Tag: climate change

[Style: Surf-Rock Eco-Apocalypse / Sea-Shanty-Rock]
[Tempo: Driving 6/8, ~145 BPM]

[Intro]
[Ocean Waves]
[Low Ship Bell]
[Deep Tom Drum: BOOM… BOOM… BOOM…]
[Tremolo Electric Guitar Swell]
[Surf Guitar Riff Builds]

Hoist the sail!
(Let ‘er wail!)
The tide is turning!
(Seas are churning!)
Watch the horizon!
(It’s comin’ on!)
On and on and on

[Instrumental Intro]
[Tremolo Surf Guitar]
[Sea-Shanty Drum Pattern]
[Low Bass Drone]
[Crash Cymbal Accents]

[Verse 1]
All along the water
(The water’s movin’ in)
Footprints on the shoreline
(The shoreline’s losin’)

Where the dunes stood tall
(They’re fallin’)
Hear the ocean call
(It’s callin’)

[Pre-Chorus]
[Drums Build]
[Gang Vocals]

Hold the line!
(It’s a fine line!)
Draw the line!
(Hold back time!)

[Refrain]
[Tremolo Guitar Explodes]
[Gang Vocal / Sea-Shanty Call-and-Response]

All along the edge
(Along the coastline)
A new tidal ledge
(In the sands of time)

What once was “is”
(… is now was)
The hourglass
(Passed)

For all time…
(Washed!)

The sands have dropped
(The land has stopped)
… it’s plain to see
(Washed to the sea)
… whoosh…

[Instrumental]
[Surf Guitar Solo]
[Rapid Tremolo Picking]
[Tom-Tom Rolls]
[Ocean-Wave Sound Design]
[Gang Vocals: “Hey! Hey! Ho!”]

[Verse 2]
Storm comes rollin’
(Rollin’ in!)
Waves come crashin’
(Again and again!)

Rain comes pourin’
(Pourin’ down!)
Water finds
(The lowest ground around!)

[Pre-Chorus]
[Half-Time Drums]
[Low Bass]

Build it high!
(Try, try, try!)
Build it stronger!
(… but will it last any longer?)

[Refrain]
[Full Band]
[Surf Guitar + Organ + Gang Vocals]

All along the edge
(Along the coastline)
A new tidal ledge
(In the sands of time)

What once was “is”
(… is now was)
The hourglass
(Passed)

For all time…
(Washed!)

The sands have dropped
(The land has stopped)
… it’s plain to see
(Washed to the sea)

Can’t hide…
(… from the tide)

[Bridge]
[Sudden Drop]
[Only Bass + Floor Tom + Distant Ocean]

Where is the edge?
(There!)

There was the edge…
(Where?)

Where could the edge be?
(… out to sea!)

[Ship Bell]

The coastline…
(Found a new home)
The coastline…
(It’s a moving zone)
The coastline…
(Is on the roam)

The coastline…
(Ain’t comin’ home)

[Drums Gradually Accelerate]

[Instrumental Break]
[Surf Guitar Tremolo]
[Sea-Shanty Gang Vocals]
“Ho! Hey!”
“Ho! Hey!”
“Pull the line!”
“Washin’ way the time!”

[Build]
[Drums Increasing]
[Distorted Surf Guitar]
[Organ Swells]

The rising sea!
(Surprisingly)
Soaked up…
(All that energy)

[Refrain]
[Maximum Energy]
[Gang Vocals]
[Crash Cymbals]

All along the edge
(Along the coastline)
A new tidal ledge
(In the sands of time)

[Outro]
What once was “is”
(… is now was)
The hourglass
(Passed)

For all time…
(Washed!)

The sands have dropped
(The land has stopped)
… it’s plain to see
(Washed to the sea)

[Final Ocean Crash]

[Silence]

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Piano, Deep Sub-Bass Synth, Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Harmonica, Tribal Percussion, Electric Slide Guitar]

[Intro]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
Ridin’ the coast
(What a roast!)

Slowly movin’
(But not away)
Hangin’ around
(Another day)

[Verse 1]
Atlantic City
(Beach took a hit)
Half-mile stretch
(That’s some of it)

Dunes carved deeply
(Steep and tall)
Sand disappeared
(There goes the wall)

[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least

Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay

[Verse 2]
Down in Brigantine
(The beach did flee)
Hundreds of feet
(Washed out to sea)

[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least

Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay

[Verse 3]
Storm energy
(Turned into cost)
Flooded the streets
(What have we lost?)

[Bridge]
Storm energy!
(Flood and erosion!)
Wind energy!
(Coastal corrosion!)

Joules don’t stay
(In a textbook line)
They reach your house
(And they reach mine)

[Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least

Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay

[Breakdown]
Flooding!
(Erosion!)

Wind!
(Destruction!)

Power!
(Interruption!)

Traffic!
(Disruption!)

Property!
(Depreciation!)

Business!
(Complication!)

[Final Refrain]
Comin’ from the northeast
(A real beast)
… to say the least

Hangin’ out day after day
(No, just wont move away)
… ocean takes over the bay

[Outro]
Comin’ from the northeast
(What a beast!)
Turning energy
(Into receipts!)

