Situated where I am, far away from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, mud slides and wild fires, I sometimes feel guilty for living here in northern Michigan because we aren't suffering. In the Great Lakes state the worst weather events are snow and ice storms, or an occasional tornado. I feel very safe tucked in behind our huge sand dunes and among our hundreds of glacier-formed lakes and rolling hills. When I visit Florida and California I feel uneasy thinking about how, in Joni Mitchell's words, "they paved Paradise and put up a parking lot." But my grandsons live in LA and good friends in Tampa, so I dearly hope we can get Climate Change under control soon. And rescue the planet!
18
Been in the Pacific Northwest since 1959. Remember nothing like this. Munch and Krakatau. Here not an island but entire forests burning down. Hundred of square miles burned down. How fragile our middle class existences are. I would say properly financing FEMA is a top priority. Especially for the big one that will hit up here soon enough.
25
Turn on the news and there's another record weather event, or fire, or earthquake. Outside my window on the Oregon coast the other day, I could study the sunspots on the surface of the sun without a filter of any kind, because the smoke is so thick I didn't need one.
I have to admit that in the Trump era, I don't think any signs, no matter how record-breaking, or how tragic, will sway this administration from continuing their destructive path. I haven't much hope.
No they didn't cause all of this. But their policies cheer this destruction on in a way that is criminal, and the ash falling on my driveway, and dregs of Harvey, the hurricane roaring toward Florida say, "you have ignored your collective impact on the atmosphere at your peril, people. And whatever your politics, or your understanding of science, or your heartbreak may be, you're all along for the ride."
I have to admit that in the Trump era, I don't think any signs, no matter how record-breaking, or how tragic, will sway this administration from continuing their destructive path. I haven't much hope.
No they didn't cause all of this. But their policies cheer this destruction on in a way that is criminal, and the ash falling on my driveway, and dregs of Harvey, the hurricane roaring toward Florida say, "you have ignored your collective impact on the atmosphere at your peril, people. And whatever your politics, or your understanding of science, or your heartbreak may be, you're all along for the ride."
45
For 70,000 years, the human population on earth remained under one billion. Since the Industrial Revolution, malaria drugs, sanitation and other technologies, we have swelled to 7.5 billion people, with a growing middle class in countries like China who want want the US has---dishwashers, cars, clothes, movies. Unless we voluntarily reduce human population, extreme weather will do it for us. Melinda Gates turned to providing birth control to women in the fastest growing areas, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia---because so many women were desperate for it. Tribal religions dictate that a man's virility is judged by the number of children he fathers, yet most mothers don't want 10 children if they are poor. The World Bank determines which countries to loan money to based on one criterion, whether the women have access to birth control. Smaller families means both parents can work. A 2-income family means the small family propers. The children can be educated and there is enough food. Yet, Melinda Gates seems to be the only one working toward getting women birth control. Why is that?
48
Fires are natural. Nothing you can do about them. No government program can eradicate forrest fires. Sorry snowflakes.
6
A little lesson in air pollution politics. The worst pollution in the country occurs regularly in California's San Joaquin Valley. Nearby cities include Bakersfield and Fresno. Because these are working class cities, they can choke on their pollution and no one much cares. And it doesn't help that climate change has little to do with their problem. They are the Flints of California.
The intensity of any forest fire is transient. But long range increases are clearly and substantially affected by warming. This year's fires have brought air pollution to Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. It is unlikely that the big three will be similarly affected any time soon. But pollution in upscale cities gets lots of attention, even if it's a one time thing.
No fire season has gotten this kind of attention ever before. And with the attention goes outrage. So keep in mind, climate change isn't just about science. It's very much about geography and economics. People care more when upscale cities are affected, whether by fire, hurricane, or flood. We are much more likely to mobilize attention when the upscale are affected. It's not enough that climate change threatens millions. It has to threaten a certain class of folks.
The intensity of any forest fire is transient. But long range increases are clearly and substantially affected by warming. This year's fires have brought air pollution to Portland, Seattle, and San Francisco. It is unlikely that the big three will be similarly affected any time soon. But pollution in upscale cities gets lots of attention, even if it's a one time thing.
No fire season has gotten this kind of attention ever before. And with the attention goes outrage. So keep in mind, climate change isn't just about science. It's very much about geography and economics. People care more when upscale cities are affected, whether by fire, hurricane, or flood. We are much more likely to mobilize attention when the upscale are affected. It's not enough that climate change threatens millions. It has to threaten a certain class of folks.
19
You captured well the eerie, unsettling feeling of the change in light. After the eclipse, the floods, the fires, the hurricanes, it's hard not to expect locusts next.
10
At some point, the fires will run out of fuel. A decade, two? The question is, will we be around to see it?
3
Over the long Labor Day 110 degree heatwave and the nearby Verdugo Hills fire here in Pasadena the air was so horrible and my eyes so irritated from the smoke that they were stuck shut most of the time. I suppose that's one way to avoid having to look at things presently.
4
I'm afraid our hubris of constantly thinking we as humans are the centre of the universe and have the ability to control our ultimate climate dependent survival is nonsense. The Earth will always find balance but we as a species are not in anyway guaranteed that we will be apart of that new equilibrium.
18
Jason, your closing statement sounds like a pitch for a sequel, so let us in on your thoughts, please: " . . . the strange, never-before-seen landscapes of our hot, hazy century will make for some incredible art [but] I also worry that it will bring us something much darker, more forlorn."
Yes?
Yes?
3
Massive fires burning in British Columbia this year....over a million hectares. I watched a video a resident of Alberta took showing that the fires in B.C. are raining ash, which is wafting across to Alberta. Looks like snow in August...except it's not. I have an art print that depicts Mother Earth's tears. She's an indigenous person and it's quite beautiful. Mother Earth is crying torrents in terms of fires, floods, monsoons, and hurricanes. I think she's crying abject tears of sorrow over the utter stupidity of humans who are destroying the planet in pursuit of materialism and "stuff". We just don't get that we are a part of nature, not its rulers.
23
Writing from the city (Spokane) that could claim the worst air quality in the nation earlier this week, I am grateful for unusual wet winter last year as the trees here show resilience to the smoke. Following Ms. St. Helen's eruption, an entirely new technology in filters developed in response to the ash. Perhaps we could redouble efforts toward alternatives and solutions rather than continuing to wallow in making the case for global warming. Like evolution, it's real, end of argument. Living in the land of conservatives, I know that arguing looks a lot like channel flipping between Fox News and MSNBC. Folks do respond to good ideas that promote conservation though......Let's be resilient.
