Jill Filipovic is a journalist based in New York and Nairobi, Kenya, and the author of the new book " The H-Spot: The Feminist Pursuit of Happiness ." Follow her on Twitter . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of the author.

(CNN) Record temperatures. Roads cracking and buckling. Planes that can't take off. Power knocked out. Wildfires raging. These are just some of the trying conditions currently roiling America's West Coast, which is in the midst of a record-breaking heatwave.

Nervous about how these disruptions will negatively impact the economy and even cost human life? You should be. And there's more to come

Changing weather patterns are the new normal, thanks to decades of trashing the environment and a refusal from many in the party currently controlling Washington, the Republicans -- and their corporate patrons -- to even acknowledge climate change as a reality, let alone do anything about it.

A delayed flight out of Phoenix will soon be the least of our worries.

Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Terri Patterson cools off at a water fountain in Salt Lake City on Wednesday, June 21. A punishing heat wave is breaking records in parts of the western United States, causing massive power outages and flight cancellations. Hide Caption 1 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A fan is pointed at a dog that was rescued from a car in Riverside, California, on June 21. Hide Caption 2 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Xaviere Coleman pours water over his head in Las Vegas on Tuesday, June 20. He was wearing a Chewbacca costume to take photographs with tourists on the Strip. Hide Caption 3 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A wildfire burns in Sonoita, Arizona, on June 20. Hide Caption 4 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A woman shields herself from the sun while walking along the Las Vegas Strip on June 20. Hide Caption 5 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A construction worker drinks water at a job site in Phoenix on June 20. Hide Caption 6 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Eric Maurice Clark sells cold drinks to motorists at a busy intersection in Phoenix on June 20. Hide Caption 7 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A pedestrian in Phoenix uses an umbrella to get some relief from the sun on June 20. Hide Caption 8 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Morgan Reed, a promotions assistant for the Phoenix radio station KSLX, plays with a puppy wearing elastic booties at a PetSmart in Tempe, Arizona, on June 20. The radio station handed out the booties to protect dogs' paws from the hot pavement. Hide Caption 9 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A construction crew sits under their excavator during a break in Tempe on June 20. Hide Caption 10 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Jennifer Boushy, left, and Jennifer Rellinger cool off their pets at a dog park in Las Vegas on June 20. Hide Caption 11 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West An American Airlines grounds crew member sits in a luggage cart to avoid the heat in Phoenix on June 20. Hide Caption 12 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Boys cool off with water guns in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, June 19. Hide Caption 13 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A worker wears a large hat, wet with water, while cleaning seats at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium on June 19. Hide Caption 14 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Volunteer Jackie Rifkin tries to keep cool June 19 at she works at a Salvation Army station to help people stay hydrated in Phoenix. Hide Caption 15 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Lori Mantz sprays water to cool down her horse Thor in Las Vegas on June 19. Hide Caption 16 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West A woman walks through cooling mist in Tempe on June 19. Hide Caption 17 of 18 Photos: Scorching heat wave in the West Construction workers try to shade themselves from the direct sun while welding a steel awning in Los Angeles on June 19. Hide Caption 18 of 18

Yes, of course, heat waves happen, and the causes are complex. There is not a direct A to B line from "pollute the environment" and "die in a scorching June." But there is virtually no real dissent that the Earth is getting warmer. The ice at the poles of our oceans is melting. Irregular and dangerous weather patterns are increasing. Sea levels are rising.

We have polluted, depleted and abused this planet so badly that there is much damage that can't be undone. But there remain ways to rein in the ills we continue to reap -- and ways to at least slow our progress toward a chaotic and barren global hellscape.

Even if you are a climate change skeptic and doubt human agency in this crisis -- if you write off the consensus of the overwhelming majority of scientists who study this issue -- now that we are regularly faced with weather extremes, why not at least entertain the idea that scientists are onto something?

And if you allow that you just might be wrong -- that climate change could be real -- how about reconciling to the idea that the downside of doing nothing is so immensely catastrophic that it's our immediate obligation to act?

JUST WATCHED Undeniable climate change facts Replay More Videos ... MUST WATCH Undeniable climate change facts 02:24

Let's say the climate change skeptics get their way and we don't act according to the pleas of environmentalists and scientists. If the doubters are right, then the upside is that we save a good deal of money on palliative measures. If they're wrong, though, and if people who study the environment professionally are in fact better able to predict its condition than businessmen and politicians, the downside is massive -- many will die.

What marginally sane person would ever take that gamble?

Our President and many in the Republican Party, it turns out.

For one example, candidate Trump made a campaign pledge to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency, and as President has settled instead for appointing an administrator who is cozy with the oil and gas industry; who is reluctant to acknowledge the human causes of global warming; who has announced cuts that essentially gut the agency that stands between Americans and environmental disaster. For his part, the President has signed an executive order targeting regulations that had aimed to slow climate change.

For another, Trump has backed the country out of the Paris climate agreement -- a move widely opposed by Americans!

This is just a short list (there is more) of the steps this administration is taking to undo climate protections.

In all, it represents a shocking combination of greed and short-sightedness, compounded by an apparent urge to appeal to the worst impulses of the Trump base -- people he and Republicans seem to assume are motivated by an urge to stick it to Prius-driving egghead liberals, even if doing so means their grandchildren might suffer or perish in a world of flooded metropolises, unbreathable air and expansive, unlivable deserts.

Surely this calculation is wrong: Republican voters whose livelihoods depend on the ability to harvest corn crops in Iowa or ship goods to their store in Arizona (or who live near the water and can't afford flood insurance that's more than their mortgage) can take a look around and realize this "see no evil" strategy is going to hurt them, and soon.

Indeed, that the American right has transformed climate change into a partisan issue defies all reason and rational self-interest. Climate change will have the largest and most immediate impacts on the world's poor -- not a demographic the GOP has shown much concern for. But make no mistake -- rich or poor we all share the earth, and the catastrophic impacts of defiling it are coming for all of us.

If you're stranded in Phoenix right now, or worried about an elderly acquaintance in California, or are without power in the Bay Area, or nervous about a wildfire taking your home, you can thank the long list of politicians who do the bidding of polluting corporations instead of their constituents and protect profit over the environment.

You can thank the President who tore up the Paris climate agreement. And you can show your displeasure by refusing to support candidates who don't take climate change seriously, and don't do whatever they can to keep the world inhabitable.

Anything less is global suicide.