Damage
(Becomes dollars)

Dam Age!
(Everybody hollers)

[Silence]

[End]

About the Song
The late-September 2026 nor’easter turned atmospheric and oceanic energy into a massive economic event.

$10–13 BILLION in estimated damage and economic losses.

Flooding.
Beach and dune erosion.
Downed trees.
Power outages.
Infrastructure damage.
Transportation disruption.

The storm demonstrates a simple connection:
STORM ENERGY → FLOODING + EROSION + WIND → DAMAGE → ECONOMIC LOSS

Climate energy does not remain an abstract number measured in joules. It reaches us through the places where we live, the infrastructure we depend upon, and the economic systems that connect us.

The Jersey Shore: Erosion, Flooding and Infrastructure Damage

The most concentrated physical damage occurred along exposed coastal communities.

Atlantic City
Atlantic City experienced some of its most severe beach erosion since Superstorm Sandy in 2012. A particularly hard-hit area extended for approximately a half-mile north of Steel Pier.

The storm carved deeply into the dunes, leaving steep sand escarpments and exposing previously buried structures. Atlantic City Beach Patrol officials reported that roughly half of the dunes remained in the affected area after the storm.

This is more than a cosmetic change to the beach. Dunes function as part of the coastal defense system. Removing large quantities of sand reduces the physical buffer between ocean waves and developed areas.

Brigantine
Brigantine also suffered extensive beach and dune erosion. City officials estimated that hundreds of feet of beach were washed away, while approximately 30 feet of dunes were lost in one particularly vulnerable area. Officials said the damage could amount to tens of millions of dollars.

The storm also damaged the city’s promenade. A newly installed beach-access ramp was torn from its foundation and carried approximately 30 blocks down the beach before being recovered. Sections of promenade railing were also damaged.

Mayor Vince Sera described the storm as producing exceptionally powerful ocean conditions, while city officials emphasized that the promenade and seawall helped protect homes and infrastructure from even greater damage.

Repeated Tidal Flooding
The storm’s slow movement and persistent onshore winds produced flooding over multiple high-tide cycles.

In Sea Bright, New Jersey, for example, successive tides repeatedly flooded neighborhoods rather than producing a single isolated flooding event. More than four inches of rain also fell in portions of New Jersey, adding freshwater runoff to the coastal flooding problem.

The combination of heavy rainfall + elevated ocean water + high tides + strong onshore winds created a compound flooding event.

How Is the Climate Energy Hitting You? The $13 Billion Northeastern U.S. Nor’easter

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Piano, Deep Sub-Bass Synth, Acoustic Guitar, Organ, Saxophone, Drums, Electric Guitar, Percussion]

[Intro]
Look around
(What’s that sound?)
Something’s changing
(And rearranging)

Up above
(From below)
Something’s moving
(Where’d it go?)

The sky is wide
(The world is turning)
Nothing to hide
(The future’s burning)

[Verse 1]
It came in slowly
(Then all at once)
Quietly growing
(Some sort-a cosmic response)

[Refrain]
The atmosphere
(Of fear)…
Did disappear

It’s a takeover
(The future… is sure…)
Taking over the present
(Heaven sent!)

Thanks for giving us…
This fine time!
(It’s fabulous!)

[Verse 2]
Take over the seasons
(Take over the flow)
Take over the reasons
(We thought we should know)

[Bridge]
Is war or peace…
(In the atmosphere!)
Fears release…
(Or fears near?)

[Refrain]
The atmosphere
(Of fear)…
Did disappear

It’s a takeover
(The future… is sure…)
Taking over the present
(Heaven sent!)

Thanks for giving us…
This fine time!
(It’s fabulous!)

[Outro]
Take over
(Discover)
Takeover
(Uncover)

The future
(Is sure)
Present
(A present)
… of the present.

The atmosphere
(Is here)

The takeover
(Is now)

Thanks for giving us…

This fine time!

(It’s fabulous!)

…Absolutely fabulous.

[Fade out]

[Silence]

[End]

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: snarling electric guitar, rumbling bass, stomping drums, exaggerated macho-rock riff, harmonica, juice harp, fiddle]

[Intro]
Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, luck)

[Verse 1]
Big truck
(Big smoke)
Big voice
(Big joke)

Rollin’ coal
(Black cloud)
Make it loud
(Make us proud?)

Gasoline
(So cheap)
Burn it deep
(Never sleep)

Chrome and steel
(That’s the deal)
Manly wheels
(How ya feel?)

[Pre-Chorus]
It’s more than fuel
(More than a ride)
It’s an identity
(You wear it with pride)

Don’t touch my truck
(Don’t touch my way)
Don’t tell me
(How I should play)

Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, buck)

Shout it out:
Big truck!
(Dumb fu, fu, bluck)

[Instrumental, Banjo Solo, Harmonica, Fiddle]

[Refrain]
Petro-Masculinity
(Testosterone insanity)
Blowin’ smoke
(Up yer ass)
Noose tied rope
(“Do not pass”)

Petro-Masculinity
(Ego boasting vanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Missing simple humanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Promoting the calamity)

[Verse 2]
Breadwinner
(That’s the role)
Worker
(With no soul)

Factory town
(Shut it down?)
What went wrong?
(Look around?)

