We evacuated four days ago. We live in Mandeville Canyon on a small side road
The fire seems , from an update fifteen minute s ago to have attacked the very north of Westridge rd which is in the western flank of Mandeville canyon
Six of my painters friends lostt their house in Pacific Palisades, and they are not billionaires, just normal families who have lived there for like forty or fifty years.
Firemen and aviators are incredible of courage
I think this is magnified by climate change but the fact is that south California was desertic and as such a very dry place
I heard that, Flo. 😩 Please keep us updated on your well-being and others. Here in No. Cal where we have had our fair share of wildfires. Have donated what I can and will do more. We all need each other and now is not the time for any CA politicians to quibble with each other. Thank goodness Newsom is cutting through all sorts of red-tape so people can rebuild without all the normal BS that’s usually involved! My best to you. 💜
Marlene you are so sweet. Things look good for our side as we might have access later this week. My neighbors and I feel shame when we think of all the others. We live in a small street and we all know and help each others.
My husband is in Nepal for a few months. Have you heard about the terrible earthquake in Tibet, just across the border from Nepal? He wants to move back to Nepal. I think it's a very bad idea. The earthquake of 2015 killed 9,000 people and destroyed hundreds of villages. Thousands of people have never been able to return, and live unprotected in the streets of Kathmandu. (That's why my husband is over there. He's doing his biennial distribution of rice to the homeless in the streets. We used enough of our retirement that year to buy two tons of rice. This year, thanks to donations by our dearest friends, it will be three tons.)
Wow, kdsherpa. You two are phenomenol. Thank you. There was a very bad earthquake in Kashmir a few years ago, too, that people paid little attention to. My ex-husband's family is there. He organized a social media help group to collect money. This is how the world must proceed now, in kindness and sheer help.
P.S. Not phenomenal. Just trying to give back one grain of the spiritual gifts which various Teachers of Tibetan Buddhism have given to me over the past 35 years.
Don't forget, though, the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 and destroyed most of it. We are now required to call the Tibetan language "West Chinese" by the Chinese brainwashers.
Yes, the Chinese military killed 87,000 monks and nuns, and destroyed 6,000 monasteries and nunneries. In years past, I met Tulkus and Rinpoches who were there during the invasion, including on Rinpoche who is beyond my comprehension at how he handled 20 years of torture. Only 6 monasteries remain, and those are for the benefit of tourists. 1,200,000 Tibetans are said to have died as a result of the Chinese occupation. (Remind you of Gaza?) H.H. the Dalai Lama said something that I will remember till the end of my days, when asked in an interview by a Westerner, "Do you hate the Chinese?" H.H., always honest, paused and said, "Almost not. What I do is, I take in their anger, their hatred, and turn it into love and give it back to them." (That practice is the highest form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, called Tong Lin.)
Thinking we can find a residency in a safe place is equivalent to how we used to say, "Just throw it away". There is no "AWAY" and there is no "safe from climate warming better place to live". We are all connected/ Mother Nature is fighting back,. life changes are here and now.
With every passing year, I’m that much more glad I never relocated from southeast Michigan. Yes, the winters suck, but climate change has made them suck less than they used to.
The only place I’d seriously consider moving to is Canada, but they’re restricting U.S. immigrants. I certainly don’t blame them.
the winters are not that long or cold anymore and so far the rare tornado has not made it that dangerous. Expert modeling suggests that MI and Upper Midwest as well as upstate NY likely to be the "best" places to be as the climate now is in a positive feedback loop, or so it appears. Family in CA and BC are seeing annual "once in a century" climate events now.
It's so strange... I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and well remember walking to school in 20 below zero temperatures. That the temperatures are more livable is amazing! Well, I guess that's climate change.
I spent last winter in Detroit and was astounded at how warm it was. I remember solid snow all winter long from yearly visits to see family fifty years ago.
