Last week was a banner (or perhaps banter) time for climate in U.S. politics.
No, our nation's congressional leaders did not take their heads out of the sand and take action to slow our planet's rising fever, but at least some them finally acknowledged that the heat is on.
Yes, it's true that both NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration just proclaimed 2014 the hottest year ever measured, based on records back to 1880. What's more, except for 1998, the 10 hottest years recorded have all occurred since the year 2000, NASA says.
Notwithstanding these unequivocal scientific findings, too many in our Congress continue to be climate change deniers.
Votes last week ostensibly aimed at finding compromise toward the passage of legislation to approve construction of the Keystone XL pipeline (which wouldn't help slow warming but in fact would contribute to it by continuing a reliance on fossil fuels) held a twist that indicate there may a tick here and there toward progress.
For two days, senators batted about amendments, and on the coattails of some amendments and amendment drafts, Democrats added language hoping to force Republicans on the record about the issue of climate change. The Senate several times rejected measures declaring that humans are causing climate change. But they did agree -- 98-1 -- that climate change itself is real and not a hoax. Even longtime denier Sen. Jim Inhofe, of Oklahoma, signed on to the amendment at the last minute, mostly because that iteration of the amendment didn't attribute a cause to global warming -- human or otherwise. "The climate is changing. The climate has always changed," Inhofe has said right before he added that the real "hoax" was "that there are some people that are so arrogant to think" that they can change the climate, since only God could do that. (Does that mean God, not you, drives your car and dams rivers and puts planes in the air?)
The full monty for climate change statements in Senate voting fell apart, however, when these words were added in an effort to tweak the amendment a bit further: "It is the sense of the Senate ... that human activity contributes to climate change."
Still, there was progress. Among the "yea" votes were 15 Republicans. And in those 15 are several key ones, including Sen. Bob Corker and Sen. Lamar Alexander, both of Tennessee, according to the U.S. Government Printing Office record and The New York Times. Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, considered a likely presidential contender for 2016, was another.
This was the first time in years that senators had voted on a climate change measure.
Chalk one up for science.
Of course, there still is the reality that our Congress is not using time and votes wisely to actually help our planet -- and therefore us.
For these guys, on both sides of the aisle, the Keystone pipeline has become a political volleyball game.
Everyone pretty much knows the Senate will pass Keystone this week, and the House already has. But everyone also knows the president has promised to veto it, and there is almost certainly not enough congressional support to override the veto.
Yet instead of moving on, our lawmakers are using the bill as a megaphone messaging system.
Othe language added to amendments Thursday expressed a "sense of the Senate" that President Obama's agreement with China to tackle climate change is "economically unfair and environmentally irresponsible." Still another would increase exports of natural gas, and one seeks to take the lesser prairie chicken off of the endangered species list.
On the other hand, one amendment by Sen. Ed Markey, D-Mass., was tabled by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell without discussion or vote. Markey's very real proposal (not just a "sense of the Senate" shout) would have required tar sands companies to contribute to a government fund for oil spill cleanups.
But, we must remember, Keystone is touted by its Republican supporters as a major jobs bill -- one that will provide 35 to 50 permanent jobs after a two-year construction period that will temporarily employ several thousand.
If that's their idea of a real jobs bill, we have no reason to be surprised that they don't understand complicated concepts like science and climate change.