Suburban dream
(Gasoline)
Big machine
(Mean machine)

Drive alone
(Own the road)
Pay the toll
(Carry the load)
Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, buck)

Shout it out:
Big truck!
(Dumb fu, fu, bluck)

[Refrain]
Petro-Masculinity
(Testosterone insanity)
Blowin’ smoke
(Up yer ass)
Noose tied rope
(“Do not pass”)

Petro-Masculinity
(Ego boasting vanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Missing simple humanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Promoting the calamity)

[Verse 4]
Rolling coal
(Here we go!)
Smoke the road
(Watch it blow!)

“I don’t care!”
(See me burn!)
“I won’t change!”
(I can’t learn!)

A cloud of diesel
(Up in the air)
A cloud of meaning
(Totally unaware)

[Bridge]
Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, schmuck)

Shout it out:
Big truck!
(Dumb fu, fu, schmuck)

[Break]
Blow it out!
(BLOW IT OUT!)

Burn it up!
(BURN IT UP!)

Make it loud!
(MAKE IT LOUD!)

What’s that cloud?

[Silence]

Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, schmuck)

Shout it out:
Big truck!
(Dumb fu, fu, schmuck)

[Refrain]
Petro-Masculinity
(Testosterone insanity)
Blowin’ smoke
(Up yer ass)
Noose tied rope
(“Do not pass”)

[Final Bridge]
Fuel becomes freedom
(Freedom becomes pride)
Pride becomes anger
(When challenged from outside)

And anger becomes politics
(Politics becomes power)
Power protects the system
(Hour after hour)

[Final Refrain]
Petro-Masculinity
(Testosterone insanity)
Blowin’ smoke
(Up yer ass)
Noose tied rope
(“Do not pass”)

Petro-Masculinity
(Ego boasting vanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Missing simple humanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Promoting the calamity)

Petro-Masculinity
(What does freedom mean?)
Petro-Masculinity
(What does strength redeem?)

Petro-Masculinity
(The cultural engine)

[Outro]
Big truck
(Big smoke)

Big ego
(Big joke)

Rollin’ coal
(Missed school)

[Fade out]
Petro-Masculinity
(Ego boasting vanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Missing simple humanity)
Petro-Masculinity
(Promoting the calamity)

Big truck
(Dumb fu, fu, stuck)

Shout it out:
Big truck!
(Dumb fu, fu… yuck)

[Instrumental Outro: guitar feedback, diesel-like bass rumble, drums gradually slowing into a single heartbeat]

[Fade out]

[End]

[Silence]

About the Song
Petro-Masculinity: The Cultural Engine

A related concept helps explain the cultural dimension of fossil-fuel politics: petro-masculinity.

Political scientist Cara Daggett introduced the term in her 2018 paper Petro-Masculinity: Fossil Fuels and Authoritarian Desire. Daggett argues that fossil-fuel systems can become connected not only to economic interests but also to identity, masculinity, authority, and resistance to social change.

The central idea is that fossil fuels can represent more than energy.

They can represent:
independence
personal freedom
economic security
traditional gender roles
national power
resistance to perceived cultural change

Fossil-fuel identity
During the twentieth century, American masculinity became closely associated with breadwinning, industrial employment, suburban development, automobile ownership, and inexpensive gasoline.

As a result, challenges to fossil-fuel consumption can sometimes be interpreted culturally rather than simply economically.

An electric vehicle, public transportation, reduced meat consumption, or restrictions on fossil-fuel use can be portrayed not merely as policy choices but as attacks on traditional identity.

This helps explain the cultural significance of behaviors such as “rolling coal,” in which modified diesel vehicles deliberately produce large quantities of exhaust smoke. The behavior can function as a form of political or cultural expression rather than transportation alone.
Petro-masculinity and authoritarianism

Daggett’s framework connects fossil-fuel dependence with authoritarian desire, particularly where climate action is interpreted as a threat to established gender roles, economic autonomy, or social status.

The connection to fossil fascism can therefore be understood at two levels:
Petro-masculinity is the cultural and identity dimension.
Fossil fascism is the political and institutional dimension.

The former can help create emotional resistance to changes in the energy system; the latter describes political structures and movements that defend fossil-fuel power.

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: distorted blues guitar, pounding toms, industrial bass, distant marching rhythm]

[Intro]
Hut, 2, 3, 4
(Tell that lie once more)
Hut, 2, 3, 4
(Throw a stone then shut the door)
Once more…
(Hut, 2, 3, 4)

[Verse 1]
Black smoke rising
(From the ground)
Power building
(All around)

Dig it deeper
(Pump it out)
Don’t ask questions
(Don’t you doubt)

[Pre-Chorus]
Mentally ill
(Drill, baby, drill)
Rotten soul
(Gonna take a toll)

[Refrain]
Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

Blood and soil
(Souls you’ll spoil)
Black fuel
(Fossil fool)

Imperialism
(Colonialism)
Authoritarian politicians
(White nationalism)
Racialized Division

Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

[Verse 2]
It’s not simply
(What’s in the tank)
It’s the system
(And the rank)

Who controls it?
(Who gets paid?)
Who decides
(What plans are made?)

Energy becomes
(Identity)
Fuel becomes
(Sovereignty)

“Drill it deeper!”
(Drill it more!)
“Keep the old ways!”
(That’s the score!)

Anyone who
(Questions why)
Is obviously…
(Enemy!)

