In Our View: Ignoring climate change won’t alter situation

Amid debates about immigration enforcement, tax bills and general chaos in Washington, D.C., the Trump administration has managed to distract Americans from a pressing concern.

As The Seattle Times reported this week: “Yes, this is summer and it’s supposed to be hot and dry. But this year we’re much drier than normal and, fresh off major droughts in 2024 and 2023, the effects of these lingering dry spells is compounding.”

For the third consecutive year, Washington officials have declared a drought emergency. Flash floods across Texas in the past week resulted in more than 100 deaths. A recent heat dome covered nearly half the United States and caused the buckling of roads ranging from Delaware to Wisconsin.

Each of these events is related to climate change that results in extreme weather events. Yet Republicans in Congress recently passed a spending bill supported by President Donald Trump that sharply reduces funding for climate initiatives.

At some point, we would hope, Americans would no longer ignore the obvious. But as a recent column published by New Scientist explains: “This widespread inaction is often blamed on political or structural forces. But decades of psychological research suggest something deeper is at play: The human brain tends to overlook slow, creeping change.”

Such a capacity for cognitive dissonance is disturbing; ignoring the situation will not alter it. But Trump has a remarkable capacity for focusing on short-term initiatives while disregarding the future, and his acolytes in Congress have shamefully followed suit.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, signed last week, greatly increases spending on immigration enforcement and reduces taxes while partially offsetting that with cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and clean-energy tax breaks. In spite of those tepid savings, the legislation will increase the national deficit by $2.4 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

In our state, much of the impact will be felt in reductions to support for clean energy, placing $8.7 billion in investments at risk, according to Gov. Bob Ferguson. The legislation supports mining, drilling and the production of oil — activities that exacerbate climate change — while slashing tax credits for wind and solar projects.

The reasoning behind such a move is the specious claim that the United States is not self-sufficient when it comes to energy. But a report last year from J.P. Morgan, echoing other analyses, declared that “the U.S. has achieved energy independence for the first time in 40 years while Europe and China compete for global energy resources.” In other words, the energy provisions in the new legislation are built upon falsehoods.

“This bill is anything but beautiful for Washington,” Ferguson said. “It’s a fossil fuel wish list that penalizes clean energy and favors pollution.”

The costs are enormous, and they are particularly damaging for a state that has embraced its moral obligation to reduce carbon emissions while recognizing that alternative energy represents economic opportunity. The U.S. Climate Alliance, an organization of 24 governors (including one Republican), estimates that the One Big Beautiful Bill Act will result in the loss of 21,800 jobs in Washington by 2030 and will increase electricity costs for Washington households.

Other provisions in the bill and other issues facing our nation also warrant attention. But at some point, it would seem, Americans must stop ignoring the slow, creeping threat that is presented by climate change.