Having grown up in a tropical landscape, and after having lived in Southern California, I knew well that I had no skills to live and work through snow and ice. Rains I could manage. Cold I could bundle against and turn the heater on. But snow and ice I couldn't.
The responses were unanimous. Rarely ever it snows, and even then it is just a dusting that quickly melts away.
I felt reassured.
Turns out that they were all wrong.
Not that they lied. The climate ain't what it was.
Now, every winter we have come to expect a snow dump. And then the snow freezing over. Life stalls. We can't do anything because the natural world and the infrastructure do not have a place for snow and ice. Trees tumble. On homes. They drag down power lines. Roads become treacherous.
Climate change is the greatest threat ever.
Yes, the climate has changed before--naturally. This time it is different--we humans have caused it. The heat comes early and is hotter than ever. When it rains, it floods, and doesn't rain when it used to. We are creating hell on earth. As Francis Fukuyama notes, we're cooked!
The human-environment relationship will dramatically change, leading to many acts of desperation.
The climate crisis has already sparked an exodus from around the world. We are perhaps even downplaying the role of climate change in this global migration crisis. We are possibly looking at a future with humanitarian crises of the likes that we have never seen before in peaceful times, which is why the International Refugee Assistance Project has developed a plan that the Biden administration could use--if it chooses to.
The last couple of days sunlight has been orange here because of particulate matter in the air from the fires to the south and the east of us. A friend texts, "at least there is no ash." Even Polyanna will be impressed with how we console ourselves!
The climate crisis has already sparked an exodus from around the world. We are perhaps even downplaying the role of climate change in this global migration crisis. We are possibly looking at a future with humanitarian crises of the likes that we have never seen before in peaceful times, which is why the International Refugee Assistance Project has developed a plan that the Biden administration could use--if it chooses to.
The last couple of days sunlight has been orange here because of particulate matter in the air from the fires to the south and the east of us. A friend texts, "at least there is no ash." Even Polyanna will be impressed with how we console ourselves!
I am powerless to stop the abnormal smoke and snow here in the valley.
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