The drumbeat of science says that climate change is an existential threat and the window to meaningful action is rapidly closing. The Earth itself is sending unmistakable signals — fires, floods, drought, hurricanes, record temperatures, rising seas, even wars, refugees and famine can be attributed to climate change. We must leave most of the fossil fuels in the ground.

Butler County’s Republican delegation to the state house, the U.S. Capitol, and the White House are not leaders; they are held hostage to the ignorance of their base and have ceded all right to be called leaders. Leaders lead.

But what should we make of the Democrats? They embrace climate science, right? They are not handicapped by their base or the electorate — 78 percent of Democrats and 58 percent of independent voters believe the science.

Democrats Rep. Conor Lamb, Sen. Bob Casey, Gov. Tom Wolf and Lt. Gov.-elect John Fetterman do embrace the science. They say pretty things about renewables and the dangers of burning fossil fuels.

But they govern like the science doesn’t matter.

Corporate cuddle cur Wolf and progressive poser Fetterman are both advocates for devastating fossil fuel infrastructure build out. Centrists Lamb and Casey are, too. They are a special kind of climate denier. Democrat style.

Wolf is a champion of the ethane cracker plant in Beaver, a corporate welfare scheme that will add massive amounts of climate destroying methane to the atmosphere. In addition, the plant will dump horrendous amounts of toxins into the already bad regional air. He’s also a cheerleader for “clean coal.”

Fetterman threw the community he once led, Braddock, under the bus by endorsing a frack well pad in an adjacent community. Not only does fracked gas add to the greenhouse gases cooking the planet, its extraction and infrastructure are toxic nightmares.

The Democrats’ half-measures disqualify them as leaders. We don’t have time for gradualism.