8
Smoke is terrible. Think of the firefighters, bless them. Think of the farmers and farm laborers. Everything was gray, as in 1980 when Mount St. Helens blew. We barely saw the sun for three weeks, and this is the desert. Tiny ash particles were on the ground and on cars.
The smoke was so bad that children at school were not allowed to play outside. People went to the library so they could breathe clean air. Then we had about 60 seconds of rain, and the wind picked up, and things got better. Today you can go outside.
The smoke was so bad that children at school were not allowed to play outside. People went to the library so they could breathe clean air. Then we had about 60 seconds of rain, and the wind picked up, and things got better. Today you can go outside.
4
The effects of these wildfires are being felt not just in the Pacific Northwest and Colorado Rockies; our skies here in the high desert of Albuquerque have been very hazy the last 10 days or so. Climate change and human-caused weather extremes are taking their toll all over this world.
9
From Seattle,
Unsettling the smoke, the green leaves droop and dull and edge closer to brown, dryness in what looks like it should be humid fog, all of that and the weird colors are so very well described by Jason Mark. Unsettling.
Who can doubt the climate now changing, chaining and for maybe ever, changing unsettled and faster than we can accommodate.
Unsettling the smoke, the green leaves droop and dull and edge closer to brown, dryness in what looks like it should be humid fog, all of that and the weird colors are so very well described by Jason Mark. Unsettling.
Who can doubt the climate now changing, chaining and for maybe ever, changing unsettled and faster than we can accommodate.
9
This is poetic, prophetic, haunting.
Climate change brought to a sensual level.
Few have considered that.
Our experience of our days.
It's all going to be very intimate.
Climate change brought to a sensual level.
Few have considered that.
Our experience of our days.
It's all going to be very intimate.
6
". . [T]he haze and the smoke remind them of the recent solar eclipse. Shadows go fuzzy, similar to how it was when the sun was at 25 percent of normal."
Here in Illinois, we have had quite a few days lately with the same wan, orange-tinted sun as reported in the northwest. The daylight is orange-tinged and really throws off our normal color-sensing abilities. It's quite beautiful, and does indeed remind me of the eclipse we viewed near Cerulean, Kentucky. Hoever, I take issue with "the shadows go fuzzy" part. This is exactly the opposite of what actually happens during an eclipse: Shadows become preternaturally distinct and sharpened.
Here in Illinois, we have had quite a few days lately with the same wan, orange-tinted sun as reported in the northwest. The daylight is orange-tinged and really throws off our normal color-sensing abilities. It's quite beautiful, and does indeed remind me of the eclipse we viewed near Cerulean, Kentucky. Hoever, I take issue with "the shadows go fuzzy" part. This is exactly the opposite of what actually happens during an eclipse: Shadows become preternaturally distinct and sharpened.
3
I moved out West from NYC 16 years ago.
I remember being stunned at how blue the sky was out here.
This was in Colorado then where the climate is dry but still, it was a revelation.
This was because I remembered the blue skies of my youth on the East Coast and I felt as a young adult in New York that all we ever had was a miserable grey haze.
A haze clearly stemming substantially from human emissions.
Blue skies were few and far between on the East Coast of 2000.
Now we on the West Coast too are smitten by toxic air.
In Portland it has been weeks since we have seen our standard blue skies.
People think of Portland as clouds and rain and this is true, there is much of that.
But what do we get in return? A long warm summer filled with sun.
We get a summer of beautiful aqua skies punctuated by lovely fluffy clouds suspended gloriously in remarkably clean air.
Well, now humanity's foul deeds are creeping up on us here too.
I just hope enough of us make this connection and vote out the ignorance in office to representatives that can effect progressive, realistic change.
Remember, there is no question we are in the midst of the 6th extinction.
The only question is whether we humans will join the species that disappear from the earth.
I remember being stunned at how blue the sky was out here.
This was in Colorado then where the climate is dry but still, it was a revelation.
This was because I remembered the blue skies of my youth on the East Coast and I felt as a young adult in New York that all we ever had was a miserable grey haze.
A haze clearly stemming substantially from human emissions.
Blue skies were few and far between on the East Coast of 2000.
Now we on the West Coast too are smitten by toxic air.
In Portland it has been weeks since we have seen our standard blue skies.
People think of Portland as clouds and rain and this is true, there is much of that.
But what do we get in return? A long warm summer filled with sun.
We get a summer of beautiful aqua skies punctuated by lovely fluffy clouds suspended gloriously in remarkably clean air.
Well, now humanity's foul deeds are creeping up on us here too.
I just hope enough of us make this connection and vote out the ignorance in office to representatives that can effect progressive, realistic change.
Remember, there is no question we are in the midst of the 6th extinction.
The only question is whether we humans will join the species that disappear from the earth.
21
Can we talk about climate change now? This summer of natural disasters has affected millions and millions of people, and continues. There is no denying what we are in for any longer. It is here. We need a government that will protect us by protecting the environment. That is certainly not the Trump administration, who pushing us off the environmental cliff, but the Democrats have not done enough either. It is time to take this challenge on openly and intelligently and find new ways of fueling (so to speak) our economy.
26
We aren't allowed to talk about it.
5
Longer, hotter and dryer summers coincided exactly with a substantial change in wildfire policy. Up until the mid-90s we used to routinely chase all small fires, fight them, and put them out within a day or two. That policy was changed to managing fires; whereby letting them burn (almost) naturally was favored. Some firefighters have reported being sent to a fire to fight it, only to be stood down after a day and to let it burn. Firefighting teams now try to coral fires away from structures to areas on the periphery of developments to 'green up' the forest and create longstanding fire breaks. Doing this creates a lot of smoke and a huge amount of risk. It's also massively expensive compared to the days when firefighters went out in twos and fours to fight small fires immediately. The fire industrial complex is real and expensive, and to justify it, it has to be used - even when using it is unnecessary; such as using a Sikorsky on a smoldering tree stump. (Yup, seen it.) This policy is trying to make up for years of what was seen as a flawed firefighting policy. It's a classic human pendulum of thought: "Not right? Do exactly the other and do it now." It just happened to coincide with longer, hotter, dryer summers. Perhaps a more gradual change of policy might have been warranted. But humans don't do that.
7
As long as long as populations continue to grow, this will continue - and get worse.
15
And where's the evidence to back up such a claim?
In the meanwhile, it's poor families who have most children (they need them to survive), but it's also poor families who have the lowest carbon footprint, whereas the main cause of why this will become much more intense during the next decades, is increased atmospheric CO2, caused by burning fossil fuels - and its the wealthiest countries that have the highest carbon footprint per capita ... .