[Verse 3]
Fossil capital
(Needs protection)
Build a fortress
(Against correction)

Change the law
(Change the rules)
Call the critics
(Climate fools)

Block the movement
(Shut it down)
Keep the carbon
(In the ground?)

[Refrain]
Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

Blood and soil
(Souls you’ll spoil)
Black fuel
(Fossil fool)

Imperialism
(Colonialism)
Authoritarian politicians
(White nationalism)
Racialized Division

Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

[Bridge]
Mentally ill
(Drill, baby, drill)
Rotten soul
(Gonna take a toll)

Fear!
(Power!)

Identity!
(Scour the “our”!)

[Break]
Mentally ill
(Drill, baby, drill)
Rotten soul
(Gonna take a toll)

[Refrain]
Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

Blood and soil
(Souls you’ll spoil)
Black fuel
(Fossil fool)

Imperialism
(Colonialism)
Authoritarian politicians
(White nationalism)
Racialized Division

Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

[Final Refrain]
Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

Blood and soil
(Souls you’ll spoil)
Black fuel
(Fossil fool)

Imperialism
(Colonialism)
Authoritarian politicians
(White nationalism)
Racialized Division

Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

Fossil fascism
(Protectin’ the system)

Black fuel
(Political tool)

Fossil fascism
(Drivin’ the schism)

[Outro]
Pump it up
(Guard the gate)

Burn it down
(Seal our fate)

Mentally ill
(Drill, baby, drill)
Rotten soul
(Gonna take a toll)

[Instrumental Outro: industrial guitar riff dissolving into feedback, marching drums gradually falling apart]

[Silence]

[End]

About the Song
Fossil Fascism: Protecting Fossil Capital

Fossil fascism is related to, but distinct from, ecofascism.

The term has been used by scholars studying the intersection of fossil-fuel dependence, authoritarian politics, nationalism, racism, and opposition to climate action. Recent scholarship defines fossil fascism as a political, legal, and cultural system centered on an ultra-nationalist defense of fossil-fuel extraction while suppressing opposition to it.

In simplified terms:

Ecofascism accepts ecological crisis but blames the “outsider.”

Fossil fascism protects the fossil-fuel system and attacks those who seek to change it.
From “Blood and Soil” to “Black Fuel”

The historical roots of ecofascist thought are often connected to European romantic nationalism and the “Blood and Soil” tradition, in which land, national identity, and racial identity became intertwined.

Fossil fascism has a different historical lineage.

Political scientist Cara Daggett and other scholars have used the concept to examine the relationship between fossil fuels, authoritarian politics, nationalism, and racialized power. Andreas Malm and the Zetkin Collective further developed the concept in White Skin, Black Fuel, connecting fossil-fuel development to the history of European imperialism, colonialism, and racial hierarchy.

The underlying argument is that fossil fuels are not simply an energy source. They can also become embedded in political institutions, economic power, national identity, and cultural ideas about social hierarchy.

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: electric piano, dark psychedelic acoustic guitar, pulsing bass, distant feedback]

[Verse 1]
First they say
(It isn’t real)
Nothing here
(That you can feel)

Just a cycle
(Just the weather)
Nothing’s changing
(Not together)

[Refrain]
Denial and delay
(Can’t last another day)
The cost too high to pay
(Denial and delay)

… just go away

[Verse 2]
Then the story
(Starts to change)
Now that warming
(Isn’t strange)

[Refrain]
Denial and delay
(Can’t last another day)
The cost too high to pay
(Denial and delay)

… just go away

[Instrumental, Acoustic Guitar and Electric Piano Jam]

[Bridge]
Is it denial?
(Is it delay?)
Is it doubt?
(Or a way?)

What uncertainty
(Do we stress?)
What consequences
(Do we suppress?)

[Refrain]
Denial and delay
(Can’t last another day)
The cost too high to pay
(Denial and delay)

… just go away

[Break]
Go away
(You can’t sway)
Denial
(Go away)
… you can’t stay

[Outro]
Denial and delay
(Can’t last another day)
The cost too high to pay
(Denial and delay)

You can look away
(But it won’t go away)
You can say
(Just go away)

But the world won’t
(Go away)

[Outro]
Denial and delay
(Can’t last another day)
The cost too high to pay
(Denial and delay)

… just go away

[Instrumental Outro: distorted guitar, pulsing bass, feedback fading into silence]

[Fade out]
[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
Climate Denial and Climate Delay

The most familiar form of climate misinformation is outright denial: rejecting the existence, severity, or human cause of climate change.

Political rhetoric has also attacked renewable energy through claims that wind turbines, solar power, or other clean-energy technologies are inherently dangerous or economically destructive. Some of these claims have been challenged by scientific evidence, while others involve legitimate questions about environmental impacts that require quantitative comparison rather than political rhetoric.

As public acceptance of climate change has increased, however, the political emphasis has increasingly shifted from denying the problem to opposing proposed solutions. Researchers commonly describe this strategy as climate delay.

The basic argument changes from:

“Climate change isn’t happening.”

to:

“Climate change may be happening, but addressing it will cause even greater economic or social damage.”

