The U.S. Senator, Sheldon Whitehouse (pictured), has stood before the Senate 300 times, urging his fellow Senators to "wake up" to the perils of climate change.

The representative for Rhode Island can be seen on YouTube spelling out the facts and the realities of climate change, and how the fossil fuel industry has played its cards to capture government processes and, at the same time, confuse and deceive the public - "Senator Whitehouse Delivers 300th Time to Wake Up Speech".

Stories about this month's flash floods in central Texas have dominated the news, and a panel assembled by Climate Central has discussed the impact of climate change and a link to a recording can be found at: "Understanding the climate connection with the devastating Texas floods";

"Texas Hill Country Is Underwater, and America’s Emergency Lifeline Is Fraying";

"Texas floods kill at least 104, including 27 from Camp Mystic, as search for missing continues";

"Texas Flood Live Updates: Hope Fades for Finding Survivors as Death Toll Passes 100";

"Deadly floods could be new normal as Trump guts federal agencies, experts warn";

"Climate Change Helped Fuel Heavy Rains That Led to Devastating Texas Flood";

"At least 161 people missing in Texas floods as death toll rises to 109".

Auckland University's Dr Timothy Welch has applied his urban design skills to help local councils better understand what they need to do to keep their towns and cities cooler in a warming world.

Dr Welch recently wrote about this on The Conversation in the story: "NZ cities are getting hotter: 5 things councils can do now to keep us cooler when summer comes".

His story begins: "Stand on any car park on a sunny day in February and the heat will radiate through your shoes. At 30°C air temperature, that asphalt hits 50–55°C – hot enough to cause second-degree burns to skin in seconds."

Climate scientist Professor Michael Mann is critical of podcaster Joe Rogan, whom he says was one hundred and eight per cent wrong in his interpretation of a story - listen to that on Truthout - "Europe Sees Dangerous Heat Wave as North America Sets 3,000 Temperature Records";

"Spain records highs of 46C and France under alert as Europe swelters in heatwave";

"Trump’s True Colors, Revealed";

"A Special ‘Climate’ Visa? People in Tuvalu Are Applying Fast.";

"The World Is Warming Up. And It’s Happening Faster.";

"Trump’s Attack on CA Environmental Law Brings Us Closer to Climate Catastrophe";

"Italy and Spain bake in heatwave as cities issue red alerts and regions mull work bans";

"1 in 3 Tuvaluans is bidding for a new ‘climate visa’ to Australia – here’s why everyone may ultimately end up applying";

"Earth is trapping much more heat than climate models forecast – and the rate has doubled in 20 years".

David Spratt (pictured) points to Australia's commitments to other crises to illustrate his arguments on how and why we should respond to the unfolding emergency of climate change.

He wrote about that in an article published recently in The Canberra Times, available now on his website, "Climate Code Red".

The article asks the question: "How bad can climate damage get?" And then answers that "Worse than you imagine".

David, working with the late Phillip Sutton, co-wrote, in 2008, the prescient book "Climate Code Red".

In the final paragraph on his latest piece, David writes: "All of this leads to one conclusion: we are on the edge of a precipice and humanity now needs to throw everything at the climate threat, literally “all hands on deck”. The late Prof. Will Steffen’s call to make climate the primary target of policy and economics is now a survival imperative. The business-as-usual delusion embraced by policymakers that climate is just another issue is laid bare by the 1.5°C time-bomb."

David is an Australian climate policy analyst and advocate, and Research Director at the Breakthrough National Centre for Climate Restoration. Spratt co-authored the 2008 book Climate Code Red: The Case for Emergency Action, which argued for urgent, large-scale action to address the climate crisis. He co-authored 2018’s What Lies Beneath: The Understatement of Existential Climate Risk with Ian Dunlop, which called for a reframing of climate science within an existential risk management framework. His work explores climate threats and human security, risk methods, and the need for restorative action.

Donald Trump's order to have the U.S. military attack uranium enrichment sites in Iran refreshes our understanding of the "tyranny of the immediate".

From The New York Times, we hear about "Pentagon Details Multipronged Attack on Iranian Nuclear Sites".

The military is not included in the 2019 Paris emissions targets due to pressure and agitation from the U.S., and this bombing raid clearly illustrates the reasons for that, as the emissions would have been equal to those of a small country.

However, the Iranian assaults are a clear reminder of the tyranny of the immediate and why we need to rise above that and remember that climate change remains, all the time, in the background as an existential threat.

And here is that earlier episode of Climate Conversations - "Press briefing: Covering Climate Now helps us understand the tyranny of the immediate in global conflicts".