Yes, we have been saving all last year to move from the suburbs of New Orleans We have two reasons for moving. First is the climate crisis. Secondly, although New Orleans is Democratic, the suburbs are deep red. I am so tired of not having real representation in my senators & representatives. There are only two other Democrats on my entire block. I long to live among people who share my views.
I was born in California. Raised mostly in California, and even though I have traveled some, I always come back to California. I don’t care if there are earthquakes, fires, floods… I cannot think of any other place I would rather live. Not just for the culture and weather. Not just for the people. And not just for the blue. Well maybe for the blue. I love California. One more thing! I love Gavin Newsom. There. I’m done. I think.
I live in upstate NY as well. We have experienced the same weather pattern here. I, too, am a gardener and enjoy the warmer weather. However, I really miss the snow. By March, I'm ready for spring, but I do like the magic of a fresh snowfall.
I just came back from Western North Carolina where I was visiting in-laws who live there. There had been a huge migration from places like Florida, the North Carolina coast, etc. of people who were escaping hurricanes, etc. That area of the country was considered disaster-proof. As it turned out, not even this safe haven is safe from climate changed-driven disaster. And like we're seeing in Los Angeles now, they were not immune from the scourge of MAGA misinformation about recovery efforts. Several of my in-laws are first responders & healthcare workers & they are furious about the misinformation that ultimately hampers their efforts to help those in need. This is all a long way of saying, there's no place in this country where you're immune to climate change-driven disaster.
Tony I live in Charlotte NC and one reason we moved here from Los Angeles is that we are only 2 hours from Asheville. What happened there could happen anywhere including Charlotte. And still I have many friends who are climate deniers. I’m afraid the small towns in Western NC will take years to recover and it’s unfair to those who love those mountains.
I grew up in Austin, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, when escaping the 100-degree heat meant spending a week or 2 in Colorado in August. I hate heat and relished the time in Colorado.
I went to grad school in Santa Barbara. Heat was rare there at the time, but I became homeless in the 1990 fire, driving all my possessions and my cat from shady spot to shady spot on a 108-degree day hundreds of houses burned, including the one where I was renting a room.
Fast forward to 2015, when 100-degree highs for months in summer in Austin are common. I moved from Austin to Altadena, CA. Although I loved the neighborhood, and met my wife there, it was also too hot, nestled up by the mountains far from the ocean. And the pollution (including wildfire smoke) was aggravating health issues for my spouse.
When I got the chance, I took a job in Boulder, Colorado, and we bought an off-grid cabin high in the mountains. We both work full time on climate related careers. We have clean air, cool summer weather, and are working toward a zero carbon lifestyle. But we still worry about wildfires, and were evacuated once in 2020, for a nearby wildfire that but for wind direction might have taken our cabin. We watched a city suburb below us burn 3 years ago. We have an evacuation plan and HAM licenses.
Marybeth, UK as in United Kingdom? Be very cautious about moving to the UK. This has somehow not gotten into the news, but a man more evil than Trump has recently decided to run for prime minister of the UK. His name is Andrew Tate. He is evil, evil. He states women must be considered property; he was in prison in Romania for starting a criminal gang to prostitute and traffic women; he pushes something he calls "involuntarily celibate men (incels) that must be able to choose, seize, and rape any woman they please, so as to relieve their involuntary celibacy, which uppish women have pushed on them. Please, substack people, let others know about this impending horror as the globe (not just the USA) crumble. Putin forced ignorant Britishers to exit the European Union not long ago to further his goals of weakening and eliminating NATO; his troll farms helped push Trump into the presidency; I have no doubt he can get Andrew Tate in as prime minister of Britain. Tate's candidacy needs to get broader attention. At least let's know what's happening, regardless of whether we can stop it. And old article from The Hill here: https://thehill.com/homenews/4098441-political-right-redefines-traditionalism-andrew-tate/. Also a link to Tucker Carlson interviewing tate, although I haven't checked it since I don't have the stomach to listen to it. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iuYA43CM57441Pp1HMHtw
he seems to be coming around to it--he talks about how climate change is affecting the Arctic and Greenland and now he covets all the natural resources and possible shipping routes climate change might create.