It's time to take responsibility for our actions, apologize to the rest of the world for having destroyed their climate, and now work hard to prevent it from becoming even worse.
In the meanwhile, it's poor families who have most children (they need them to survive), but it's also poor families who have the lowest carbon footprint, whereas the main cause of why this will become much more intense during the next decades, is increased atmospheric CO2, caused by burning fossil fuels - and its the wealthiest countries that have the highest carbon footprint per capita ... .
It's time to take responsibility for our actions, apologize to the rest of the world for having destroyed their climate, and now work hard to prevent it from becoming even worse.
4
Your response is flawed. Ask Melinda Gates, who went from providing malaria drugs to areas of greatest population growth---sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia---to also giving women what they begged for, birth control. Because of tribal religions, a man's virility is judged by the number of children he bears. A poor family cannot support 10 children. A poor woman does not want to see 10 children suffer from malnutrition. It's a woman's right to decide how many children to have, not a man's. The World Bank uses one criteria to determine whether to loan money to small businesses---it is whether women in that country have access to birth control. Smaller families means women can work, and with 2 incomes, the family prospers. A growing middle class in countries like China means increased consumption. The human population remained under 1 billion for 70,000 years, until the Industrial Revolution. We are now at 7.5 billion. If 7.5 billion people want cars, is it more damaging to the earth than in 1 billion people want cars? Stop pointing fingers. "Apologizing" isn't a logical action plan.
5
Regardless of whether it was cowing or bowing, opting out of the Paris Climate Accord of 2015 is the single most stupid act of the Trump administration to date, and unfortunately, it was clearly inspired by Obama hatred, and perhaps hatred of life and nature in general because Anthropogenic Climate Disruption is and has also been clearly at work. This is what the Accord was about:
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297
This is America's response to the lunacy of ostrich-like denial of reality:
https://www.americaspledgeonclimate.com/
These attempt to address is a valid question:
https://www.academia.edu/15092472/Living_in_Peru_-_Peru_in_Copenhagen_Th...
https://www.academia.edu/15092558/Living_in_Peru_-_Peru_in_Copenhagen_20...
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-35073297
This is America's response to the lunacy of ostrich-like denial of reality:
https://www.americaspledgeonclimate.com/
These attempt to address is a valid question:
https://www.academia.edu/15092472/Living_in_Peru_-_Peru_in_Copenhagen_Th...
https://www.academia.edu/15092558/Living_in_Peru_-_Peru_in_Copenhagen_20...
19
Interested if these conditions related are exacerbated by global warming. Must say It's unusual when the reddish air of city is also over the formerly pristine wilderness. Like there's no escape.
3
Lots of words describing how the ecology is affecting one individual. Not a word about how individuals have changed our ecology. If it was really about Nature and not just about ourselves we might understand. Otherwise, not much.
6
Thanks for this marvelous description of the effects of these massive fires.
The Munch information was profoundly interesting.
One thing not mentioned is the infestation of the Pine Beetle that are killing the trees throughout the country, rendering them fire tinder. Yes, the earth is out of balance and as it tilts expect more interruptions within our natural landscape and environment.
The Munch information was profoundly interesting.
One thing not mentioned is the infestation of the Pine Beetle that are killing the trees throughout the country, rendering them fire tinder. Yes, the earth is out of balance and as it tilts expect more interruptions within our natural landscape and environment.
14
Suppose the human race carbon foot print was returned to tenth century standards. There would still be forrest fires, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes (that's right scientist speculate that earth quakes are caused by global warming), less intense but still around. What do we do about it?
Tens of thousands of homes could have been saved iNot all) n Houston. Conduits were planned to take water from the reservoirs to the harbor at a cost 400 million. I'm sure there's also ways civil projects could be done including using nature but cost won't be the only problem. Besides the tax payer there would be other, like politicians, ecologist, land owners and the complacent to prevent any action from being taken.
Tens of thousands of homes could have been saved iNot all) n Houston. Conduits were planned to take water from the reservoirs to the harbor at a cost 400 million. I'm sure there's also ways civil projects could be done including using nature but cost won't be the only problem. Besides the tax payer there would be other, like politicians, ecologist, land owners and the complacent to prevent any action from being taken.
Ecologists, as far as I know, tend to be a bit more honest and smart than most Republican politicians out there.
They fight to preserve nature knowing that today, the Sixth Great Extinction (= a rapid disappearing of species beyond their normal extinction rate) already began and that this time, it's caused by human beings.
But these are the same people, often, who fight for better and more accessible healthcare, a more fair job market, higher wages, etc.
So it's absurd to depict them as if they would by definition prioritize nature rather than human beings.
The same, by the way, goes for "politicians": a lot of them do a lot of good things - although since a decade, most of them are Democrats.
In the meanwhile, the intensification of natural disasters that we're seeing today is nothing compared to what it will be by 2100, if we continue to put our head in the sand. So yes of course, cities have to adapt (= vote for those willing to take this problem seriously), but it's already certain that we will not be able to adapt to the large scale damage that is awaiting us within a couple of decades, if we don't stop increasing our carbon emissions. So here too, it's not either/or, both are true simultaneously ...
They fight to preserve nature knowing that today, the Sixth Great Extinction (= a rapid disappearing of species beyond their normal extinction rate) already began and that this time, it's caused by human beings.
But these are the same people, often, who fight for better and more accessible healthcare, a more fair job market, higher wages, etc.
So it's absurd to depict them as if they would by definition prioritize nature rather than human beings.
The same, by the way, goes for "politicians": a lot of them do a lot of good things - although since a decade, most of them are Democrats.
In the meanwhile, the intensification of natural disasters that we're seeing today is nothing compared to what it will be by 2100, if we continue to put our head in the sand. So yes of course, cities have to adapt (= vote for those willing to take this problem seriously), but it's already certain that we will not be able to adapt to the large scale damage that is awaiting us within a couple of decades, if we don't stop increasing our carbon emissions. So here too, it's not either/or, both are true simultaneously ...
7
It's like speaking two different laguages. Is it being honest when the ecologist says don't build where fires, drought, or floods occur or just stupid? They don't leave us with many options do they.
@ JoeG (second comment)
Uh ... who's "the ecologist" you're talking about, more precisely?
And since when is it smart to build in places known for flooding ... ?
Uh ... who's "the ecologist" you're talking about, more precisely?
And since when is it smart to build in places known for flooding ... ?
