This Is What It Looks Like

Take A Good Look, America. This Is What The Reckoning Looks Like

Matt Simon, November 13, 2018 (Wired)

“…[The fable is not true that a frog put into cold water won’t notice the water being brought to a boil before it’s too late, but apparently humans are not that smart…[Northern California’s] Camp Fire is only 25 percent contained, yet it is already by far the deadliest and most destructive in state history…[It has] killed 42 and destroyed nearly 7,200 structures…[Southern California’s] Woolsey Fire has scorched over 90,000 acres and leveled at least 370 structures…[This devastation] is ultimately a product of a warming world. The climate change reckoning is here. This is what inaction looks like…

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…[It is not immediately observable that] Inuit peoples in northern Canada have less of the ice they rely on to hunt, coral reefs are buckling under the weight of warming and acidifying waters, climate change is making hurricanes worse…[but it is clear] California is burning…The contribution of climate change is] obvious in the data…California is already very dry due to lack of rainfall. That means parched vegetation, which means lots of fuel for fires. But as temperatures climb, the atmosphere further dehydrates vegetation…[The Camp Fire] conflagration overwhelmed the 27,000-person town of Paradise…Climate change isn’t the only factor…[but the] climate change reckoning is here, and we are all mere fabled frogs…” click here for more

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