Trump is saying that about climate change because Musk knows its true and Musk wants newly created northern shipping lanes for his teslas and newly unfrozen lands for his maniacal data mining profit-grabbing corporations.
We moved from Florida to the northeast last year. The triple threat of toxic politics, a disastrous insurance market and hurricanes that go from cat 1 to cat 5 at ominous rates drove our decision. Climate change and its effects are well documented at this point. We felt like we were catching the last flight out of Saigon. Sadly, selling a house in a vulnerable place will not go well for those that don’t act promptly.
Steven, trenchant analysis, as usual, but please talk to those, like me, who don’t have the means to move. Do we become wandering refugees fleeing the Dust Bowl? (Time to revisit “The Grapes of Wrath” - book or movie?) Prepare an emergency go-bag? Put on a brave face?
If we have a Grapes of Wrath exodus, maybe we can also have an Underground Railroad of kind people across the nation who will feed and shelter refugee people making their way to a new life. We have to find positive models for the New America we will need to build as Trump kills the Old America dead.
Looking forward to the past? Yes, we have endured terrible times—the Dust Bowls, the Great Depression, the strangely surviving Confederacy, polio, so much more. But as an old man that’s just not reassuring … for me, if not for the rest of us.
Yes. We'd already planned to "retire" back to the Great Lakes area some years ago. It's still the best climate haven in the US. As a Master Gardener, I've watched the bloom times of some plants shift months away from normal. The people born here in the South don't recognize this ever happening either.
Where I live we can eventually expect water shortages, and our political environment is unprepared to deal with that. This city keeps growing, and at some point it will be unsustainable. The Plantation Mentality here makes us want to move even sooner. It's always been here, but never this openly corrupt and hateful. We prefer to live in a state that respects our family members. This state government respects none of us. We're done, and getting out before water and traffic kills this place. Our daughter and her husband already moved. One thing about the Great Lakes basin is no one's ever running out of water.
I feel so bad for all the folks impacted in SoCal. As I commented above, we were burned out in Colorado. I can say that after all the work and sadness, my wife and I are in a good place. It’s different though, because we didn’t grow up here - it was our retirement destination. For those that grew up in Pac Palisades or similar, and seeing your whole world destroyed is much, much harder. I’m so sad for all of these folks. They face years of rebuilding, and into something not like what it was before. We have areas in CO where the burn was so hot that the ground was effectively sterilized so nothing will grow.
I talk about climate change when I can with people and recommend books like The Uninhabitable Earth and others, because I think we should all be aware of what’s coming. In my opinion, there is no turning away from fossil fuels in any kind of timeframe that will really help. Just look around and see how much of the world economy is FF based - it’s in everything we consume and everything we do. And the expansionist monetary policy on which world commerce is based means there must always be growth to feed that system. It’s why you “expect” a positive return on your investments. Historically that growth has been enabled by FF extraction and consumption. Perhaps other sources of energy can supplant FF in the future and keep the engine running, but I don’t believe it will be in time to keep us from several degrees of eventual warming. The lives of our kids and grandkids are going to be much different and much harder than in the past.
One might think this would make me depressed or nihilistic, but I am happy for the lives and times we have and for those of my kids and grandkids. And it remains true that whatever we can do, whenever that happens, and to whatever extent possible, it means that days in the future will be better than they otherwise would be. So I am happy, hopeful and at the same time realistic about what the future holds. Still it is very hard to see such devastation happen and know that there is only so much we can do. My thoughts are always with those directly impacted because I know what that’s like.
John, I like your pragmatic realization that we can only do what we can do to combat climate change, but we can do that. And it's important. I think the planet is undergoing a millennium-long shift, and if we did 100% eliminate fossil fuel use, it would greatly help modify global warming, but not 100% eliminate it. Everything we can do to help Mother Earth as she undergoes her shift we should do. As humans who rely on her for our very existence, it's the least we can do in gratitude.
