“We wouldn’t be seeing this giant ramp up in fire activity as fast as it is happening without climate change. There’s just no way.” ~  Park Williams, climate scientist at UCLA. (New York Times)

“It has been a dramatic presentation of a natural disaster this week. So many people saw firsthand the increasing risks that climate change poses. How long that persists and how it translates into action, I think, is up to all of us.” ~ Dr. Gaurab Basu,  PCP and health equity fellow at the Harvard Chan Center for Climate, Health and the Global Environment (Washington Post)

“Fire is coming, and it’s going to get worse. We need to be better prepared for it.” ~ Dr. Kira Hoffman, Fire Ecologist, British Columbia, Canada (BBC)

It is difficult for many Americans to concentrate on the practice of proper etiquette and the daily issues of life with winds, rain and flooding sweeping away homes, cars, pets and even people, and record-breaking heat disrupting routines, not to mention threatening lives.

But with the recent Canadian wildfires drifting over U.S. cities and suburbs recently, even Americans who haven’t experienced life-changing weather disasters might be coming to realize the reality of climate change. School activities were disrupted, employees relocated to WFH, outdoor workers suffered, airports closed and many other outdoor activities were suspended.

In that spirit, I offer the following parody:

Smoke Gets In Our Eyes

 by Yours Truly, based on the beautiful Smoke Gets In Your Eyes

They asked me how I knew, climate change was true
Oh-oh-oh-oh, I, of course, replied
What the science shows cannot be denied
Do-do-do-do Do-do-do-do  Do-do-do-do Wha-a-a-a

As we will sometimes find, those who doubt are blind
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, but when our land’s on fire
We must realize, smoke gets in our eyes.

We can’t say the storms and floods are flukes 
We know there is something wrong
Shockingly, some homes have blown away
Folks are without their homes (without their homes)

So, we should not deride truths we cannot hide  
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh, so we now can see 
When wildfires light the skies
Smoke gets in our eyes. (Smoke gets in our eyes. Smoke gets in our eyes.)

Smoke. Gets. In. Our. Eyes!

Some Americans are relocating in the hope of finding better and safer weather conditions; increasingly, though, nowhere in the U.S. is completely safe from weather disasters. But, as mentioned, nearly every part of the U.S. is being affected by extreme weather, with parts of the country variously experiencing the hottest temperatures ever recorded, others struggling with extreme rainfall and flooding and fighting to survive tornadoes and other weather calamities, costing the government and citizens billions of dollars.

We know this is all caused by climate change because science looks at the rate of increase of incidents and events as a red flag.  According to Forbes, “From severe storms to tornadoes, natural disaster statistics reveal that disasters are occurring more frequently and with greater intensity.” We have known about the problem of climate change since the mid-1800s when evidence of human activity was cited as stepping up the rate of climate shifts faster than at any other time in history. In our modern era, we’ve been aware of the threat of climate change since the 1970s; and we have largely ignored the warnings. And here we are, a half-century later dealing with the consequences.  (And, by the way, the same science applies to the rate of extinction of species, including the threats to our own human species, despite our exploding population — or because of it.)

And, yet, too many are choosing to believe that the scorching heat, wildfires and choking smoke as well as the catastrophic flooding and winds are all normal weather fluctuations; they are not. And we are coming to value even more those dwindling weekends of perfect weather, such as the one my part of the country is enjoying right now. But if we don’t act, those perfect weekends might disappear. Is that what we want to leave our children and grandchildren?!

So, what do we do? We step up our commitment to do what environmentalists have been urging us to do for decades to protect our planet, and do them on a regular basis, all of us pulling together. Go here for some ideas!

Most of all…we need to take the smoke out of our eyes in more ways than one.

Until next time,

Jeanne