Fires in the San Francisco Bay Area

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I was born and raised in San Francisco, and I’m pretty sad to hear about the “not-so-wild fires” there that have killed over 20 people and devastated communities as well as the famous “Wine Country.” Although the fires were started by accident, they have spread so far, so fast, due to the presence of fire-fuel in all the hills that surround many towns in the area. That fuel is there because 5 years of drought followed by an intense rain followed by a VERY HOT summer has left lots of hot, dry grass and trees to burn, and it is.

Sadly, these fires — like the hurricanes that have wrecked many places and killed many people in the Caribbean and US Gulf Coast — are entirely consistent with the “increased variation in weather” predicted to result from climate change.

I’ve been working hard to bring the potential impacts of climate change (and need to adapt to survive those impacts) to people’s attention via my project Life plus 2 meters, but it’s kinda weird that the world is having disasters faster than we can publish “visions” (climate fiction) of what’s possible. I’m starting to think that some of the more far-fetched chapters in the book (there are many authors) may end up coming true.

Bottom Line: Read the chapters, or read the newspaper, but above all: prepare yourself, your family and community for climate change.