This framing can emphasize immediate costs—higher energy prices, job losses, grid reliability, restrictions on vehicles or industrial activity—while giving less attention to the long-term economic costs of continued warming.
Government-sponsored challenges to climate science

A prominent recent example was the U.S. Department of Energy’s July 2025 publication of A Critical Review of Impacts of Greenhouse Gas Emissions on the U.S. Climate. The report was produced by five scientists assembled by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and argued, among other things, that the economic damages from CO₂-induced warming may be smaller than commonly believed and that aggressive mitigation policies could be more harmful than beneficial.

Carbon Brief subsequently conducted a detailed fact-check with climate scientists and reported more than 100 statements it characterized as false or misleading, including claims involving the economic consequences of climate change, extreme weather, and the interpretation of scientific literature.

The significance of such disputes is not simply whether individual claims are correct. It is also about which scientific evidence is selected, which uncertainties are emphasized, and how those choices are translated into public policy.

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: dark psychedelic guitar riff, pulsing bass, distorted organ, fast driving drums]

[Intro]
The sky is changing
(The window’s clear)
The heat is rising
(Year after year)

You can call it weather
(You can call it fate)
But the evidence
(Is at the gate)

[Verse 1]
Once they said
(It isn’t real)
Nothing happening
(Nothing to feel)

Then the record
(Started showing)
And the temperatures
(Kept on going)

So the story
(Changed its name)
“Too expensive”
(Who’s to blame?)

From denial
(To delay)
Push the problem
(One more day)

[Refrain]
Outright denial
(Is no longer sustained)
Rial in mistrial
(Lying can’t be maintained)

Just look out your window
(Look out your backdoor)
Everybody’s come to know
(We can’t take it any more)

[Verse 2]
Close the border
(Guard the gate)
Protect the resources
(While we wait)

[Refrain]
Outright denial
(Is no longer sustained)
Rial in mistrial
(Lying can’t be maintained)

Just look out your window
(Look out your backdoor)
Everybody’s come to know
(We can’t take it any more)

[Verse 3]
“Not today
(Maybe next year)
Not our problem
(Nothing to fear)”

[Bridge]
Climate, power
(And identity)
The problem – our
(Is reality)

[Break]
Look out!
(The window!)
Look about!
(The backdoor!)

[Instrumental: escalating psychedelic jam, wah-wah guitar, organ, pounding bass]

[Final Refrain]
Outright denial
(Is no longer sustained)
Rial in mistrial
(Lying can’t be maintained)

Just look out your window
(Look out your backdoor)
Everybody’s come to know
(We can’t take it any more)

Who gets to survive?
(Who gets the choice?)
Who remains alive?
(Who gets the voice?)

[Outro]
Look out your window…
(If you need to know)
You want more, more, more…
(Look out your backdoor…)

About the Song
🌎 FROM CLIMATE DENIAL TO CLIMATE AUTHORITARIANISM
Who gets to survive climate change?
Climate politics is evolving.

As outright denial becomes harder to sustain, the narrative can shift from:

“Climate change isn’t happening.”
→ “Fixing it will cost too much.”
→ “Blame the outsiders.”
→ “Protect our resources.”

This article examines four related concepts:

🔹 Climate denial & climate delay
🔹 Ecofascism
🔹 Fossil fascism
🔹 Petro-masculinity

These aren’t interchangeable terms. Each describes a different way climate change, energy, identity, economics, and political power can become intertwined.

The central question is increasingly not simply whether the climate is changing—but how society explains the change, assigns responsibility, and responds to it.

Who gets to survive climate change?

Climate misinformation is no longer limited to simply denying that the planet is warming. As climate change becomes increasingly difficult to dismiss, the political narratives surrounding it have evolved—from outright denial, to attacks on climate science, to opposition to climate policy, and, in more extreme forms, to narratives that blame immigrants and other marginalized populations for environmental decline.

These narratives are not identical. They operate through different mechanisms and identify different enemies. But they can overlap, creating a broader political strategy in which climate science, energy policy, immigration, race, gender, and national identity become interconnected.

The International Panel on the Information Environment’s 2025 assessment concluded that powerful actors—including corporations, governments, and political parties—intentionally spread inaccurate or misleading narratives about anthropogenic climate change, contributing to declining public trust and political inaction.

From Climate Denial to Climate Authoritarianism: Fossil Fascism, Ecofascism, and Petro-Masculinity

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: sly blues-rock guitar, bass, piano, and a steady cash-register rhythm]

[Intro]
They said it was distant
(Too far away)
Something for tomorrow
(Not today)

But tomorrow came knocking
(On the front door)
And suddenly the mocking
(Costs a little more)

[Verse 1]
The roof needs fixing
(The storm came through)
The premium’s rising
(What can you do?)

The insurer’s nervous
(So am I)
The policy’s canceled
(Well, goodbye!)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Verse 2]
Mortgage payment climbing
(The rate went high)
Climate risk pricing
(You wonder why)

The lender’s calculating
(The risk in the loan)
Location, exposure
(You’re on your own?)

Higher cost of capital
(Higher cost of debt)
When risk gets repriced
(You ain’t seen nothing yet)

A house isn’t just a house
(It’s an asset, you see)
It’s weather, water, wildfire
(And geography)

[Pre-Chorus]
You can ignore
(A temperature chart)
You can debate
(The science part)

But when the bill
(Comes through the door)
You start asking
(What was this for?)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Bridge]
Climate change
(Prices rearrange)

Risk becomes
(A financial cost)

And the cost becomes
(A consumer loss)

[Break]
What happens
(When the wallet feels it?)

