The back-to-back hurricanes of Helene and Milton devastated Florida and seem poised to surpass $50 billion in damages each, a threshold that differentiates “truly historic events.” In the wake of these no-longer-natural-disasters, Gov. Ron DeSantis dug in his cowboy boot heels when asked about climate change: “I don’t subscribe to your religion.” As the audience applauded his rambunctious response, climate change denial bared its ugly face for what it is: a death cult.
This past summer was the hottest since 1850, according to recorded annals. When looking at tree rings, it’s likely that this past summer has been the hottest in the last two thousand years. Human-driven climate change warming the earth has supercharged hurricanes, seen most dramatically in Milton’s rapid intensification from a category one to five in 24 hours. A warming planet produces a warmer ocean to fuel hurricanes while warmer air holds more moisture, factors which strengthened both Helene and Milton.
However, DeSantis’s brand of climate change denial is not merely about rejecting science but perpetuating cruelty. The governor hides his climate change denial behind the rhetoric of populism, arguing that climate change policy would mean “taxing [people] to smithereens, stopping oil and gas, making people pay dramatically more for energy.”
In practice, his administration has done all it can to exacerbate the harm (and costs) climate change inflicts on the average Floridian. Whether it be preventing local governments from creating heat protections for workers, eliminating “one-way attorney fees” that financed policyholders who would have otherwise lacked the funds to go against insurance companies, or simply deleting “climate change” from state law, cruelty is the point.
DeSantis’s accusation of media “virtue signaling” on climate change is a projection of his own pandering to the fringes of the right-wing. To own the libs, he turned down $350 million in federal funds for energy efficiency initiatives, which would have provided direct rebates to consumers. His accusation that climate policy would increase costs for consumers is a confession of his own policy, costly to Floridians.
The governor has received at least $3.9 million from insurance companies during his gubernatorial campaign and through affiliated PACs. As he has reciprocated by strengthening the power of insurance companies, Florida homeowners bear the brunt of the cost. A report by Weiss Ratings found that the top three Florida home insurance providers closed around half of their filed claims with no payment. For those hit with Helene and Milton, filing insurance claims has already proven to be a “nightmare.”
Floridians, devastated year after year with worsening disasters, are left with a governor more interested in ideological posturing than protecting the state from the effects of a warming planet. His ravings of “religion” and “climate ideology,” cheered on by sycophants, are the words of a cynical madman rejecting the longstanding scientific consensus on climate change in favor of corporate interests.
Rey Arcenas is a UF history and women's studies senior.
