Climate
Some Things I Remember About the Cedar Fire
That time it was the biggest fire in California history. That time the guy stood in the popcorn room of the refugee hotel. (In October 2003, we were still called refugees.) That stunned look on his face I already knew too well. That awkward elbow-out way he held the phone at his ear because we still thought you had to hold your cell phone to your head. What he said: “My house is gone, my folks’ house in San Bernardino is gone, I can’t get them on the phone, I’m done with southern California, that’s it, it’s over.” What my friend’s voice shouted from my phone: “Mom’s great-uncle is in San Bernardino. We can’t find out if he’s alive or dead. You’re closer, you can get through, can you please call him, he’s blind, he just made a hundred.” Yes, two fires at the same time. More than two, come to that. But the Cedar Fire and whatever they called the one in San Berdoo are the only two I remember now. At this hotel, the refugees were allowed to bring their pets. Most were floof dogs, big-eyed and curious and a little hushed as they looked up and down the check-in line. One woman held an Amazon parrot. You couldn’t go outside because of the smoke. But everyone spilled out of the popcorn room with their plastic cups of complimentary wine because the popcorn room was too confining, too red and yellow, too bright somehow. And also it felt rude to sit there while this guy called everyone he knew who still had service. So into the lobby and across to the lounge where there was a seventies-style glass patio door overlooking the famous pool. It had a heavy plastic cover on it. The guy was stuck on repeat, something I’d noticed before from victims of shock: “I didn’t even have time to get my wallet. My house is gone, my folks’ house in San Bernardino is gone, I can’t get them on the phone.” A woman somehow out there in a jogging costume. Ponytail jaunty. A pink sweatband. Pink sweat shorts. White running shoes. She thought she was doing something healthy. The look on the man’s face before he went out too: “Somebody has to tell her to get inside.” The way he pulled his shirt up high to cover his nose and mouth. All the times a robot voice picked up when I called the great-uncle: “That number is not in service.” Eyes dazed, phone out of battery, the guy told me the same story in the same words: “My house is gone, my folks’ house…” Had I repeated myself like this when my little house was crushed under 20,000 pounds of red pin oak? I must have. The sense of looking in a mirror was too strong. That time a few weeks later when I read they had more fire trucks in low-income New Orleans than wealthy San Diego. There was public corruption somehow somewhere. There would be an investigation. Although maybe it was Orleans Parish that was corrupt, and somebody was putting relatives in all those jobs. Who remembers that part now? I don’t. That time later yet in the open-air bar near Villa Tunari, Bolivia. Wet and green and who knows how many thousand miles away. Here I sat, drinking wine with the old frenemy who still lived in San Diego after all that. Well, I was drinking it. He said Bolivian wine was undrinkable, and anyway he didn’t need to drink to share his endless yarns about the endless fires, and finally I said, “We were stuck downtown during the Cedar Fire,” and he paused for a beat, and then he said, “Hmm. The Cedar Fire? I don’t remember that one.” By then, there had been too many. It was October 2009.
By Amethyst Qu4 years ago in Earth
Climate Change Has Become A Serious Concern For Humanity
Some Basic Facts About Climate Change Climate change encompasses both human-caused global warming and its long-term effects on weather patterns. Climate change has occurred in the past, but the current changes are more rapid than any known event in Earth’s history. The main contributor is the release of greenhouse gases, primarily methane and carbon dioxide. The majority of these emissions are caused by the use of fossil fuels for energy.
By SA News Channel4 years ago in Earth
The End of The World: The five best films about the climate apocalypse
The new sustainable development trend (ESG agenda) opened the world to concepts such as organic and ecological goods. Large companies are modernizing their production to reduce their environmental impact. The interests of travelers also change. Tourists began to choose places that support the principles of sustainable development. The film industry is not lagging behind these spheres. Their work is carried out in several directions.
By JOHN ANDERSON4 years ago in Earth
Too Late. Top Story - October 2021.
Today I walked down 3rd Avenue--the street I grew up on and walked hundreds of times all those years ago. I thought about those walks home from school every day: watching and listening to birds fluttering through the canopies of trees above; looking to my right to see the big beautiful Rocky Mountains full of majesty and life; and taking in the clean, fresh air underneath the beautiful, clear, blue sky. But this time, it was different.
By Lindsay Johnson4 years ago in Earth
How The Climate Crisis Has Improved My Mental Health. Top Story - October 2021.
I’ve always tried to see the big picture. But climate collapse? Wow, that’s really put things in perspective. I’ve been an environmental activist and journalist for more than 30 years, but even I have been surprised at the speed at which our planet has succumbed to the greed and excesses of humans.
By Mark Campbell4 years ago in Earth
The climate is changing, why aren’t we?
According to a recent UN report, we can avoid the negative effects of climate change by reducing temperatures to 1.5 degrees Celsius. If the US fails to meet the target of Paris, there is a strong case for climate change: the whole temperature includes the cost of dollars and the lives of the country.
By Tsunami Karki4 years ago in Earth
Impact of Parish Climate Agreement on environment
As indicated by a group of elite environment researchers, the world's biggest carbon makers will keep on expanding their emanations if nations neglect to meet their commitments. Their report, Reality with regards to the Paris Arrangement - Promise, cautions that the inability to diminish contamination will cost the world, at any rate, $ 2 billion every day in monetary misfortunes from environmental change-driven occasions by 2030.
By Shreya Poudel4 years ago in Earth
Climate Change Adaptation and Agriculture
Background: Climate Change (CC) is the among the most important global environment concerns. CC is having significant impacts on the most vulnerable communities. Considering characteristics, agriculture can be considered as one of the most affected sector and thus most vulnerable to climate change. Susceptibility and sensitivity of agriculture to the variance of the climatic parameters is responsible for the fact. Agriculture having the significant contributor in national GDP, translates the susceptibility of national economy and growth to climate change. In context of India the GDPs 60% share is agriculture and approximately 60% population's livelihood is depends on farming co emphasizing the need of resilient systems and strategies for agriculture sector and farming community. In which semi-arid regions are considered particularly most vulnerable to climate change. Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation Supported Development Alternatives, a Civil Society Organization, active in Bundelkhand Region of Central India for taking up actions and influence policy to address the climate vulnerability of the region and its impact on livelihhods.
By Tyler Milton4 years ago in Earth
Season-ending injury
Jacques Cousteau once said “Water and air, two essential elements on which all life depends, have become global garbage cans” Can we reverse all the damage that humans have done to this wrongfully called Planet earth? Let’s dig a bit deeper and see if we can find a simple answer to this difficult question.
By Giovanni Profeta4 years ago in Earth