What happens
(When the market reveals it?)

What happens
(When the numbers don’t lie?)

You can close your eyes
(But when the bill comes… you cry!)

[Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

[Instrumental: cash-register percussion, blues guitar solo, piano stabs]

[Final Chorus]
Climate short changed
(Short changed!)
Paying for the weather
(Again and again)

Climate short changed
(Short changed!)
Everywhere you turn
(It’s the cost of the trend)

[Final Refrain]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Need some assurance
(About insurance)
And the fate
(Of the interest rate)
Taxes are taxing me
(Climate reality)

[Outro]
What will change you, honey?
(Money!)

Climate short changed
(Deranged!)

You don’t need to love it
(You don’t need to hate)
You don’t even have to
(Participate)

But if the price keeps rising
(You’ll probably find)
Climate change
(Has changed your mind)

Climate short changed
(Short changed…)

Money…
(Honey…)

See…
(Climate reality.)

About the Song
When Climate Change Hits the Wallet: Insurance, Interest Rates, and Taxes

What will actually change consumer behavior when it comes to climate change?
💰 Money.
Insurance. Interest rates. Taxes.

For years, climate change was largely treated as an environmental issue. But that is changing as climate risk increasingly enters the household economy.

🏠 Insurance premiums and availability are being affected by rising climate risks.
💰 Climate-related economic and fiscal pressures are affecting the cost of capital.
🧾 The growing costs of climate damage, adaptation, infrastructure, and energy transition are increasingly flowing through tax systems.

These forces can reinforce one another:
Climate change → financial disruption → higher household costs → changed consumer behavior

Consumers may ignore a temperature graph. They are much less likely to ignore an insurance cancellation, a higher mortgage payment, or a rising tax bill.

Climate change does not have to be universally accepted before it changes behavior.

It only has to become cost prohibitive to ignore.

Read the full report: “When Climate Change Hits the Wallet: Insurance, Interest Rates, and Taxes”

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Driving psychedelic groove, pulsing bass, swirling synth, chiming electric guitar]

[Intro]
Something’s moving
(Feel it now)
Something’s growing
(Oh, and how)

Hold on tight
(To the ride)
Acceleration
(On every side)

[Verse 1]
More energy
(Coming in)
Less escaping
(That’s the thing)

Inertia
(There’s your clue)
What was started
(Coming on through)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Verse 2]
See the risk
(Up it goes)
Tisk, tisk, tisk
(And danger grows)

Feedback calls
(One by one)
Then they couple
(Here they come!)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Psychedelic Jam I]
[Wah-wah guitar / pulsing bass / swirling synth]

Accelerate!
(At a rapid rate)
[Bridge]
Acceleration
(In the change)
Coupling
(Rearrange)

Inertia
(Holds the past)
Momentum
(Makes it last)

[Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Psychedelic Jam II]
[Drums drop out / bass pulse / guitar feedback]

Accelerating…
(Exacerbating…)

Coupling…
(Doubling…)

[Final Refrain]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
There’s no debating
(Need education)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Outro]
Acceleration
(Accelerating)
Coupling’s generating
(Feedback’s activating)

Inertia’s momentum
(Nature’s agendum)

[Instrumental Fade]

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
Climate Change, Acceleration, and Inertia: 4–7°C of Warming

Climate change is not simply a matter of temperatures gradually rising.

It is an energy problem.

More energy is entering the climate system than leaving it—and most of that excess energy is being absorbed by the oceans.

That creates INERTIA.

But something else is happening.

As warming crosses critical thresholds, self-reinforcing feedbacks become increasingly active:

🔥 Warming → 💧 More Water Vapor → 🔥 More Warming ↺

☁️ Fewer Low Clouds → ☀️ More Energy Absorbed → 🔥 More Warming

🟠 More Tropospheric Ozone → 🌎 Stronger Greenhouse Effect → Faster Carbon-Cycle Response

These feedbacks don’t operate independently. They interact, couple, and reinforce one another.

That changes the mathematics of climate change.

The 1.5°C threshold is not simply a number on a thermometer. It is a tripwire for a climate system increasingly dominated by feedbacks and nonlinear responses.

The result is a new climate reality:
ACCELERATION + COUPLING + INERTIA

The question is no longer simply how much greenhouse gas humans emit. It is how quickly the climate system begins amplifying the warming we have already created.

Having tripped the 1.5°C tripwire, both the acceleration and inertia of climate change have created a new reality. The most likely scenario is global warming of approximately 4°C this century. If humanity does not reach net zero by 2035, approximately 4–7°C of warming by 2150 becomes the most likely scenario.

The Times They Are a-Changing: Climate Change, Acceleration, and Inertia 4–7°C

From the album “Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: dark psychedelic groove, pulsing bass, distant siren-like synth]

[Intro]
Denial…
(It’s not real)
Obfuscation…
(It’s no big deal)

Suppression…
(Don’t show the proof)
Normalization…
(What’s the use?)

