Heat Waves, Volcanoes and the Climate Religion

It's official. This is a major heat wave this summer. It's bad and it's far from over. Have we seen this before? Yes, several times. Before the climate change crowd jumps in let's consider some history. The mother of all heat waves, at least in the United States was probably 1980. Many of you will remember that year. That year temperatures above 90 degrees was present every day from June to September. I lived in Oklahoma where I think that year still holds the record for 100 degree days in a row. I recall that in Oklahoma City it rained once. People literally came out of their houses and danced in the street. In?Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, high temperatures exceeded 100?°F (38?°C) a total of 69 times, including a record 42 consecutive days from June 23 to August 3, of which 28 days were above 105, and five days above 110. But what else happened in 1980 that people remember? Mt. Saint Helens erupted in May of 1980. It killed 57 people, destroyed millions of trees in an instant and shot out a giant cloud of ash over the U.S. for nine hours. I think that would classify as a climate event. Then came the heat wave. Correlated?

Let's review another climate event. In 1815 a volcano named Mount Tambora in Indonesia had a massive eruption that ejected 24 cubic miles of material into the atmosphere. You read that right. Miles of material. It made Mount Saint Helens look like a firecracker. The results in 1816, as the impact of the eruption spread around the world was what is now called "The Year Without a Summer". It was not a heat wave that time around. The amount of ash clouded the sun. Temperatures fell in Europe and the United States. It was the third coldest summer on record in Europe and the coldest July ever recorded. On both continents heavy rains and low temperatures caused crops to fail. Populations were subjected to starvation in Great Britain, Germany and Ireland as well as the United States. Even President Thomas Jefferson reported crop failures at Monticello. In Europe food prices soared and there were food riots. In 1816 and 1819 typhus epidemics spread through Europe and 65,000 people died precipitated by malnourishment and famine caused by the Year Without a Summer. Famine was also a serious problem in the United States. All of this from one volcano in the far southern Pacific.

Does any of this sound familiar? Epidemics, soaring food prices, extreme weather. While this year is not associated with a volcano it's fair to say all of this has happened before and can happen again at any time. While the people from the climate change religion will tell you that climate change is caused by people consider history and events that have nothing to do with populations anywhere in the world. Are people contributing to the impact on the climate? You would have to say yes. But, by how much? As much as a volcanic eruption like Tambora? Probably not but do your own research and by all means dismiss politicians that always have a different agenda. If you don't believe that look at the Netherlands. My first question to anyone from the climate crisis crowd is tell me how you plan to mitigate volcanoes?