1
As I sit here in Santa Fe looking out at the mountains surrounded in a haze which is not typical in this land of endless clear blue skies, I remember the days of the 1970's when I was in college and travelling in many western regions of this country and Canada. The west was a spectacular and pristine region unspoiled by humans. It has changed so very much in the last 40 years. I am so glad I was able to see it before so much of it was spoiled by greed and world that never considered it would be anything different than God had intended it to be....lush and beautiful. We are on a path to destroy this planet and its beauty is going up in smoke. Using up natural resources are causing climate change. Climate change is not just the disasters and the financial upheaval, it is also the cost to the natural cycle that keeps everything working like a well oiled machine. It also causes social destabilization, mass migrations and breeds hatred. I don't have a lot of faith that 7 billion people on this planet will be able to work out a solution that can save us or slow down this momentum.
26
Homo Sapiens bet the whole planet on the promise of practical nuclear fusion power back in 1950.
As the climate-denying governors of Texas and Florida plead for help from the big government they used to sneer at; as Republican lawmakers from those selfsame states vote against it; and as our climate-denying president watches the "Winter White House" at Mar-a-Lago sink under water; perhaps, just perhaps, science will once again be recognized as irrefutable fact rather than a "Chinese hoax." And perhaps, just perhaps, some of the smarter heads in Washington will reconsider Trump's proposed budget cuts for the National Weather Service, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department's Office of Science, the National Science Foundation, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Chemical Safety & Hazard Investigation Board and five NASA satellites observing climate trends around the earth.
64
It's no coincidence that at the same time, he's also cutting budgets for the arts.
Before the industrial revolution and rapid technological development, "Western civilization" was based on three pillars: science, philosophy and the arts. Technological development and democracy were added to it two centuries ago.
Today, the most passion Trump can find himself to display about technology is when he's sitting in a truck ... not exactly the most advanced stage of 21th century technology.
On all other major aspects of Western civilization, he's trying to actively use the power of the government to destroy them.
I don't think he's a "bad person" though. He's just a symbol of what today's Republican elites have become: people without any serious education apart from having learned how to obtain a lot of money.
There are real, and very interesting philosophical differences between conservatism and liberalism, but as long as at least the elites of both political parties were highly educated, there were debates about substance among candidates, whereas both were very well informed when it comes to Western history and what makes the US so unique and great.
Today, however, it's enough to "like the moon" (and be "loyal" to the president, no matter how indecent and ignorant his behavior and words) to be appointed head of NASA, once the GOP controls DC.
It's seems like it's the wealthiest country on earth, not ISIS, that will destroy "Western Civilization" ...
Before the industrial revolution and rapid technological development, "Western civilization" was based on three pillars: science, philosophy and the arts. Technological development and democracy were added to it two centuries ago.
Today, the most passion Trump can find himself to display about technology is when he's sitting in a truck ... not exactly the most advanced stage of 21th century technology.
On all other major aspects of Western civilization, he's trying to actively use the power of the government to destroy them.
I don't think he's a "bad person" though. He's just a symbol of what today's Republican elites have become: people without any serious education apart from having learned how to obtain a lot of money.
There are real, and very interesting philosophical differences between conservatism and liberalism, but as long as at least the elites of both political parties were highly educated, there were debates about substance among candidates, whereas both were very well informed when it comes to Western history and what makes the US so unique and great.
Today, however, it's enough to "like the moon" (and be "loyal" to the president, no matter how indecent and ignorant his behavior and words) to be appointed head of NASA, once the GOP controls DC.
It's seems like it's the wealthiest country on earth, not ISIS, that will destroy "Western Civilization" ...
15
The devastation wrought by these wildfires, earthquakes in Mexico and the hurricanes is a huge warning by Mother Nature that she is not willing to put up with much more of our human mistakes. How can anyone deny climate change, when all over the world these disasters are occurring.
And we have an Administration who refuses to look at the evidence that surrounds us. You do not have to be a scientist to believe that climate change is here, now. And while we still have a chance to do something about it, there does not seem to be any will by this Administration to act.
It looks as if Nero is fiddling, while we burn.
And we have an Administration who refuses to look at the evidence that surrounds us. You do not have to be a scientist to believe that climate change is here, now. And while we still have a chance to do something about it, there does not seem to be any will by this Administration to act.
It looks as if Nero is fiddling, while we burn.
11
But be aware that climate change has nothing to do with earthquakes.
Living is I do surrouned by enormous forest fires here in Oregon, the smoke was so thick, so engulfing of the entire state, that for the first time ever I felt that I was being suffocated by the smoke. There is simply no escaping it. I'm sure I'm giving up a few days of life for having to live in this smoke.
6
Weather is bizarre. When you watch the randomness and then realize there are places that rain never falls...scientists say that moisture is pulled away from desert clouds so it never falls there, but how because clouds are huge and powerful and you can see lines stretching from Florida to Maine sometimes all green with water or blue with snow? And yet the western states get zero and are warm even though the Pacific is cold. London has palm trees even though it's latitude is about in Boston in the US. Basically West coasts are dry and hot and East coasts are wet and cold (northern hemisphere).
Winter - the time of darkness and wind. It is wind that kills in winter, not cold.
Winter - the time of darkness and wind. It is wind that kills in winter, not cold.
2
In the meanwhile, a science magazine just explained how and when the universe is expected to end: 20 billion years from now, its expansion will have reached such a high speeds that all suns, planets, asteroids etc. will first be reduced to dust, and then dust to mere atoms, until the components of atoms will be torn apart too and absolutely nothing will exist anymore - not even time.
The big bang took place only 10 billion years ago, the earth exists for only 4,5B years now. Life on earth only started 3,5B years ago, but land life only exists for about 500 million years now. Mammals appeared only 200M years ago, flowers about 100M years ago.
Human-like creatures started walking the earth only 2M years ago, and the first human being like us, only 300k years ago.
Human civilization only started 12.000 years ago, and man discovered iron less than 4.000 years ago.
In the meanwhile, the earth's oceans and skies have had all kinds of colors. During the third Extinction, called "The Great Dying" of 252M years ago for instance, oceans were violet and skies green. 90% of all species on earth disappeared. It was caused by a sudden eruption of Siberian super-volcanoes who were situated next to huge coal fields, and their burning massively increased atmospheric CO2, with oceans becoming hotter and more acid.
Today, the sixth Extinction already started. Now, it's not volcanoes but humans who massively burn the coal - which means that this time, we know how to stop it... yes we can!
The big bang took place only 10 billion years ago, the earth exists for only 4,5B years now. Life on earth only started 3,5B years ago, but land life only exists for about 500 million years now. Mammals appeared only 200M years ago, flowers about 100M years ago.
