For those who care to check the news, climate change is already having major impacts on our planet. Rising oceans and warming seas threaten coastal communities, fuel major hurricanes and feed strong thunderstorms with tropical moisture, producing catastrophic floods. Prolonged drought and intense heat have set forests ablaze across the globe and have greatly diminished the mountain snowpack, especially across the American West.
Of interest, the Southwest Monsoon began early this year and has been especially potent, dumping torrential rain across naturally dry country; this leads to flash floods, especially in burn scar areas. One wonders if this pattern will continue (or even be enhanced) as the climate warms; if so, the Desert Southwest could gradually become a landscape of semiarid ecosystems.
Indeed, we do not yet fully understand the varied ramifications of climate change. No doubt, human civilization will be severely tested in many ways. It is time that we take it seriously and reject those politicians and corporate leaders who do not.
