Super Bowl Heat Wave Breaks California Records

West Coast temperatures soar above 90 degrees in February. Will U.S. leaders ever take serious action on the climate emergency?

Photo by ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty Images

The latest evidence of a rapidly warming planet is a California heat wave breaking February records:

NWS Los Angeles @NWSLosAngeles

Are we beginning to sound like a...broken record? 🥁 Three daily high temp records were broken or tied today. Camarillo tied a 98 year old record with a high of 84! #CAwx

Extreme Temperatures Around The World @extremetemps

California Heat Wave: 12 February was the 4th consecutive day with a max. temperature of 91F+ and the 2nd with 94F which was recorded at Anaheim. Monthly records broken on Feb 12th: San Jose 81F (tied) Salinas 88F San Diego AP 91F Santa Monica 90F Chula Vista 93F Paso Robles 84F

Lauren Sanchez @lsanchez020

I know we're all excited about #SuperBowl - but can we please also talk about it being played in a February LA heat wave - sweltering 84° and rain only a distant memory? #ClimateCrisis

America’s ruling parties are beholden to the fossil fuel industry and remain unserious about confronting the climate emergency. The Republican Party is openly anti-science, a haven for climate denialists. Democratic leaders portray themselves as a rational alternative to the GOP, but their actions tell a different story:

Late last year, just days after pledging to cut fossil fuels at international climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, the Biden administration held the largest oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. On Thursday, a federal judge invalidated that sale in the Gulf of Mexico, saying the administration didn't adequately consider the costs to the world's climate.

Peter Daou @peterdaou

If Biden is the "climate president," how was 2021 the first year since 2014 that coal generation increased instead of decreasing?

cnn.comPlanet-warming emissions surged faster in the US than expected in 2021, analysts sayThe increase in planet-warming emissions in the US in 2021 outpaced economic recovery, Rhodium Group found.

The resources corporate Democrats have allocated to the climate emergency are meager considering the threat:

Peter Daou @peterdaou

Periodic reminder that #BBB is a watered down farce of a bill. Its largest expenditure is a tax cut for millionaires. The budget allocated to the life-threatening #ClimateEmergency is less than what a handful of billionaires pocketed in the pandemic. #BuildBiggerBillionaires

Super Bowl Sundays in early February shouldn’t be accompanied by headlines like this:

Mark Anthony Neal @NewBlackMan

Brush fires rage in Southern California amid record heat, worsening drought

washingtonpost.comBrush fires rage in Southern California amid record heat, worsening droughtOne blaze erupted in Laguna Beach while new fires spread in Los Angeles County with temperatures climbing to nearly 90 degrees and gusty winds

As the climate catastrophe unfolds, all we’re getting from political leaders is empty talk. Lip service to an existential crisis is hardly real climate action. In the words of climate activist Greta Thunberg, the pathetically inadequate global response can be summarized as “blah, blah, blah.”

We are not powerless.

For those of us who are able to do so, we can speak out, protest, support climate activists/organizers, donate to responsible campaigns and organizations, vote for Green candidates, and amplify principled independent media. And we can continue to fight a rapacious system that gives the billionaire class free rein to destroy the planet:

The richest one percent of the world’s population are responsible for more than twice as much carbon pollution as the 3.1 billion people who made up the poorest half of humanity during a critical 25-year period of unprecedented emissions growth.