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When I started writing about climate change Robertscribbler, Robert Marston Fanny, was a go-to source for information that wasn't coming out of the mainstream.
This
has become less-and-less true until today about half of his articles
are like this, pushing electric cars and the rest of the articles are
even more conservative than a lot of what we see coming out of MSM
and always end with the mythology of reducing emissions.
This guy KNOWS what the score is.
Is he being paid or has he retreated into deep and permanent denial?
Significant Monsters: Climate Change Enhanced Wildfires Tear Widening Swath Through California
“We
are facing some pretty significant monsters,” — Cal
Fire incident commander Bret Couvea to a room of about 200
firefighters and law enforcement officials at the Sonoma County
Fairgrounds on Wednesday morning.
“Think
of the climate change issue as a closet, and behind the door are
lurking all kinds of monsters — and there’s a long list of them,”
— Steve Pacala.
*****
11
October, 2017
As
of Wednesday, the massive fires blazing across California and
concentrated in the north had
consumed over 141,000 acres,
resulted in the loss
of 17 lives,
and destroyed
more than 2,000 structures.
Approximately 50,000
people are now evacuated from the fire zones.
And about 500
individuals are reported missing.
A grim tally that is unfortunately likely to worsen as the hours and
days progress.
This
outbreak is now one of the worst fire disasters ever to strike
California. One which may break all previous records for tragic loss
of life and property when this terrible event finally winds down many
days from now and all losses are counted.
Significant
Monsters…
In
total, eight
major fires are still burning across the state.
As all but one fire remains uncontained, the area consumed continues
to expand. The seven large out of control fires presently range in
size from 7,500 to 37,000 acres each and have burned approximately
40,000 additional acres in just the past 24 hours alone. Lighter
winds and cooler weather have aided firefighting efforts. But the
sudden large scale of the fires erupting Sunday through Tuesday and
very dry and occasionally gusty conditions with no rain in sight have
produced serious challenges for firefighters.
(The
skies of northern California blanketed by smoke from massive blazes
streaming like‘liquid
fire’ across
Northern California on Tuesday, October 10. Image source: NASA
Worldview.)
As
of yet, no direct initial cause for the fires has been identified.
But the
co-location of some fires with downed power lines due
to wind gusts up to hurricane force late Sunday night have provided
one potential ignition source. Human error or malicious activity have
not yet been ruled out.
…
Fed
by Climate Change …
Regardless
of direct cause of ignition, the fires lit in vegetative growth that
sprang up after an abnormally wet winter and spring. This growth has
flash-dried over summer in a region that received 10-20 percent of
its typical moisture allotment over that period. Northern California
over recent years has experienced severe drought, extreme rains, and
during summer of 2017 flash drying of new vegetative growth. This is
a cycle of extremes consistent with human caused climate change. So
as with the major hurricanes blowing up over the ocean this year we
can definitely say that climate change has played a role in setting
conditions that enabled this event to hit a much more fierce than
usual intensity.
…
Caused
by Bad Energy and Environmental Policy Choices
Bad
choices — primarily involved with continued policies promoting
fossil fuel burning (#1), harmful agricultural practices (#2), and
deforestation (#3) have brought us to this pass. Failure to rapidly
enable a renewable energy transition and to produce policies that
promote less harmful consumption and more sustainable land use will
result in an ever-increasing tempo of extreme events.
We
see this high tempo now in events that bear the names Harvey, Irma,
Maria, California fires and so, so many more over the past few years.
Let us hope and pray that it relents enough to give us the space to
make the right choices for ourselves, the life supports of our
planet, and our children.
RELATED
STATEMENTS AND INFORMATION:
California should expect more deadly fires and drought. Here's why: on.forbes.com/60148fITj
A
recent climate study found that warming oceans have weakened the
southwestern monsoon generating a prevalence for droughts and
wildfires in the region. This is a direct result of human-caused
climate change:
Links:
Hat
tip to Eleggua
Hat
tip to Genomik
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