Shameless: Climate Scolds Now Using Texas Floods to Push a Political Agenda

They aren't, of course. They are all about the narrative, and when it comes to climate change, the activists there are some of the worst; what's more, many of them seem to have no sense of shame, and just plain don't know when it's appropriate to just keep one's doggone mouth shut.

And a bunch of them right now are trying to cash in on the recent, tragic floods in Texas to push their agenda.

In the aftermath of the tragic Texas Hill Country flooding, a barrage of mainstream media outlets, including; CBS Texas “History warned of the Central Texas flood: Why the danger on the Guadalupe River wasn’t a surprise,” CNN “How climate change made Texas flooding more violent,” and San Antonio Current “Bill Nye the Science Guy calls for fossil fuel ban as death toll from Texas flood continues to rise,” have advanced the narrative that climate change is turning extreme weather and deadly floods into a “new normal.” These claims are wrong, misleading, and, frankly, do a disservice to public understanding of Texas flood risk. The historical and scientific record shows no significant trend toward more frequent or severe heat waves or floods in this region. The evidence instead points to a simple, unchanging fact: Floods have happened here for millennia, long before SUVs and coal fired power plants, and will continue as long as the Guadalupe River flows.

Bill Nye, remember, is not a scientist. By education, he's an engineer. He seems not to have even a nodding acquaintance with the scientific method, or how it's supposed to be employed to examine data, facts, and derive information. He is an activist, and while he is within his First Amendment rights to remain an activist and speak as he pleases, we are also within our rights to call him out when he is shoveling great big malodorous loads of the stuff I used to have to shovel out of the stalls in my uncle's livestock auction barn when I was a kid.

So, let's do that:

Perhaps the most absurd quote comes from the San Antonio Current, in which Bill Nye declares:

Other than installing early flood warning systems in flood-prone areas, Nye said the only way prevent similar tragedies in the future is for Congress to enact a total fossil fuel ban to curb the effects of climate change. He added that humans’ alterations to the climate have been scientifically proven to exacerbate flooding events.

Did you get that? Let's just look with revulsion at the "total fossil fuel ban," although it reveals three things about Bill Nye: First, that he is not a person to be taken seriously, second, that he clearly doesn't understand that fossil fuels are used for far more than heating, cooling, powering cars and generating electricity, that almost all of our modern technology is dependent on them, and third, he's wrong about "humans' alterations to the climate." Bill Nye clearly wouldn't know a "scientific proof" if he tripped over one.

Fortunately, some of us are better informed.

As it happens, there is a guide published by The Guadalupe-Blanco River Authority, called "Staying Safe... A Guide for Flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin." That guide states in part:

If you live in the Guadalupe River Basin, you also live in one of the three most dangerous regions in the U.S.A. for flash floods! Local residents and weather experts refer to the Texas Hill Country as ‘Flash Flood Alley,’ because heavy rainfall and runoff from creeks and streams can cause rapid rises and flooding in a matter of hours. This publication is designed to prepare you for such an event by increasing public awareness about the dangers of flooding in the Guadalupe River Basin. The Guadalupe River experienced major floods in 1936, 1952, 1972, 1973, 1978, 1987, 1991 and 1997.

This area is part of what is known as "Flash Flood Alley" and is considered the most flash-flood-prone area in the United States. And it has been, for as long as records have been kept.

Let’s review the record—because, unlike much of the modern media, data matters more than opinion:

• Major floods in the Guadalupe River Basin occurred all throughout the 20^th century, well before the current era of supposed “climate crisis.”
• The catastrophic October 1998 flood developed in just a few hours, broke most existing records, and exceeded the so-called 100-year flood plain, flooding areas “that had never been flooded before.” The official flood guide bluntly states, “Unfortunately, an even greater flood will occur sometime in the future.”
• These events took place when global temperatures and atmospheric CO2 were lower than they are today.

These are facts.

Read More: This Is What Happens When Climate Scolds Totally Lose It

A Young Meteorologist Questioned Climate Change. The Scolds Tried to Silence Him.

Finally, some are pointing fingers at the Trump administration, claiming that spending cuts are affecting the National Weather Service in that flood-prone area. That's a canard, as well. A CBS News team spoke with Jason Johnson, a lead hydrologist at the West Gulf River Forecast Center in Fort Worth, who said:

Despite the tragedy, Johnson said his team was staffed and ready. Forecasting models were in place. More scientists were on standby.

"We had our best people on shift... everyone was utilized," he said.

In other words, this was a tragic, horrible flood, but it happened in an area notorious for flash floods, and such floods have been happening in that area since people have been keeping records. This is not about climate change. It's about geography. It's about a river valley that is unfortunately prone to just this kind of event.

What's really saddening about this is the utter lack of propriety among people, like Bill Nye, who figuratively stand atop the heaps of debris, atop the wreckage of millions of dollars of private property, and atop the bodies of the lost, and make this all about their pet agenda. I would say they should be ashamed of themselves, of their self-serving and, yes, disgusting behavior. But I suspect they lack the capacity for shame.