Friday, January 12, 2018

Climate change in the backyard




On Tuesday morning, half an inch of water fell in nearby Montecito — half an inch in five minutes. Even in the best of conditions, this pace could cause flooding. But it wasn’t the best of conditions. Last month, we endured the largest wildfire in California history...

Records, by their nature, are not meant to be set annually. And yet that’s what is happening. The costliest year for natural disasters in the United States was 2017. One of the longest and most severe droughts in California history concluded for most parts of the state in 2017. The five warmest years on record have all occurred since 2006, with 2017 expected to be one of the warmest yet again...

For a long time, we assumed that climate policy was stalled because it was a problem for the future. Or it would affect other people. Poorer people. Animals. Ecosystems. We assumed those parts of the world were separate from us. That we were somehow insulated. I didn’t expect to see it in my own backyard so soon...

See also John McPhee: "Los Angeles Against the Mountains"

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3 Comments:

At 6:02 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I guess this means bad roads and pot holes in SF is caused by climate change. All this time I was blaming the SFMTA

 
At 10:03 PM, Blogger Rob Anderson said...

You would think a pro-bike city would be more concerned about potholes, since they can be a serious safety problem for cyclists. But recall that this is the same City Hall that couldn't even count the cycling accidents that happen on city streets. It's A bad mix---an anti-car, pro-bike policy by a government too incompetent to carry it out properly.

 
At 2:57 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Agreed!

 

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