[Verse 1]
First you say
(It’s going away)
Nothing to see
(Nothing to say)

Just another cycle
(Just another phase)
Nothing to worry
(Nothing to raise)

Turn down the warning
(Turn down the sound)
Turn down the evidence
(Bury it underground)

If nobody sees it
(Did it happen?)
If nobody says it
(Keep it hidden)

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

[Verse 2]
Obfuscation
(Make it complicated)
Fragment the pieces
(Keep ’em separated)

Is the signal clear?
(Well… maybe not)
Is the danger near?
(We forgot!)

Move the goalpost
(Move it again)
Call it uncertainty
(Call it a trend)

When the pieces don’t connect
(Nothing seems wrong)
When the warning gets diluted
(It doesn’t belong)

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

[Verse 3]
Suppression
(Don’t show the evidence)
Cut the connection
(Between cause and consequence)

Climate shock
(Food disruption)
Food disruption
(Economic destruction)

Economic shock
(Migration)
Migration
(Political instability)

Political instability
(Conflict)
Conflict
(Adaptive capacity… gone!)

[Break]
One domino
(Falls)
Then another
(Calls)

Climate shock!
(All fall)

[Verse 4]
Normalization
(The new abnormal)
Every record
(Becomes ordinary)

Another flood
(That’s just weather)
Another fire
(That’s just summer)

Another storm
(That’s just the season)
Another warning
(That’s just a reason)

Yesterday’s extreme
(Becomes today’s baseline)
Today’s emergency
(Becomes tomorrow’s headline)

Until the extraordinary
(Feels ordinary)
And the impossible
(Feels necessary)

[Bridge]
That’s the trick
(You see?)

Not making the danger disappear
Just making the danger
(Disappear from here)

Out of sight
(Out of mind)
Out of time
(Out of line)

The future…
(Keeps calling)
And the dominoes…
(Keep falling)

[Instrumental: escalating drums, distorted guitar, pulsing synth]

[Refrain]
Obfuscation
(Suppression)
Normalization
(Regression)
Devolution

There’s no denying
(Your denying is lying)
Causing harm
(Turning off the alarm)

[Outro]
The situation’s dire
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)
Temperatures going higher
(Fire! Fire! Fire!)

Domino…
(After domino)
Down we go
(Down below)

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
UK Climate Security: From Suppression to the Domino Effect

Climate change is increasingly moving from the category of environmental problem into the category of systemic risk.

A recently reported UK national-security assessment warned that climate and ecological disruption can cascade across borders—affecting food security, economies, migration, and political stability.

The problem is not simply the initial climate shock.

It is what happens afterward:

Climate shock → food disruption → economic shock → migration → political instability → conflict → reduced adaptive capacity

That is the Domino Effect. Denialism has become part of the feedback loop—delaying recognition, obstructing action, weakening resilience, and ultimately amplifying the consequences and accelerating the climate crisis.

The four stages of climate information failure are also important:

Denial — “The risk isn’t real.”
Obfuscation — “The risk isn’t clear.”
Suppression — “The evidence isn’t shown.”
Normalization — “The risk is real, but nothing fundamentally changes.”

When systemic risks are fragmented, delayed, or hidden from public discussion, society loses valuable time to prepare.

Climate risk is no longer just about what happens to the climate.
It is about what climate disruption does to everything connected to it.

🌎 Climate change → systemic risk → cascading consequences

Climate Denialism, Obfuscation, Suppression and Normalization

“Present Tense“

[Silence]
[Instrumental Intro: Bright ’60s surf-rock guitar, spring reverb, driving bass, snappy drums]

[Spoken]
Down at the Jersey Shore…
(For sure!)

The waves are rockin’…
(Rollin’!)

The wind is blowin’…
(Howlin’!)

[Big Yell]
SURF’S UP!

[Instrumental Hit]
[Instrumental, Driving psychedelic surf-rock guitar, pounding drums, rolling bass, distant wave sounds]

[Verse 1]
Down the shore
(The water roars)
Barrier island
(Takes the score)

Sand gets thin
(The tide comes in)
Hold that line
(One more time)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!

[Verse 2]
Nor’easter’s coming
(Here tonight)
Winds will be humming
(What a fright)

Flood warning
(Coast to coast)
High tide rising
(That’s no boast)

[Pre-Chorus]
Full moon
(Coming soon)
Pulling on
(The and on and on)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Instrumental Jam I]
[Surf guitar / crashing drums / bass rumble]
Wave!
(Wave!)
Wave!
(Crash!)
Sand!
(Gone!)
Shore!
(More!)

[Verse 3]
Federal money
(Going down)
Who’s gonna pay
(For this town?)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Bridge]
How much
(Can we spend?)
How long
(Can we pretend?)

How high
(Can we build?)
How far
(Will we yield?)

The question changes
(Year by year)
From saving beaches
(To staying here)

[Psychedelic Surf Jam]
[Extended guitar feedback / ocean sounds / tom-tom rolls]
Keep pumping!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep building!
(Pump! Pump!)
Keep fighting!
(Lump upon lump)

But the ocean
(She doesn’t care)
Comin’ in again
(To lay your beach bare)

[Verse 4]
You can improve
(A mountain of sand)
But you can’t move
(The sinking land)

You can build
(Another wall)
But the waves
(Still bring on the fall)

[Refrain]
Dangerous surf
(Down the shore)
That’s for sure

Changing Earth
(Man’s demand)
Mother be dammed!

