There are currently fires raging all along the west coast, in California, Oregon, and Washington.
Acres of wildland are being destroyed, thousands of people have had to evacuate their homes, and a number of people have died. At least one fire was set by a gender reveal party, of all cursed things, but many of the wildfires were triggered by heatwaves.
These heatwaves are a part of the increasing number of climate disasters hitting new regions every year as global warming heats the planet.
When you’re not caught in a flood, storm, or fire, it’s easy enough to not think about what’s happening. But the photos coming from people in Oregon and Northern California are impossible to forget. The smoke and ash in the air have created a bizarre filter over the landscape, turning the sky orange and bright read in places:
The Bidwell Bar Bridge in Oroville, California — last year and today.
(Photo by Noah Berger/AP) pic.twitter.com/6PcTUQj2s6
— John McMurtrie (@McMurtrieSF) September 9, 2020
It is not lost on the ordinary population that there are people making money off of climate destruction, oil and gas companies, fracking companies, and basically anyone who makes money from burning up fossil fuels and suppressing clean energy development:
A few dozen people did this to the planet so they could make a billion dollars https://t.co/FnlQvO1qaV
— Eva ”Bread Baker Girlfriend” (@ayyy_vuh) September 10, 2020
And politicians are complicit in these destructive decisions. Donald Trump is openly contemptuous of clean energy and protecting the planet, pulling the U.S. out of the Paris Accords. Barack Obama is willing to say there’s a problem now, but he had a hand in increasing emissions and protecting corporations during his presidency:
This you? https://t.co/QQNKNyxFoR pic.twitter.com/TmgQR0SFip
— Dwayne David Paul (@DwayneDavidPaul) September 10, 2020
The U.S. is a capitalist society, which means a few people at the top extract as much as possible from the planet and the populace and leave the devastation of their greed for the rest of us to deal with. Right now, the skies are signaling the oncoming apocalypse:
tbf it doesn’t “look” apocalyptic. it actually is apocalyptic. like, its happening. why cant we experience our reality?
?? https://t.co/zhQRGe4KJv— Annabel (@nan0bel) September 9, 2020
Imagine showing this tweet to yourself a year ago and explaining “oh no, the masks aren’t because the sky is orange, that’s for a different thing.” https://t.co/nnqoOBk3uM
— Meredith Haggerty (@manymanywords) September 9, 2020
It’s noon in San Francisco. pic.twitter.com/id1qZ7rfr3
— Jared Petty (@pettycommajared) September 9, 2020
California skies. A month until my due date and my world is red. from r/pics
It is LITERALLY Blade Runner 2049 in California right now. pic.twitter.com/FAggbTQeNB
— Kevin L. Lee (@Klee_FilmReview) September 9, 2020
View from the top of Oregon’s State Capital building in Salem.
These are not “wild fires.”
These are CLIMATE FIRES.
It’s time we start using the correct words. #OregonFires2020 #OregonFires pic.twitter.com/YZ0Gfg8Cm2— George Bailey Smith (@GeorgeBaileyDog) September 10, 2020
These pictures cry out for change. CA has invested more in wildfire prevention than any time in our history. Enacted bold climate policies. But it’s not enough.
We must do more. We need action at EVERY level. CA cannot do this alone.
Climate change is REAL.
So please — VOTE. pic.twitter.com/ev6jd0Adky
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) September 10, 2020
I took this at 10:43 this morning.. pic.twitter.com/reP4ZCwMhr
— Tyrel Blake (@tjbovr) September 9, 2020
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Voting might be a start, but a lot more will need to change than the president to save us all from permanent climate destruction.