This time the fires: Confronting the realities of climate change
COVID-19, invasive species, and the spread of persistent chemicals and plastics provide a form of evidence that we live on a planet with an interconnected biosphere. Dangers from one part of the planet spread to other parts of the planet. Our oceans and atmosphere, as well as ships and jets, transport pollutants across the globe. During the dreaded few days of last week, we saw more evidence of our interconnected biosphere. New Yorkers were forced off the streets as fires burning about 400 miles from New York City turned the air orange. While people in other parts of the United States and other parts of the world are familiar with this phenomenon, New Yorkers are not. Now we are.
Arguing about the cause of the fire is pointless. Yes, we have had forest fires all the time, but the oceans and atmosphere are warmer than ever, and the relationship between the growth in fossil fuel use and rising temperatures is irrefutable. Global warming is causing droughts and droughts in places that once had plenty of precipitation. This in turn increases the risk of forest fires. We’ve seen it on our west coast for years and now it’s coming to our east coast. If it feels scary and dangerous, that’s because it is.
The question becomes: what do we do? Our economy, political stability and way of life all depend on the heavy use of fossil fuels. We must transition away from these fuels and other greenhouse gas-producing technologies as quickly as possible. We need a less destructive economy based on renewable resources. The transition to a circular economy is already underway in the US, Europe and parts of Asia. We are lucky because renewable energy technology is developing rapidly and within the next two decades, it will replace fossil fuels. Fossil fuel interests will continue to use political tools to fight market forces, but they will fail. They lead to a slower transition to renewable energy, and while this is detrimental, the timetable for the transition will be hard to accelerate or decelerate. Substantial infrastructure and technological changes will be required if we are to sustain our way of life while transitioning away from fossil fuels. This takes time and money. Unfortunately, this means that we have to expect a generation of increased global warming until we turn things around and reverse the buildup of greenhouse gases. At some point, we will need carbon capture and storage, not to continue burning fossil fuels needlessly, but to remove accumulated greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and reduce global warming through engineering. This sprawling global public works project will require massive technological innovation and public spending, and it will take a few days of orange skies to garner political support for the cause.
But last week, we got a taste of the future. We got a taste of the impending fire. Reality can be painful, but it also needs to be faced.Sixty years ago, James Baldwin published his landmark book next fireincluding two articles on Reality Racism in America, explores the social, personal, and religious impact of racism. When the sky turns orange, I think about Baldwin’s ability to express and interpret his world with fierce honesty. Then I thought about America’s inability to face the reality of racism, and our equally delusional inability to face the reality of environmental sustainability. Baldwin’s title was inspired by a slave song that interpreted the Bible: “God gave Noah a rainbow sign, no more water, next time fire!” In other words, if we don’t address racism, we’re doomed destroy. Sixty years later, the struggle is still going on, though I hope it is making progress — two steps forward, one step back. The reality of a movement that ignores the legacy of slavery and ignores the facts we have on the ground has the same force as ignoring the facts of climate change: seeing the world the way we want it to be, not the way it is. George Floyd and others remind us of the way the world still exists and the racism that persists in America. Last week, the skies over New York City also reminded us of a reality. The death of George Floyd has caused some, but not all, to re-examine racism and its persistence in America. Last week, the orange skies that have been experienced for many years on the west coast of the United States came to our east coast. Will it lead to our wider acceptance of the reality of climate change?
last week, Brady Dennis and Joyce Hsu of Washington postreporting on the air quality crisis on the East Coast, observed:
“Smoke from hundreds of wildfires ravaging Canada engulfed the eastern United States on Wednesday, upending the rhythm of daily life for tens of millions of Americans and creating a “Code Red” Air Quality Alerts As far south as the Carolinas, there are widespread health concerns.nowhere else than in New York Citydense fog blanketed the Statue of Liberty, blanketed the skyscrapers of Manhattan, delayed a baseball game at Yankee Stadium and forced a temporary halt to flights to LaGuardia Airport due to poor visibility. Mayor Eric Adams recommends that people wear masks outdoors and cancel outdoor city events.For the second day in a row, New York recorded some worst air quality any major city on earth. But it’s not the only place to experience the eerie, unsettling and throat-burning smog, which scientists say could become more common amid global warming. “
The Canadian government understands the causes of this environmental catastrophe, but it is certainly not on the agenda of the world’s fossil fuel industry. However, the origin of these fires is clear and needs to be understood.Again, according to dennis and hsu:
“At current pace, government officials said this week, Canada is on track to experience its worst wildfire season on record. About 2,300 wildfires have burned about 9.4 million acres this year, according to government data. In the Atlantic province of Nova Scotia In Canada, this year’s unusually intense fires have scorched more land than in the past 10 years combined. Warm, dry weather this month will increase wildfire risk across much of Canada, According to the Canadian government, it also expects “above-normal fire activity” to continue throughout the wildfire season. Canadian officials say dry weather and high temperatures brought on by a warming climate are exacerbating the damage. “
Like the gun industry in the wake of mass shootings, we’ve heard little response from the fossil fuel industry or ideological climate deniers as the East Coast reeled in an air quality emergency. Reality has a way of dominating ideology, and the air over New York City cannot deny it. But it can be forgotten. New Yorkers were unable to stop or extinguish the fires, so once the smoke cleared, efforts were made to return to normal life. By the end of last week, the air quality had returned to normal, and while the fires in Canada continued, smoke had not engulfed the northeastern United States. The impacts of extreme weather continue to grow, as does the need to adapt to climate change. While our ability to adapt is limited, our short-term response must remain adaptive, as our long-term efforts are aimed at mitigating climate change.
As far as forest fires are concerned, we need to strengthen forest management efforts, including controlled burns and other fire risk reduction measures. We also need to dedicate resources to forest fire suppression and other emergency response. We need to send more firefighters to Canada, as Senator Schumer is advocating now. Cities like New York need to take steps to reduce the risk of public exposure to harmful atmospheric conditions. In the long run, we need to better understand the reality of a warming planet in which we live. We need to slow global warming and recognize its reality. We live in an age where facts are called into question and science is called into question.but A coughing orange sky can turn skeptics into believers. This fire, smoke and danger; melting ice caps will cause flooding. Noah’s rainbow promised an end to flooding and “next time fire.” Endless climate change sets us both on fire with droughts and floods with rising sea levels. We face a biblical crisis.