[Outro]
Surf’s up!
(Down to earth)
Surf, surf, surf!
(Yup…)
Surf’s up!

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
Climate change and coastal impacts are becoming a big problem along the Southern Jersey Shore, with the barrier-island towns taking the brunt of the punishment. Federal funding for beach nourishment has also become much more limited, and sand itself is becoming a finite commodity.

The next couple of days should be an interesting experiment. A powerful, rare September nor’easter is hitting the Jersey Shore tonight, bringing widespread coastal flood warnings, dangerous surf, and wind gusts up to 50 mph. The National Weather Service has issued a Coastal Flood Warning for Atlantic, Cape May, Ocean, and southeastern Burlington counties from Wednesday afternoon through early Saturday morning. The system is also coinciding with an approaching full moon, which can significantly exacerbate tidal flooding across vulnerable shorelines, coastal roadways, and back bays.

At some point, we’re going to reach a hard physical and economic limit. You can keep pumping sand onto a beach, but you can’t manufacture an unlimited supply of sediment or indefinitely out-engineer rising seas and increasingly energetic storms.

The question may eventually stop being, “How much will it cost to save the beach?” and become, “How long can we realistically keep trying?”

“Present Tense“

[Silence]

[Instrumental Intro: Psychedelic bass groove, wah-wah guitar, swirling organ]

[Verse 1]
Who commands man
(What a fuss, hey!)
A holy man
(Or so they say)

Into the court
(He made his way)
With mystic eyes
(And things to say)

[Refrain]
Hey! We’re disputin’
(Grigori Rasputin)
He’s no friend of the family
(No, no friend to humanity)

Is the ill
(Hard to kill)
Is that it
(He just won’t quit)

[Psychedelic Jam I]
[Wah-wah guitar spirals]
Rasputin…
(Rasputin…)
Who let him in?
(Who let him in?)
Holy man…
(Holy mess!)
Confess…
(Toxic pest!)

[Verse 2]
He had a gift
(Or so it seemed)
To calm the boy
(Or so they dreamed)

[Refrain]
Hey! We’re disputin’
(Grigori Rasputin)
He’s no friend of the family
(No, no friend to humanity)

Is the ill
(Hard to kill)
Is that it
(He just won’t quit)

[Break]
Poison!
(Still alive!)
Bullets!
(He’ll survive!)
Thrown in the water!
(But won’t dive!)

Is he dead?
(Not quite yet!)
Is he dead?
(You can bet!)

[Psychedelic Jam II]
[Organ swells / bass drops / guitar feedback]
Dead?
(Alive?)
Dead?
(Alive?)

[Final Refrain]
Hey! We’re disputin’
(Grigori Rasputin)
He’s no friend to reality
(No, no friend to humanity)

Is the ill
(Hard to kill)
Is that it
(He just won’t quit)

[Psychedelic Jam III]
[Extended freak-out]
Hey!
(Who?)
Hey!
(What?)
Rasputin!
(What a spin!)

[Outro]
Hard to kill…
(Hard to tell…)
No saint, all sinner…
(Time does tell…)
… on the way to hell

Can’t you see
(You don’t wanna be)
Grigori…
(Rasputin…)
There’s no disputin’…
(Rasputin…)

[Silence]
[End]

About the Song
This anti-science ideology is a growing problem in the US. One distinction that is particularly important is the difference between scientific knowledge and scientific power. The current administration is undermining scientific knowledge by promoting a false narrative about scientific power and expertise. That is particularly damaging and dangerous when it comes to dismissing climate change as a hoax and undermining confidence in vaccines and medical science.

Calling someone a “Rasputin” means they have a hidden, corrupting, or powerful influence over a leader or ruling group—usually through personal access, charm, manipulation, or secrecy.

What is particularly disturbing today is the overlap between greed and eliminationist logic. The greed component is partly reflected in the effort to portray climate change as a hoax, because acknowledging the full implications of climate science threatens enormous amounts of existing capital and economic interests.

The eliminationist component is even more disturbing. It appears in the way both climate change and public health can be viewed through a “survival of the fittest” framework—where the consequences are not treated as problems to solve, but as mechanisms for eliminating people considered weak, old, sick, or otherwise expendable.

The Epstein files provide some extraordinary evidence of this mindset. Epstein wrote:

“Maybe climate change is a good way of dealing with overpopulation—the earth’s forest fire. Potentially a good thing for the species.”

He also wrote that “executions of the elderly and infirm make sense.”

And his statement that “more CO₂ is good for plants” echoes an argument long promoted by the CO₂ Coalition: that increasing atmospheric CO₂ should be viewed primarily as beneficial because plants use it.

Taken together with the explicitly eugenic statements in the files, this goes far beyond an ordinary disagreement over climate policy. It represents what eliminationist logic: where traditional denial protects existing capital, while ecofascist or eugenic reasoning can rationalize unequal human survival.

That is why the Rasputin comparison is worth exploring. The question isn’t simply who holds power. It is also what ideas are circulating among the people who have access to that power—and what happens when enormous wealth, political influence, scientific denial, eugenics, and eliminationist thinking begin to overlap.

Ecofascism and Denialism 101

“Present Tense“