that devastated both coastal and inland communities

• 25 Sep 24 – Climate change and high exposure increased costs and disruption to lives and livelihoods from flooding associated with exceptionally heavy rainfall in Central Europe

• 04 Sep 24 – Climate change key driver of extreme drought in water scarce Sicily and Sardinia

• 29 Aug 24 – Climate change increased Typhoon Gaemi’s wind speeds and rainfall, with devastating impacts across the western Pacific region

• 14 Aug 24 – Landslide triggering rainfall made more intense by human-induced climate change, devastating highly vulnerable communities in northern Kerala

• 08 Aug 24 – Hot, dry and windy conditions that drove devastating Pantanal wildfires 40% more intense due to climate change

• 31 Jul 24 – Deadly Mediterranean heatwave would not have occurred without human induced climate change

• 20 Jun 24 – Extreme heat killing more than 100 people in Mexico hotter and much more likely due to climate change

• 13 Jun 24 – Increasing April-May rainfall, El Niño and high vulnerability behind deadly flooding in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran

• 03 Jun 24 – Climate change, El Niño and infrastructure failures behind massive floods in southern Brazil

• 28 May 24 – Heat Action Day Report: Climate change and the escalation of global extreme heat

• 23 May 24 – Urban planning at the heart of increasingly severe East African flood impacts in a warming world

• 22 May 24 – Autumn and winter storm rainfall in the UK and Ireland was made about 20% heavier by human-caused climate change

• 14 May 24 – Climate change made the deadly heatwaves that hit millions of highly vulnerable people across Asia more frequent and extreme

• 01 May 24 – Low water levels in Panama Canal due to increasing demand exacerbated by El Niño event

• 25 Apr 24 – Heavy precipitation hitting vulnerable communities in the UAE and Oman becoming an increasing threat as the climate warms

• 18 Apr 24 – Extreme Sahel heatwave that hit highly vulnerable population at the end of Ramadan would not have occurred without climate change

• 18 Apr 24 – El Niño key driver of drought in highly vulnerable Southern African countries

• 21 Mar 24 – Dangerous humid heat in southern West Africa about 4°C hotter due to climate change

• 01 Mar 24 – Reducing vulnerability and improved land management needed with increasing heavy rainfall in Mindanao Island, southern Philippines

• 29 Feb 24 – Climate change made the extreme rainfall associated with flooding in Midleton, Ireland more likely and more intense

• 22 Feb 24 – Despite known coastal cooling trend, risk of deadly wildfires in central Chile increasing with changing land management in a warming climate

• 31 Jan 24 – Extreme cold will still occur in Northern Europe, although less often – risking decreasing preparedness and higher vulnerability

• 30 Jan 24 – Climate change increased heavy precipitation associated with impactful Storm Bettina over Black Sea

• 24 Jan 24 – Climate change, not El Niño, main driver of exceptional drought in highly vulnerable Amazon River Basin

2023

• 22 Dec 23 – Climate change fuelled extreme weather in 2023; expect more records in 2024

• 07 Dec 23 – Compounding natural hazards and high vulnerability led to severe impacts from Horn of Africa flooding exacerbated by climate change and Indian Ocean Dipole

• 23 Nov 23 – Extreme poverty renders Madagascar highly vulnerable to underreported extreme heat that would not have occurred without human-induced climate change

• 08 Nov 23 – Human-induced climate change compounded by socio-economic water stressors increased severity of drought in Syria, Iraq and Iran

• 10 Oct 23 – Strong influence of climate change in uncharacteristic early spring heat in South America

• 19 Sep 23 – Interplay of climate change-exacerbated rainfall, exposure and vulnerability led to widespread impacts in the Mediterranean region

• 22 Aug 23 – Climate change more than doubled the likelihood of extreme fire weather conditions in Eastern Canada

• 25 Jul 23 – Extreme heat in North America, Europe and China in July 2023 made much more likely by climate change

• 29 Jun 23 – Limited data prevent assessment of role of climate change in deadly floods affecting highly vulnerable communities around Lake Kivu

• 31 May 23 – Limited net role for climate change in heavy spring rainfall in Emilia-Romagna

• 17 May 23 – Extreme humid heat in South Asia in April 2023, largely driven by climate change, detrimental to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities

• 05 May 23 – Extreme April heat in Spain, Portugal, Morocco & Algeria almost impossible without climate change

• 27 Apr 23 – Human-induced climate change increased drought severity in Horn of Africa

• 14 Mar 23 – The role of climate change in extreme rainfall associated with Cyclone Gabrielle over Aotearoa New Zealand’s East Coast

• 16 Feb 23 – Vulnerability and high temperatures exacerbate impacts of ongoing drought in Central South America

2022

• 21 Dec 22 – Climate change made record breaking early season heat in Argentina and Paraguay about 60 times more likely

