David Adès: Premonitions of Catastrophe
This was not the burning of witches or heretics
but the burning of a continent
Susie Cagle: ‘Fire is medicine’| The tribes burn California forests to save them
For millennia, native people have used flames to protect the land. The US government outlawed the process for a century before recognizing its value.
Michael T. Klare: Welcome to a World in Which All Hell Is Breaking Loose
A prelude to what can be expected in the future was provided by the events of August and September 2017, when the military was called upon to provide disaster relief in the wake of three particularly powerful hurricanes — Harvey, Irma, and Maria — at the very moment California and the state of Washington were being ravaged by powerful wildfires.
Stephen Pyne: California wildfires signal the arrival of a planetary fire age
We can envision Earth entering a fire age comparable to the ice ages of the Pleistocene, complete with the pyric equivalent of ice sheets, pluvial lakes, periglacial outwash plains, mass extinctions, and sea level changes.
Frida Berrigan: Parenting the Climate-Change Generation
Young people across the world are striking to draw attention to the ravages of climate change. They are demanding — with their bodies and their voices — that the catastrophe each of them will inherit be a priority for the grown-ups around them.
Climate of North American cities will shift hundreds of miles in one generation
In one generation, the climate experienced in many North American cities is projected to change to that of locations hundreds of miles away—or to a new climate unlike any found … Continue reading
Lorraine Chow: 10 Worst-Case Climate Predictions If We Don’t Keep Global Temperature Rise Under 1.5 Degrees Celsius
If humankind carries on its business-as-usual approach to climate change, there’s a 93 percent chance we’re barreling toward a potentially catastrophic level of warming. The summer of 2018 was intense: … Continue reading
Robert C. Koehler: Gunfire and Wildfire — The New Abnormal
This is a country at war with itself in multiple ways. Thousand Oaks, California: a city torn apart by wildfire and gunfire. Both are unnatural disasters. “This is the new … Continue reading
Patricia A. Nugent: Carpool Duet
“I have a good life. I’m financially secure. My kids have stayed married, and my grandkids are doing well. John and I are free to travel, to do whatever we … Continue reading
Frida Berrigan: The Cheetah in Us All
A mother thinks about the inheritance of children. “I don’t want to live in a world without cheetahs, Mom.” Seamus loves cheetahs and what’s not to love — unless you … Continue reading
Tom Engelhardt: What Will Donald Trump Be Remembered For?
The World According to The Don(ald) I know you won’t believe me. Not now, not when everything Donald Trump does — any tweet, any insult at any rally — is … Continue reading
Jessica Corbett: California Fires Are the Nightmare that Climate Scientists Long Predicted
Wildfires ravaging the state have “spawned bizarre pyrotechnics, from firenados to towering pyrocumulus clouds that evoke a nuclear detonation.” . Flames from the Carr Fire burn through trees and a … Continue reading
