I listened to this interview on the radio yesterday. At WBUR in Boston Here and Now radio host Jeremy Hobson interviewed Gary Ferguson, award-winning author of Land On Fire: The New Reality of Wildfire in the West.
Ferguson confirmed what seems like an obvious trend, that we are experiencing more and more wildfires than in years before, saying, "Human-caused climate change is probably responsible for doubling the number of acres burned since 1985. So it's a very, very fast change, and it looks like from all the evidence out there that this is just simply going to be worse before it gets better." Thirty years. That is a big difference in a short amount of time. There are of course other factors that exacerbate wildfires and the problems we experience because of them. There is mismanaged fire suppression, and there are the increasing number of people choosing to live in and around forest and wildland areas. But it is things like this that really bring home what climate change is doing to our world and how important it is to reduce emissions. Climate change is not just a few warmer days in summer and snow melting earlier in springtime. Climate change more wildfires and more property damage from those fires. That is why it is important to lower emissions right now in any way we can. I'll be writing about other effects of climate change in future blogs. What are some things that are being affected by climate change that concern you? Please leave your comments below.
0 Comments
I wish I heard more stories like this. Locally, outlets of the Starbuck's coffee chain have implemented a food recovery program. Every night, refrigerated trucks make the rounds of Starbuck's picking up soon-to-be expired foods. The food is inspected for spoilage, loaded up, then delivered to six different local food relief programs. It started with 30 Starbuck's and has expanded to 187.
So far, the program has distributed 320,000 pounds of Starbuck's food. The program has started to pick up food from other establishments besides Starbuck's, and there is talk of expanding the program beyond San Diego. One thing that this story omitted is that all this saved food reduces climate change. Every morsel of food has a carbon footprint; so every mushroom, barbecued chicken wing, or bean burrito that winds up in the landfill is carbon needlessly going up into the atmosphere. We are far from where we need to be on this, such as how the French have outlawed food waste at their supermarkets, but it is a great move forward. |
Archives
December 2017
CategoriesAuthorPaul Hormick is the founder of South Park Climate Solutions. He sees climate change as one of our central concerns, for ecologies as well as societies. He holds a master's degree in Environmental Science and Policy from Johns Hopkins University |