• 16 Nov 22 – Climate change exacerbated heavy rainfall leading to large scale flooding in highly vulnerable communities in West Africa

• 16 Nov 22 – Food crisis in Central Sahel in 2022 driven by chronic vulnerability with uncertain role of climate change

• 12 Oct 22 – Twelve months – WWA without Geert Jan

• 05 Oct 22 – High temperatures exacerbated by climate change made 2022 Northern Hemisphere droughts more likely

• 14 Sep 22 – Climate change likely increased extreme monsoon rainfall, flooding highly vulnerable communities in Pakistan

• 28 Jul 22 – Without human-caused climate change temperatures of 40°C in the UK would have been extremely unlikely

• 04 Jul 22 – Climate change increased heavy rainfall, hitting vulnerable communities in Eastern Northeast Brazil

• 23 May 22 – Climate Change made devastating early heat in India and Pakistan 30 times more likely

• 18 May 22 – Climate change added $4bn to damage of Japan’s Typhoon Hagibis

• 13 May 22 – Climate change-exacerbated rainfall causing devastating flooding in Eastern South Africa

• 11 Apr 22 – Climate change increased rainfall associated with tropical cyclones hitting highly vulnerable communities in Madagascar, Mozambique & Malawi

2021

• 16 Dec 21 – Limited role of climate change in October 2020 Vietnam flooding

• 01 Dec 21 – Factors other than climate change are the main drivers of recent food insecurity in Southern Madagascar

• 14 Oct 21 – Geert Jan van Oldenborgh, 1961–2021

• 23 Aug 21 – Heavy rainfall which led to severe flooding in Western Europe made more likely by climate change

• 07 Jul 21 – Western North American extreme heat virtually impossible without human-caused climate change

• 15 Jun 21 – Human-caused climate change increased the likelihood of early growing period frost in France

• 13 May 21 – Pathways and Pitfalls in extreme event attribution

2020

• 15 Jul 20 – Siberian heatwave of 2020 almost impossible without climate change

• 10 Jan 20 – Attribution of the Australian bushfire risk to anthropogenic climate change

2019

• 27 Sep 19 – Rapid attribution of the extreme rainfall in Texas from Tropical Storm Imelda

• 02 Aug 19 – Human contribution to the record-breaking July 2019 heatwave in Western Europe

• 02 Jul 19 – Human contribution to record-breaking June 2019 heatwave in France

• 20 May 19 – A limited role for unforced internal variability in 20th century warming

• 15 Mar 19 – The August 2017 Bangladesh floods

2018

• 14 Sep 18 – Super Typhoon Mangkhut heading for the Philippines

• 13 Sep 18 – Hurricane Florence, September 2018

• 24 Aug 18 – Exceptionally high monsoon rainfall in Kerala, 2018

• 28 Jul 18 – Heatwave in northern Europe, summer 2018

• 17 Jul 18 – Extreme rainfall in Japan, 2018 – a quick look

• 13 Jul 18 – Likelihood of Cape Town water crisis tripled by climate change

• 25 Jun 18 – Devastating rains in Kenya, 2018

• 16 Mar 18 – Stormy January over western Europe, 2018

• 28 Feb 18 – Trends in weather extremes

• 29 Jan 18 – A cold winter in North America, December 2017 to January 2018

2017

• 15 Dec 17 – UK Storm Desmond revisited, December 2017

• 02 Nov 17 – Assigning historical responsibilities for extreme weather events

• 27 Sep 17 – Euro-Mediterranean heat, summer 2017

• 31 Aug 17 – Climate change fingerprints confirmed in Hurricane Harvey’s rainfall, August 2017

• 29 Jun 17 – Record June temperatures in western Europe

• 30 Mar 17 – Rapid analysis of drought in Somalia, 2016

• 23 Mar 17 – Severe drought in Kenya, 2016–17

• 08 Mar 17 – Warm Februaries becoming much more common in the US

• 21 Feb 17 – Extreme heat in southeast Australia, February 2017

• 12 Jan 17 – Extreme cold in south east Europe, 2017

2016

• 21 Dec 16 – Unusually high temperatures at the North Pole, winter 2016

• 08 Dec 16 – Deep freeze in the US, December 2016

• 14 Aug 16 – Downpours in Louisiana, August 2016

• 09 Jun 16 – Rainstorms in France and Germany, May 2016

• 01 Jun 16 – Record high temperatures in India, 2016

• 18 Mar 16 – Great Barrier reef bleaching, 2016

2015

• 16 Dec 15 – Storm Desmond brings heavy rain to the UK, December 2015

• 01 Dec 15 – Chennai floods, December 2015

• 24 Nov 15 – 2015 – a record breaking hot year

• 10 Sep 15 – Main drivers of drought in south east Brazil, 2014–15

• 24 Jul 15 – Ethiopia drought, 2015 – a livelihood crisis

• 10 Jul 15 – European heatwave, July 2015