Post by account_disabled on Feb 22, 2024 4:45:13 GMT
Much of the western United States is in flames, and many areas not directly affected by the fire are engulfed in choking smoke. Although fires in the West are not unusual or unexpected, these fires are different: they are anticipated, larger and hotter than usual. They are expanding explosively, overwhelming cities and firefighting resources. And there is no way to escape them. As of Thursday night, five of the ten largest wildfires in California history are burning. Seven of the ten largest fires have occurred in the last four years. This is not normal, but… what is different now? Climate change caused by man. Human-caused climate change We are reaping the consequences of using for more than a century the thin, delicate layer of the atmosphere that surrounds the planet as a dumping ground for the main waste product of burning fossil fuels: carbon dioxide. For more than half a century, scientists have been warning of the growing threat of climate change. Climate and water work conducted 35 years ago found that rising temperatures would alter California's snowpack, water availability and soil moisture in ways we are now seeing in our mountains and rivers. In the early 1990s, scientists such as Margaret Torn, Jeremy Fried, Kevin Ryan, Colin Price and others assessed the risks of increases in western wildfires and their intensity under climate change scenarios. National Climate Assessments required by federal law have regularly warned that worsening fires were a likely future consequence of accelerating climate change. The future has arrived Projections have become reality.
What we are seeing now with massive wildfires, worsening storms, unprecedented heat, and record droughts and floods is just the beginning of the climate changes to come. In addition to rising oceans, the accelerated destruction of the Arctic ice cap, expanding water crises and new health disasters, these climate impacts are something that no human society has ever experienced and for which we remain woefully unable. prepared. We are now seeing the unmistakable influence of climate change on these disasters. What was once Bulgaria Mobile Number List considered an act of God is now also an act of humans. Hurricanes like Harvey in 2017 are stronger and causing more devastating flooding. Heat waves are occurring earlier and are longer and hotter than they used to be. California just experienced its hottest August ever, including what may have been the hottest temperature ever recorded, in Death Valley. Forest fires, as we have seen, are becoming ferocious and fearsome monsters. The influence of climate change on forest fires is easy to see. Global warming is decreasing our snow cover in the mountains, leading to hotter, drier summers. 80% of California, 95% of Oregon, and all of Colorado, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico are currently in drought. Severe droughts over the past decade have killed hundreds of millions of trees in our forests, adding to the fuels available to burn.
Higher temperatures dry out forest and grassland soils even more. Unusual lightning storms are igniting multiple fires at once, overwhelming our ability to put them out ahead of time. Unfortunately we are not alone. The wildfire signal of climate change is being seen around the world, in southern Europe, Canada, Australia, South America and Africa, and other impacts of climate change are also accelerating, in the form of storms, melting of glaciers, rising seas and more. More and more scientists are talking about the connections between these disasters and climate change. The media is gradually improving information about these links, although there are still too many news items that do not mention them. Government and climate change It is also time for our politicians to lead or get out of the way. For decades, both major political parties in the United States ignored the climate problem, deferring decisions to the next generation and allowing rich and powerful fossil fuel interests to hide, misrepresent and deny the science and the threat. And the claim that the cost of tackling climate change is too high is complete rubbish. The reality is that the cost of not addressing the problem is much higher. The bad news is that the long delay in fighting climate change means that some severe impacts, like the fires we are seeing now, are no longer avoidable and we must begin the process of adapting to them. At the same time, we must accelerate the complete elimination of fossil fuel combustion to slow the pace of future climate changes and prevent even worse and potentially catastrophic impacts from occurring.
