"From sea to shining sea ..." America the Beautiful tugs at the hearts of all patriots …
At this time, America the Beautiful is facing a painful reality of being flooded, scorched, and threatened from 'sea to shining sea' by climate catastrophes.
Something that all these events share ... climate signals, signs (with scientific basis) that human-driven climate change is exacerbating the situation.
Climate catastrophes are happening not just From Sea to Shining Sea but across all the seas -- massive flooding in South Asia (with thousands dead and millions displaced), mudslides in West Africa, drought in Italy and massive fires in Portugal, record low-levels of Arctic ice, melting Greenland, ...
All too often, commentators will argue that "we must act now to avoid catastrophe ..." Looking at flooded Houston and burning Los Angeles, it is far past time to face reality: we are already in catastrophe and feeling catastrophic impacts. (Consider what you might have thought would be 'catastrophe' in terms of climate impacts decades ago ..) Across the globe, human-driven climate change (AGW) is exacerbating, accelerating, worsening, amplifying weather events to make hard situations into horrible. And, the situation will get worse -- no matter what -- due to latent impacts (the time delay) from the pollution we've already pumped into the atmosphere.
What we -- humanity -- does have is a choice to act to reduce just how catastrophic those events and the future situation(s) will be, to reduce the risks of total calamity for human society.
Even as the occupant of the Oval Office declares climate change a "Chinese Hoax" and fills the US government with climate science deniers, reality is reality ...
As to reality
While it is far past time to #ActOnClimate,
It is time to #ActOnClimate.
Monday, Sep 4, 2017 · 11:08:56 PM +00:00
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A Siegel
See Elfing's comment is worth (painful) reading:
What is extraordinary is the temperatures we saw in California on Friday and Saturday. Holy cats. There were areas in the coast range that were hotter than Death Valley. I saw a temp of 111 reported in San Francisco city proper, 118 in the Santa Cruz mountains, and 118 in Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, near the lake in Napa County. Temperatures were in the 80s right on the ocean but were hitting 100 even a couple of blocks inland on the Mendocino coast.