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Climate change killed hundreds of Americans this summer and caused billions of dollars in damage. This year we have witnessed record , and . And little wonder, for Northern Hemisphere lands, including t, this was the on record.

President Biden needs all 50 Democrats in the Senate to vote for his reconciliation bill, which includes a clean electricity that would rapidly replace the nation’s coal- and gas-fired power plants with wind, solar and nuclear energy.

Passing this legislation would show the world that the U.S., Earth’s , is finally ready to lead on averting climate catastrophe.

And in the few days left before — the UN Climate Change Conference in Scotland — that would be a significant rallying cry to other nations as investment in renewable energy needs to by the end of the decade in order to keep temperature increases below 1.5 degree Celsius and adhere to the .

Even so, West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin .

He was busy counting fossil fuel money in the air-conditioned, information-vacuum of his Capitol Hill office. He in more than $400,000 from polluters as he his party’s plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

More than 1,400 people in the 121 degree Fahrenheit Western North America heat wave this summer. Thousands more visited emergency rooms with illnesses. This was a 1,000-year weather event that was made 150 times because of climate change.

For the second year, Death Valley, California, set a , for the hottest temperature (130 degree Fahrenheit) ever measured on Earth. That’s the recommended temperature for cooking a medium-rare steak.

Joe Manchin doesn’t care. He’s paid by corporate polluters to block solutions to this problem.

‘Dirty Politics’

It is not surprising that Joe Manchin clean energy. As I back in August, studies show “the more a given member of Congress votes against environmental policies, the more contributions they receive from oil and gas companies supporting their reelection.” This finding is from an academic study published in .

I’d call that , wouldn’t you, Joe?

more in political donations from the oil and gas industry than any other senator, more than double the second-largest recipient. He is also the No. 1 from the sector, leads the way in money accepted from gas pipeline operators, and is sixth in the ranking of donations from electric utilities.

Today, 98% of the West is in , and 75 million live under drought conditions. The period 2000 to 2018 was the driest 19-year span since the late 1500s and the second driest since the year 800 CE.

The six U.S. Southwest states have been an unyielding, unprecedented, and costly drought driven by the lowest rates of precipitation and the highest air temperatures in the 125 year-long record. This is just the beginning.

A more extreme trend of is projected as global warming continues. The nation’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, supply water and electricity to over 20 million people. But drought has lowered water levels to only one-third of their capacity. As the current La Niña develops, the entire region is poised for a water in 2022.

Mega-drought drives mega-fire. As of Oct. 19, the National Interagency Fire Center reported a total of 47,602 wildfires across the country that had almost 6.5 million acres. Nearly 6,000 courageous firefighters are deployed to 28 large, active fires across the U.S. Of these, 16 are uncontained.

Mega-fires spawn their own dry that generate lightening which sets more land on fire. Studies of infant health in mega-fire regions show increased and lower birth weight, as if pregnant mothers had been smoking six cigarettes per day.

Drought and mega-fire are not confined to the U.S., it’s a global phenomenon that is driving displacement among human communities. The describes how failing food and water security create hotspots of internal climate migration. These will emerge as early as 2030 and continue to spread and intensify, eventually involving over 200 million people by mid-century.

A last week by U.S. intelligence agencies paints an equally dire picture of growing risks caused by radical changes in the world’s climate as countries compete for dwindling water and food supplies while facing waves of migration across borders.

Joe Manchin doesn’t care.

Average U.S. has increased about 2 degrees Fahrenheit since record keeping began in 1895. The most recent decade was the nation’s warmest on record. to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, climate change threatens U.S. agricultural productivity through changes in temperature and precipitation, increased pest and disease pressures, decline in pollinator health, reduced crop and forage quantity and quality, and infrastructure damage.

The has identified climate change as a critical national security issue and threat multiplier. Extreme weather events already cost DoD billions of dollars and are degrading mission capabilities.

Not adapting to climate change will be even more consequential with failure measured in terms of lost military capability, weakened alliances, enfeebled international stature, degraded infrastructure, and missed opportunities for technical innovation and economic growth.

In 2020, the United States experienced a 22 natural disasters that each resulted in at least $1 billion in damages, including a record seven linked to hurricanes or tropical storms. Weather events affect communities, school districts, and institutions of higher education.

A more extreme trend of mega-drought is projected as global warming continues.

The U.S. believes that fulfilling its mission requires confronting the rapidly changing climate, its impact on students, educators and infrastructure, as well as the implications for the future world in which the United States competes.

Scientists that record-shattering heat events are up to seven times more likely to occur between now and 2050, and more than 21 times more likely to occur from 2051 to 2080. The UN’s found that severe heat waves that previously occurred once every 50 years will now likely happen once per decade.

As the governments of almost 200 nations prepare for a pivotal meeting on climate change, millions of Americans stand dumbfounded at the sheer gall and cold, uncaring detachment displayed by West Virginia Democratic Sen. Joe Manchin.

Without immediate, drastic cuts in greenhouse gases, the world will continue to burn, thirst, and bake.

Joe Manchin, now is the time to care. You can stop this.