Human-like creatures started walking the earth only 2M years ago, and the first human being like us, only 300k years ago.
Human civilization only started 12.000 years ago, and man discovered iron less than 4.000 years ago.
In the meanwhile, the earth's oceans and skies have had all kinds of colors. During the third Extinction, called "The Great Dying" of 252M years ago for instance, oceans were violet and skies green. 90% of all species on earth disappeared. It was caused by a sudden eruption of Siberian super-volcanoes who were situated next to huge coal fields, and their burning massively increased atmospheric CO2, with oceans becoming hotter and more acid.
Today, the sixth Extinction already started. Now, it's not volcanoes but humans who massively burn the coal - which means that this time, we know how to stop it... yes we can!
3
Another outstanding op-ed in the NYT today remembers how Scott Pruitt is transforming the government into a reality-denying propaganda machine that George Orwell would be proud of.
Two decades after Fake News was invented and received the newspeak name "Fox News", it's not only the 30% of this country's ordinary citizens who watch it on a daily basis who have started to believe their lies (about science, Obamacare, taxes, immigrants, liberals, Christianity etc.), FN apparently has in the meanwhile produced a totally new class of Republican elites, who now themselves don't know anymore what it is that made Western Civilization great, and seem to completely ignore what science is actually all about.
Scott Pruitt is only a symptom of this Republican "revolution". Long before he became the head of the EPA, McConnell and Ryan were eagerly spreading the same fake news - although it could be that at least they still know for themselves how to distinguish FN and proven reality.
Conclusion: yes, the battle that we'll have to fight now is a battle to keep the US within Western Civilization, but contrary to what Trump claimed in Poland, the worst enemy threatening its cultivation in the US is not a couple of barbarians destroying what we didn't destroy yet last decade in the Middle East, but Republican elites themselves.
How can a president who refuses to read things longer than 9 bullet points, somehow take wise decisions concerning America's future?
He can't.
So Rome burns ...
Two decades after Fake News was invented and received the newspeak name "Fox News", it's not only the 30% of this country's ordinary citizens who watch it on a daily basis who have started to believe their lies (about science, Obamacare, taxes, immigrants, liberals, Christianity etc.), FN apparently has in the meanwhile produced a totally new class of Republican elites, who now themselves don't know anymore what it is that made Western Civilization great, and seem to completely ignore what science is actually all about.
Scott Pruitt is only a symptom of this Republican "revolution". Long before he became the head of the EPA, McConnell and Ryan were eagerly spreading the same fake news - although it could be that at least they still know for themselves how to distinguish FN and proven reality.
Conclusion: yes, the battle that we'll have to fight now is a battle to keep the US within Western Civilization, but contrary to what Trump claimed in Poland, the worst enemy threatening its cultivation in the US is not a couple of barbarians destroying what we didn't destroy yet last decade in the Middle East, but Republican elites themselves.
How can a president who refuses to read things longer than 9 bullet points, somehow take wise decisions concerning America's future?
He can't.
So Rome burns ...
33
Time for all the mainstream media to start talking about Climate Change. This is the elephant in the livingroom of our lives. Here in Portland I was trapped in the house for many hot days and could not go out because of the smoke and the lung damage it might cause. This is not what summer is supposed to be about.
11
The fire producing the smoke felt in Portland was started by teens playing with fireworks. It is man made so I guess people will consider it as part of climate change.
1
Not allowed to talk about you know what.
Othello is about 30 minutes south of where I live. In central WA, we have had the summer smoke each summer for years. Now we expect it as part of life every summer. In central WA we had an extremely wet spring. The amount of wildfire fuel is at an all time. September is definitely part of wildfire season in central Washington.
2
Think about the billions of dollars in damage caused by fire and flood and hurricanes and earthquakes. This is caused by climate change and, in the case of some earthquakes, by storing toxic water from fracking.
Climate change is an issue of national defense. If any country or coalition of countries were causing such devastation, we would be at war.
Now is the time to put solar panels on every rooftop, build high speed rail, encourage more urban green spaces and pedestrian zones, reduce the consumption of meat. Some of this We the People can do personally and locally. Money for the solar panels nationwide will require national spending. Let us call it defense spending.
We need leaders with bold vision to help us catch the vision before it is too late.
We get the government we deserve.
Climate change is an issue of national defense. If any country or coalition of countries were causing such devastation, we would be at war.
Now is the time to put solar panels on every rooftop, build high speed rail, encourage more urban green spaces and pedestrian zones, reduce the consumption of meat. Some of this We the People can do personally and locally. Money for the solar panels nationwide will require national spending. Let us call it defense spending.
We need leaders with bold vision to help us catch the vision before it is too late.
We get the government we deserve.
44
Also reduce speed limits to 45 mph, which will halve fuel consumption. And get rid of mega-pickup trucks, SUVs and diesel engines. And paint gloss white all possible surfaces that get sunlight. And rezone communities so that shopping, work, and services are dispersed and closer to housing. And replace all fossil plants with advanced nuclear (solar and wind just don't cut it). How about them apples?
7
What will it take for the climate change deniers (whether it be the President, the cowardly Congress or ordinary citizens) to finally, finally, albeit only when it affects them personally, recognize the danger? Even then we have the spectacle of congressmen from Texas voting against financial help for their fellow Texans? What kind of madness is this?
28
Jean--What can be expected of Republicans? We all know what kind of people they are. We now have a long history from which to judge them. Picking your side, in this, will define you as a human being, and an American.
5
It is the madness that occurs when political ideology becomes theology and trumps even Trump. This is what happens when the goal in life is to be accepted as being right, whether one is or not, rather than to solve your own problems and help solve those of others. At what point will it become clear that doing nothing to at least protect ourselves from climate change, manmade or not, is more costly in lives and money than tackling the problem with all the resources at our disposal? In the 1960's Democrats supported massive spending on "housing projects" to replace crumbling slums, and unintentionally destroyed neighborhoods in the process. What Democrat today would not acknowledge that mistake, and insist on supporting more "projects" of the same type? None. Despite consistent evidence that tax cuts for the rich and the big corporations do not produce more jobs than would be created in any case, despite the evidence mounting that climate change is real and becoming more costly in lives and money, conservatives of one stripe or another still swear by trickle down economics and a connection between same-sex marriage rights and hurricanes. At what point did Soviet leaders realize that their system was anything but communist, economically inept, morally corrupt, and still keep preaching to the choir so that they could stay in power? At what point will a majority of Americans ask the same sort of questions about our current Legislative and Executive Branch leaders?
