Resist quick fixes

Why is it that climate-change deniers are so quick to speak up when the weather is cold and icy, but become as mute as a mime when America is suffering from record heat?

The first three weeks of June saw record highs—not only throughout the southern U.S. but in Minneapolis and Milwaukee, where roads buckled when the temperature reached 100 degrees for the first time in nearly a decade.

Meteorologists blamed the extreme temperatures on heat domes, which they described as high-pressure zones that allow the compressed air beneath them to heat up. Heat domes are common in summer, but scientists say climate change has increased their intensity .

With the worst yet to come with regard to global warming, this country should be addressing the problem more aggressively. Instead, the war in Ukraine’s impact on the world oil supply has raised gas pump prices and led President Joe Biden to beg the fossilfuel industry to ramp up production.

The more difficult course for Biden, especially with midterm elections staring him in the face, would be to ask Americans to be patient and adjust. Elected officials did that during the Arab oil embargo in the 1970s. People started driving more economical vehicles and a 55-mph speed limit was imposed.

Similar long-term solutions are needed now, not quick fixes like tapping the national oil reserves or suspending the federal fuel tax. Instead of pleading for cooperation by oil companies, Biden should have asked Congress to reconsider some of the measures in the now-deceased Green New Deal.