NJ’s brutal heat is back — and politicians are already using it to demand more
With temperatures expected to top 100 degrees this week across much of New Jersey, the usual voices are already out in force.
Blaming “climate change,” and demanding we overhaul our lives, and most importantly, pay billions more in taxes and endure mandates from Trenton and Washington.
Here’s the reality check they won’t give you: It’s called summer, so it's going to be hot.
And as far as the climate, well, it's been changing, warming and cooling for millions of years, long before the elites were traversing the globe in private jets.
Whether you heat your home with natural gas or oil in the winter, use appliances, drive a gas-powered car, or give it all up and work from home under a tent, and stop using AC, it’s still going to be hot.
The planet doesn’t care about your personal carbon footprint or the latest five-year plan from politicians.
Summer heat is a seasonal fact of life in New Jersey, just like it has been for as long as humans have lived here.
It's summer in New Jersey — and heat waves aren't new
The climate has always changed. It has been changing for millions of years through natural cycles driven by the sun, ocean currents, volcanic activity, and other forces far beyond our control.
It was warmer during previous natural warm periods, including the Medieval Warm Period roughly 1,500 years ago and other cycles around the time of the Roman Empire, than in some cooler eras that followed.
Human civilization often thrived during those warmer stretches, with longer growing seasons and greater prosperity in many regions.
For anyone who wants the data and the historical evidence laid out clearly, I strongly recommend a book I read a few years ago called "Unstoppable Global Warming: Every 1,500 Years" by S. Fred Singer and Dennis T. Avery.
It was a New York Times bestseller for good reason. The authors walk through the science of natural 1,500-year climate cycles using ice cores, seabed sediments, tree rings, and recorded history.
Their conclusion is straightforward: the current warming is largely part of a natural recovery from the Little Ice Age, not a man-made catastrophe we can (or need to) “stop” with taxes and lifestyle sacrifices.
Read it and you’ll come away with a clearer, less panicked view of what’s actually happening.
NJ energy costs keep rising while politicians push a green agenda
The radicals in Trenton and Washington aren’t interested in that conversation. They’re using the weather and junk science fear mongering as an excuse to gouge more money from families and businesses.
Here in New Jersey, we’ve already seen what their “green” agenda delivers: some of the highest electricity rates in the country, driven in part by Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) costs, so-called "renewable" energy mandates, and aggressive, unrealistic, and downright ridiculous targets like 100% “clean” electricity by 2035.
These policies add surcharges and capacity charges that show up on your monthly bill.
They make it more expensive to run a small business, keep a factory competitive, or simply keep the air conditioning on during a heat wave.
Nationally, the pattern is the same. Billions in subsidies and mandates flow to favored "Green" industries while reliable, affordable energy sources get squeezed.
The result? Higher costs for working families, energy-intensive businesses relocating or closing, and, here’s the kicker, no measurable impact on the global climate.
Even if New Jersey or the entire United States went to net zero tomorrow, it wouldn’t stop summer heat waves.
The U.S. is a fraction of global emissions. Major developing nations are still building coal plants and increasing energy use to lift their people out of poverty.
The climate will continue its natural cycles regardless of how much we tax ourselves or how many wind turbines we install.
The answer is adaptation, not higher costs for NJ families
This isn’t about saving the planet, it’s about control and transferring wealth from ordinary people to connected interests, consultants, politicians and bureaucrats who benefit from the crisis narrative.
The “solutions” being pushed are regressive: they hit lower and middle-income families hardest through higher energy prices while delivering symbolic gestures that change nothing about the weather.
The honest approach is adaptation and resilience, not self-inflicted economic damage. Prosperous, innovative societies handle heat, cold, storms, and droughts far better than poor ones.
Affordable, reliable energy (including natural gas and nuclear) plus real technological progress beats punishing success every time.
So, make your plan to beat the heat this week, stay hydrated, check on neighbors and the elderly, and use common sense.
Don’t fall for the scam that says your lifestyle or your tax dollars can override millions of years of natural climate variability.
It can’t, and it won’t.
The climate isn’t “in crisis” because you drive to work or heat and cool your home. It’s summer, and the climate has been changing forever.
People demanding more of your money to “fix” it knows that better than they’re letting on. Read the book, share it, and push back when they try to use the weather as a pretext to pick your pocket.
New Jersey families and businesses deserve better than expensive symbolism with zero results.
Most visited restaurants and diners in Monmouth County, NJ
Gallery Credit: Rick Rickman
The post above reflects the thoughts and observations of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Bill Spadea. Any opinions expressed are Bill's own.
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