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We’ve glimpsing the Climate Crisis future, in the last few weeks of fire storms across the West.
That future is not kind. That future is not forgiving. That future is not bearable.
Unless we step up and make the structural changes to become carbon-neutral, like ours lives depended upon it. Because they do …
“California folks, is America fast-forward. What were experience right here is coming to a community, all across the United States of America -- unless we get our act together on Climate Change. Unless we disabuse ourselves of all the BS that is being spewed by a very small group of people, that have an ideological reason to advance the cause of a 19th framework and solution. We’re not going back to the 19th century.”
— CA Gov. Gavin Newsom, on the site of the North Complex Fire on Sept. 11, 2020
[from last video in this post]
NBC Nightly News — Sept. 11, 2020
Video description:
As firefighters battle dozens of deadly wildfires across California, Governor Gavin
Newsom warns that climate change is a fundamental part of the crisis. Fires along the West Coast have destroyed towns and forced tens of thousands of evacuations.
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by Sophia Bollag and Dale Kasler, Sacramento Bee -- 09/11/2020 [with Video, which has been annotated and posted to YouTube, embedded below.]
“We’re in the midst of a climate emergency,” Newsom said. “We’re experiencing what so many people predicted decades ago... I’m exhausted that we have to continue to debate this issue.”
[...]
For his part, Newsom says California is going to be “aggressive” in meeting its carbon reduction targets ahead of schedule.
California already has an official goal signed into law by Gov. Jerry Brown in 2018 to phase out all fossil fuel-generated electricity by 2045. But Newsom said the fires burning across the West Coast show that benchmark, along with the state’s other climate change reduction targets, aren’t enough.
“I think 2045’s too late,” Newsom said. “We’re looking to fast track all of these efforts, across the spectrum.”
We say this often, and I'll say it again:
The 'hots' are getting a lot hotter.
The 'dries' are getting a lot drier.
The 'wets' are getting a lot wetter.
That's Climate Change. That's what the scientists predicted.
That's the reality that were experiencing here, in the state of California. We have to own that reality, and we have to own a response to that reality.
And one thing that is crystal clear to me, is that 'Good enough' never is.
And in California, while its led as it relates to Climate Change, we've got to step up our game. While it's nice to have goals, to get to 100% Clean Energy by 2045 -- that's inadequate.
Our goals are inadequate to the reality we're experiencing.
Mother Nature is 3 things, it's been said by many people:
Mother Nature is physics, biology, and chemistry. She bats last, and she bats 'a thousand'.
That's the reality we're facing. The smash-mouth reality. This 'perfect storm' ...
The Debate is over! ... around Climate Change, just come to the state of California. Observe it with your own eyes.
It's not an intellectual debate. It's not even 'debatable' any longer -- what we are experiencing: Extreme droughts, the extreme atmospheric rivers, the extreme heat.
In the last few weeks alone, we've experience the hottest August in California history. We had over 14,000 dry lightning strikes over a 3-day period. We're experiencing temperatures, world-record breaking temperatures, in state of California -- 130 degrees.
Arguably the hottest recorded temperature in the history of mankind! ... we had 121 degree temperatures in LA County; Burbank Airport 114 degrees. It was 103 degree at 3 in the morning.
14,600 Firefighters currently battling those wildfires. Two Billion dollars, just to clean up the debris.
The economic consequences of our neglect ...
Governor Newsom goes on to list several concrete steps for combating this Climate Crisis, this Climate Emergency. This stark preview of our ‘future reality’ — if nothing changes in the “status quo.”
Climate Change is here, now. This is our wake up call, yet again.
This is our future “fast forwarded” … made plain for all to see.
The economic consequences of our neglect … [continued ...]
You want to know the cheapest way to deal with this?
It's to invest -- in the future.
To invest -- in a low-carbon green-growth future.
To de-carbonize our economy.
To change the way we produce and consume energy.
It IS the cheapest way to go.
And by the way California is doing that.
5 to 1 we have more green jobs, than we have fossil fuels jobs.
We're proving this paradigm.
To can grow your economy -- 3.8% average GDP growth in the last 5 years, in the state of California -- AS WE MOVE to accelerate the de-carbonization of our economy.
But again, it's not enough.
So as the rest of the nation moves in one direction, we are moving in a more enlightened direction. When I say "we" ...
That's 24 states, plus state of California.
People that want to roll-back Vehicle-emission standards, so you can spend more money at the pump, and produce more greenhouse gases, to create more of what you see around me !?
-- that's beyond the pale of comprehension.
We're fighting against that.
And we'll prevail. As long as more people come to this cause.
[...]
I'm very proud of California's leadership, in the absence of national leadership. And I recognize our responsibility, again to accelerate those efforts.
So the August fire in the state is the largest in California history. It currently is at 24% containment. That August complex is 747 thousand acres. Just that 1 complex of fires. ...
Again something we've never seen in our lifetimes.
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And so the people still in denial -- and they're leading the charge of keep you protected, of keeping you healthy and safe. And they're in denial about Climate Change?
They're not truly, I think, positioned to be the kind of leaders we need -- for your community, the state, and our nation into the future.
This is THAT serious. And it requires a seriousness of purpose; a seriousness of understanding; a seriousness of conscienceness -- around Science and Mother Nature.
And the realities of the world, that we're living in.
So, I just wanted to conclude with that.
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These wind-driven events … are not a respecter of our artificial municipal boundaries.
The fallout from these fire-storms, for those lucky enough — not to be in their direct path — can be very hazardous to your health and quality of life.
aqicn.org
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We were warned …
But it’s so much easier … just to wait, and see what happens next. It’s not like anyone could have known, this would happen.