Recover. Regroup. Take Action.
I think it’s safe to say that many of us are feeling a bit worse for the wear these days. Here in the US, we’ve been living with the novel coronavirus for more than six months now, and there’s no clear end in sight. As if a global pandemic weren’t enough, in the past few weeks we’ve been experiencing what it means to live in a climate-changed world.
Just yesterday, Hurricane Laura hit Gulf Coast communities as a Category 4 storm, leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. The full human and economic toll of the hurricane will likely emerge over the coming days and weeks as rescue and recovery efforts begin. Meanwhile, on the West Coast, hundreds of wildfires are burning across California. In the San Francisco Bay Area, where the Journal is based, two of the three biggest recorded wildfires in the state’s history are still burning. At least seven people have died, tens of thousands have been evacuated, and millions have contended with unhealthy air. Colorado, too, is up in flames — between the two states, much of the West has been blanketed in smoke.
Unfortunately, as Journal Editor Maureen Nandini Mitra writes, the worst is probably yet to come. After all, “hurricane season on the East Coast and the wildfire season on the West Coast are actually expected to hit their peaks a few weeks from now,” she points out.
Extreme weather events are likely to become even more intense in coming years. That is if we don’t take action. Climate scientists say we still have a window of opportunity to avoid worst-case warming scenarios. But that window is rapidly closing. As we recover from recent events and move through the remainder of hurricane and wildfire season, perhaps we can make the best of a heartbreaking situation by recommitting to the climate fight with the urgency it demands.
Zoe Loftus-Farren
Managing Editor, Earth Island Journal
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