9
The last republican who famously couldn't do either was a better president than any of the republicans who followed him, and, of course, he wasn't even not elected but appointed by a crook.
6
Perhaps these fires and smoke are the new normal of climate change. But please include human carelessness and actual arson in your thinking. More than half of wildfires are caused by humans--by different estimates, 60% to 90%.
4
Sure, anyone can start a forest fire but environmental conditions -- and in particular: how dry? -- determine the severity and extent of the event.
7
But a fire that isn't started carelessly will never be severe because it will not exist.
Don't forget the mis-management of the parks by the feds.
When fuel is allowed to accumulate for years huge fires are the result.
When fuel is allowed to accumulate for years huge fires are the result.
The planet - Mother Nature - is fighting back. On 11/9/16 I woke up to the fact that we have gone past the point of no return. We elected a gang who think the planet is a huge ATM. Well, we're overdrawn. It's only gonna get worse.
68
People in the past believed tossing virgins into volcanos would have a positive affect on community safety. Religion contributed alot to civiization, record keeping, astronomy, marriage, care for the elderly to name a few but do you thing it's wise to go back to the belief the earth punishes us when it's really people responsible for the punishing not god, nature or volcanos.
The good thing about this miserable Summer of 2017 is that it has given us all visible, non-deniable proof about our global warming, our climate change, humanity's impact and influence upon the planet. With the hurricanes, flooding, fires, smoke, smog, haze, drought, heat and the usual suspects of tornadoes and maybe an earthquake or two, we have experienced the natural and man made and Act of God elements that are and will determine humankind's future and/or lack of it.
This "big blue marble" is not very big after all. The smoke all over The Great Pacific Northwest has managed to travel great distances to impact a large area of environment. I have witnessed the colours and effects that other Commenters have also described here regarding this article. At least this year, we had had a long, wet hard Winter last year, so there was not as much drought in Whatcom County and the tree leaves did not start turning colours at the end of July. At least we got to just about the end of August for that to happen and we still had good snow on Mount Baker thru August 2nd.
It has looked darn weird up here though with days of misery of smoke, smog, haze, heat, and that orange or orange-red tint or colouration to the sun and the sky. There is no doubt that our environment and atmosphere has, and is, changing. For the time being many of us are living to see it. It can truly be said that we don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing.
This "big blue marble" is not very big after all. The smoke all over The Great Pacific Northwest has managed to travel great distances to impact a large area of environment. I have witnessed the colours and effects that other Commenters have also described here regarding this article. At least this year, we had had a long, wet hard Winter last year, so there was not as much drought in Whatcom County and the tree leaves did not start turning colours at the end of July. At least we got to just about the end of August for that to happen and we still had good snow on Mount Baker thru August 2nd.
It has looked darn weird up here though with days of misery of smoke, smog, haze, heat, and that orange or orange-red tint or colouration to the sun and the sky. There is no doubt that our environment and atmosphere has, and is, changing. For the time being many of us are living to see it. It can truly be said that we don't need a weatherman to tell which way the wind is blowing.
76
Idaho. The air has been somewhere between "Very Unhealthy" and "Hazardous" for the last week on the AQI. Idaho also has a number of fires, and the norther part of the state is literally surrounded by active fires. Somehow you neglected to mention the state central to the others you included.
6
I don't remember smoke like this ever. I do remember once on a trip from North Dakota to Seattle that I planned to stop in central Montana for the night but couldn't, all motels were occupied by out-of-state firefighters. No dispersed camping in federal lands either because they were all on fire. So I wound up going all the way through to basically Coeur D'Alene Idaho before I found a motel with a room (expensive room!). No camping in Idaho either, public forests were all on fire there too. So anyway I am not sure if the breadth of fires is so new but the smoke is hitting me as something different this year.
5
There are fundamental misconceptions that cause all too many to attribute every climate problem to climate change. The role of climate change is generally to affect the intensity of existing phenomena. 9 out of 10 forest fires are human-caused. Drought and heat,caused by climate change, increase their intensity. Similarly, the warming of ocean water increases the intensity of hurricanes. But Irma would have been a category 5 regardless.
The fire season would have been far less serious if people had been more careful. We have always been vulnerable to hurricanes and always will be. So standard precautions should be taken. It concerns me that too many of us think reducing carbon emissions is the only strategy out there. What has helped in the past will continue to help. It is not a one dimensional world.
The fire season would have been far less serious if people had been more careful. We have always been vulnerable to hurricanes and always will be. So standard precautions should be taken. It concerns me that too many of us think reducing carbon emissions is the only strategy out there. What has helped in the past will continue to help. It is not a one dimensional world.
3
The inconvenient truth is, world is becoming a strange and toxic place.
10
Massive fires everywhere in drought sticken west, no emergency per the feds. Most destructive hurricaine in history (Harvey), never experienced before. Followed by the never before second cat 4-5, and never sustained cat 5 in the Atlantic (Irma) followed by, 2 more. But PLEASE Scott Pruitt, make sure your red team of challengers to climate science, who've never been peer reviewed, never been cited, and are funded by fossil fuel industries and Kochs, make sure they have an equal footing at the table to make the non contest a contest. Shhh the "CC crowd" might have to be suppressed.
29
It wouldn't be quite so awful if Pruitt's crowd had "equal footing" at the table.
Knowing Pruitt' history his red team will be alone at the table and will control the information.
No disagreement or data allowed.
Knowing Pruitt' history his red team will be alone at the table and will control the information.
No disagreement or data allowed.
10
We need an honest political class who cares about mankind .
The frequency and intensity of forest fires , hurricanes, tornadoes etc. should open the eyes and brains of the deniers sitting on their hands in Washington.
The frequency and intensity of forest fires , hurricanes, tornadoes etc. should open the eyes and brains of the deniers sitting on their hands in Washington.
20
You know what Trump would say:
"You have fire on the west coast, heavy rain on the east coast. If it were closer, we could use the excess water from the east coast to douse the fire on the west coast."
Is this notion better than the one about having a transparent wall so we could see the bags of drug being thrown over the border?
You decide.
"You have fire on the west coast, heavy rain on the east coast. If it were closer, we could use the excess water from the east coast to douse the fire on the west coast."
Is this notion better than the one about having a transparent wall so we could see the bags of drug being thrown over the border?
You decide.
14
I agree with the author that this fire season is different. I live in western Montana and our fire season is typically August and September. This year the fire season started in early July and because we are in a moderate to severe drought, the fires are not expected to be contained until mid-October. One of our fires, the Rice Ridge fires, is outside Seeley Lake (53 miles from Missoula) and it has been burning for 7 weeks. During this this time, the fire has consumed 122,000 acres and is currently 5% contained. The air quality in Seeley Lake is routinely hazardous with particle counts exceeded 400 ppm.
I would like to see the NY Times focus on the resources required to fight these fires and the increased demands on them. It seems that if you drive along a high way in western Montana, you come across a convoy of out-of-state firefighters heading to the fire lines. I am truly great full that they are here, but I am concerned that we are not prepared for future forest fires. We need to ensure our hotshot crews are properly staffed and have the time for training between deployments. We need to increase our spending for preventative maintenance / replacement of firefighting equipment. Finally, we need to invest in R&D for firefighting and find new ways to manage our forests.
A few months ago, I laugh at a bumper sticker that said “only you can prevent fires – seriously our funding was cut.” I’m not laughing anymore.
I would like to see the NY Times focus on the resources required to fight these fires and the increased demands on them. It seems that if you drive along a high way in western Montana, you come across a convoy of out-of-state firefighters heading to the fire lines. I am truly great full that they are here, but I am concerned that we are not prepared for future forest fires. We need to ensure our hotshot crews are properly staffed and have the time for training between deployments. We need to increase our spending for preventative maintenance / replacement of firefighting equipment. Finally, we need to invest in R&D for firefighting and find new ways to manage our forests.
A few months ago, I laugh at a bumper sticker that said “only you can prevent fires – seriously our funding was cut.” I’m not laughing anymore.
117
"At the sight of ruptured sky, Munch said he felt “a great, unending scream piercing through nature.”"
As the president might say, "there's something going on." Problem is, we know what that something is, and the pall of the wildfire smoke and nonstop killer hurricanes are being accompanied by an embargo on naming their causes.
Both sides of the political debate are afflicted by PC notions, no matter how much the right tries to make out that political correctness is a uniquely Democrat scourge.
We can't take steps to remedy, or even prepare for the deadly consequences of climate change when an entire political party (with the exception of some with guts) keeps denying the science behind this unprecedented primal scream of nature.
I think we're way beyond the tipping point, so that begs the question, "what's next?"
As the president might say, "there's something going on." Problem is, we know what that something is, and the pall of the wildfire smoke and nonstop killer hurricanes are being accompanied by an embargo on naming their causes.
Both sides of the political debate are afflicted by PC notions, no matter how much the right tries to make out that political correctness is a uniquely Democrat scourge.
We can't take steps to remedy, or even prepare for the deadly consequences of climate change when an entire political party (with the exception of some with guts) keeps denying the science behind this unprecedented primal scream of nature.
I think we're way beyond the tipping point, so that begs the question, "what's next?"
65
Yup. This wave of anti science sentiment is here with the worst possible timing.
It'd be nice to blame it on Russian abuse of Fscebook ads, and who knows? More than likely it's a homegrown variety of ignorance thriving in an anti knowledge soil impoverished by a lack of reading and of sound education.
It'd be nice to blame it on Russian abuse of Fscebook ads, and who knows? More than likely it's a homegrown variety of ignorance thriving in an anti knowledge soil impoverished by a lack of reading and of sound education.
12
Summer was previously the season of celebration - balmy days with bright blue skies and cooling evenings. Climate change has made and will continue to make worse the favored season. We will all come to dread, if we don't already, the harshness man has created with severe droughts, roasting temperatures, unimaginable wildfires and hurricanes of epic size. The world is united on tackling this problem, except the country I call home. Tragic.
40
There is a sensible alternative to living with fire in the West. It's called prevention.
Instead of spending billions fighting fires, spend it now to thin the forest in environmentally sound ways (not clear cutting), reinvigorating an American forest industry.
Collaboration between scientists, industry and environmentalists has resulted in a plan that will seriously limit the devastation in our forests. The fact that forest industry leaders (those that are caricatured as wanting to clear cut all the trees) and environmentalists (those caricatured as wanting to save animals and plants and not people) can work together to agree on a sustainable path that will benefit the economy AND ecosystem while stopping huge and unmanageable wildfires speaks to the seriousness of the problem and the inadequacy of past solutions.
For more information, see: http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com. For those most interested, review GTR-220 and GTR-237 linked at that site.
Instead of spending billions fighting fires, spend it now to thin the forest in environmentally sound ways (not clear cutting), reinvigorating an American forest industry.
Collaboration between scientists, industry and environmentalists has resulted in a plan that will seriously limit the devastation in our forests. The fact that forest industry leaders (those that are caricatured as wanting to clear cut all the trees) and environmentalists (those caricatured as wanting to save animals and plants and not people) can work together to agree on a sustainable path that will benefit the economy AND ecosystem while stopping huge and unmanageable wildfires speaks to the seriousness of the problem and the inadequacy of past solutions.
For more information, see: http://sagehenforest.blogspot.com. For those most interested, review GTR-220 and GTR-237 linked at that site.
3
I grew up in the Northwest and never experienced forest fires like the last 5-10 years. Something is very wrong with our climate and our priorities. Can't we free up some of that obscene military budget to fight this horrible trend of bigger and bigger fires? With some funding couldn't technology help discover fires when they are still small and couldn't the forest service establish on-call teams of fire fighters adequately equipped to respond quickly to fight them? It seems like it would be much cheaper in the long run. Besides we need trees as beautiful living plants consuming CO2 not as smoke filling the air and ash raining down on everything.
53
I wish I didn't know pre-climate change "normal" so that I wouldn't know what we are losing or feel that despair. Every day is traumatizing.
34
Portland is beginning to clear up. But we have lost for a generation a large part of our beautiful Columbia Gorge due to the foolish actions of one 15-year-old kid who was never taught how to behave in nature. Many broken hearts here.
49
What about the sounds of nature being upended?
It is so dry that walking in the woods is like walking through a bowl of corn flakes without the milk.
That's why fires are so ferocious.
It is so dry that walking in the woods is like walking through a bowl of corn flakes without the milk.
That's why fires are so ferocious.
14
Here in Portland it's been looking like we moved to another part of the galaxy, with an angry red dwarf star overhead. Those who were here when Mt. St. Helens blew up say it was similar--a coating of ash all over everything. A few people still travel by bike, wearing masks to keep the particulate matter out of their lungs. Between the fires, the hurricanes, and the threat of nuclear war, I have not been optimistic about the future of our planet. "Despair" indeed.
40
In all the likely 4.5 billion years of Earth's existence, it supported human life as the author regards comfortable for the tiniest fraction of that time. Today, parts of Earth are as inhospitable to human comfort as the lands wracked by Pacific Northwest wildfires are now. The images summoned by Mr. Mark are romantic but not very real.
As long as we have had lightning strikes, dry weather and human carelessness, we have had wildfires -- for all of our history as a nation that we formally observed and measured. Make your arguments about the imminent threats of global warming and the contributions humans have made to the phenomenon. But when you seek to blame EVERY natural event on human-induced climate change, you damage your broader argument.
As long as we have had lightning strikes, dry weather and human carelessness, we have had wildfires -- for all of our history as a nation that we formally observed and measured. Make your arguments about the imminent threats of global warming and the contributions humans have made to the phenomenon. But when you seek to blame EVERY natural event on human-induced climate change, you damage your broader argument.
1
I don't think the author is blaming every natural event on human-caused CC. However, to ignore that part of our country is on fire while the other is flooding is to deny the effects of CC. No, it's not all caused by our behavior, but neither can it be free of that effect either. We make excessive amounts of carbon. Carbon creates more heat. More heat means more intense fires and hurricanes.
The predications that we'd see what we are seeing now have been around for decades. Unfortunately, we've been all too willing to ignore and argue rather than change our behavior, whether we have understood or believed the science or not.
The predications that we'd see what we are seeing now have been around for decades. Unfortunately, we've been all too willing to ignore and argue rather than change our behavior, whether we have understood or believed the science or not.
17
The point is what you stated: it (Earth) supported human life as the author regards comfortable for the tiniest fraction of that time.
Of those 4.5 billion years there has only been recently the human element in the equation. The outcomes of our influence are scientifically and mathematically proven, let alone intuitively. Nevertheless, science and reason once again are attacked by denial and devaluation.
By no means did the author blame "EVERY" event on human influence, only the increase in fires. The hysteria has been generated by the deniers.
Of those 4.5 billion years there has only been recently the human element in the equation. The outcomes of our influence are scientifically and mathematically proven, let alone intuitively. Nevertheless, science and reason once again are attacked by denial and devaluation.
By no means did the author blame "EVERY" event on human influence, only the increase in fires. The hysteria has been generated by the deniers.
33
"We make excessive amounts of carbon. Carbon creates more heat." Hard to know what that means, Yes, carbon dioxide increases the insulating property of the atmosphere, preventing infrared radiation from escaping the planet and thus the the temperature ends higher than it would be without the carbon dioxide we liberated by burning fossil fuels.
7
To think of these fires as only an act of nature, forgetting our own individual impact is short-sighted. In every decision we make to consume recklessly, beyond our needs, we're casting off the consequences--the pollution to some unseen place, and the effects to some future generation. Except more and more we can no longer hide from the fact that how we live matters and that individually and en masse we need to make new decisions if the planet is to survive and our children and other species with it.
48
SMOKE Is the pollutant that keeps on taking. It is made up of tiny solid particles of the burnt material from the forest fires. The particles are so small that they settle deep within the lungs where they can result in chronic obstructive pulmonary disorders such as asthma, colds, pneumonia and emphysema. Smoke particles are small enough to interfere with the accurate replication of DNA, resulting in mutations, some of which will be cancerous. Not to mention that the greenhouse gases generated by wildfires increases the amount of heat trapped in the atmosphere.
47
I agree with you, John Smith. Happened to seek Wikipedia for "soot". It says in bottom line: "Soot causes cancer and lung disease, and is the second-biggest human cause of global warming."
Some 2.5 years ago researchers found soot in the Arctic ice. I read that in an article in Aftenposten (biggest paper here), but never seen anything later on. You would know that this phenomenon will attract heat and reduce the reflection of sunrays. And in the summertime there's daylight around the clock.
The soot stems from industry, shipping and aviation and now big forest fires.
Some 2.5 years ago researchers found soot in the Arctic ice. I read that in an article in Aftenposten (biggest paper here), but never seen anything later on. You would know that this phenomenon will attract heat and reduce the reflection of sunrays. And in the summertime there's daylight around the clock.
The soot stems from industry, shipping and aviation and now big forest fires.
12
I am trying to think of something positive about this. Soot in the air will help to reduce the sunlight warming the planet, but not enough to counteract the effects of increased CO2.
1
We saw the sun for the first time in three weeks. Yesterday rain.
The fires still burn on all sides and one is 6 miles away as the crow flies.
The kids soccer and football games are rescheduled or cancelled. There is competition for space in the gym to practice.
August and September have come to reliably look like foggy misty winter mornings, but the smoke doesn't lift in the afternoon.
We need forest restoration work and control burns in winter. Savage clear cuts on fragile mountain sides may reduce fuel, but at the cost of destroying the soil, and forest, for a thousand years. The BLM has done a beautiful job of managing chunks of forest. Please may they continue.
The fires still burn on all sides and one is 6 miles away as the crow flies.
The kids soccer and football games are rescheduled or cancelled. There is competition for space in the gym to practice.
August and September have come to reliably look like foggy misty winter mornings, but the smoke doesn't lift in the afternoon.
We need forest restoration work and control burns in winter. Savage clear cuts on fragile mountain sides may reduce fuel, but at the cost of destroying the soil, and forest, for a thousand years. The BLM has done a beautiful job of managing chunks of forest. Please may they continue.
41
Agreed.
There is evidence that the forests on the North American West Coast (and also in Eastern Australia) experienced more frequent low intensity burns prior to European settlement than now. It is suggested that the tree density was less so that it was more open woodland.
Indeed in Australia many plants require a low intensity fire in order to set seed (Banksia species for example). We would have to assume that forests on the North American West Coast have also evolved to survive low intensity burns (but not high intensity fires).
There is evidence that the forests on the North American West Coast (and also in Eastern Australia) experienced more frequent low intensity burns prior to European settlement than now. It is suggested that the tree density was less so that it was more open woodland.
Indeed in Australia many plants require a low intensity fire in order to set seed (Banksia species for example). We would have to assume that forests on the North American West Coast have also evolved to survive low intensity burns (but not high intensity fires).
3
Controled burns in winter should be a national priority. Thinning where appropriate as well.
Old growth is usually fireproof other than the odd stand replacing fires that occur every 500 yrs or so. Like the current crop of hurricanes the 500 year periodicity may be up the chimney.
Old growth is usually fireproof other than the odd stand replacing fires that occur every 500 yrs or so. Like the current crop of hurricanes the 500 year periodicity may be up the chimney.
3