Not a bit, but the climate of politics prompted us to relocate to South America, not without its own issues but not issues about hate- human rights and more
We lived in So Cal from 1997-2013 and loved every minute, leaving only due to a job assignment elsewhere. Never thought I'd find any silver lining to moving back to the dreary Northeast where I was raised, but I have to admit, at least in regard to weather events, it is safer here. So worried and heartbroken for friends and family in So Cal. It's positively apocalyptic. 😞
New England 4 seasons: rain and occasional hurricanes; muggy, cold and damn cold (live there)
Mid-Atlantic: hurricanes and tidal flooding, paralyzing snow {lived there)
South East: Hurricanes; crop killing cold; now rivers of rain and flooding
Florida: hurricanes, flooding, sinkholes, and high or no homes insurance costs
Gulf coast and Texas: floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. unreliable utilities
Midwest: Hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards or dust storms
Great Lakes: Tornadoes, blizzards, winds and heavy snows
South west: dust storms, drought, heat
Rocky mountains: cold long winters, blizzards, drought
West Coast: drought, fires, earthquakes and now high cost hone insurance (live there now)
Alaska: long, bitter cold winters; high cost of living
Hawaii: high cost of living, occasional drought with fires, volcanoes
Puerto Rico: hurricanes, mostly speak spanish, poor infrastructure
Anywhere in the USA: uncertain political and economic future, democracy and free speech.
BUT I STILL PREFER IT TO MOST OTHER PLACES:
Europe: Both world wars, economically still struggling except for Germany which sadly is seeing a resurgence of fascism in some areas,
Asia and the Pacific Islands: both world wars, fi]our centuries of political struggles and wars.
Australia: 90%(?) desert. tropical heat in north, drought and fires in the south
New Zealand: weather like New England, high requirements to immigrate there.
South Pole, Greenland, most of Canada: extreme long cold winters, no or sparsely populated, cost of living could be very high in most areas, most area no or poor infrastructure.
BUT I STILL PREFER ITHE USA TO MOST OTHER PLACES:
WE, THE PEOPLE, can still stave off or survive economic and political disasters with the Democrats and TRUE Conservatives opposing MAGA, RINO, white supremacy and pseudo-christian bigotry. Do not lose HOPE, or surrender. What we had and better is worth the struggle and temporary setbacks. The USA has had the most successful government experiment with self-rule BY THE PEOPLE in human history and we can do it even better in the future.
We evacuated four days ago. We live in Mandeville Canyon on a small side road
The fire seems , from an update fifteen minute s ago to have attacked the very north of Westridge rd which is in the western flank of Mandeville canyon
Six of my painters friends lostt their house in Pacific Palisades, and they are not billionaires, just normal families who have lived there for like forty or fifty years.
Firemen and aviators are incredible of courage
I think this is magnified by climate change but the fact is that south California was desertic and as such a very dry place
Please stay safe, Flo.
Thank you Steven
The firemen and aviators … Some may have even lost a home
I heard that, Flo. 😩 Please keep us updated on your well-being and others. Here in No. Cal where we have had our fair share of wildfires. Have donated what I can and will do more. We all need each other and now is not the time for any CA politicians to quibble with each other. Thank goodness Newsom is cutting through all sorts of red-tape so people can rebuild without all the normal BS that’s usually involved! My best to you. 💜
Marlene you are so sweet. Things look good for our side as we might have access later this week. My neighbors and I feel shame when we think of all the others. We live in a small street and we all know and help each others.
Thank you..
I can only imagine how that guilt feeling is but helping one another is very important. You are doing what you can.
Prayers that you and your home will be ok. This is so horrific.
Thank you Sue !
And to everyone here who is impacted or not..
i bet on
Tibet...
...smallest egos in the world?
My husband is in Nepal for a few months. Have you heard about the terrible earthquake in Tibet, just across the border from Nepal? He wants to move back to Nepal. I think it's a very bad idea. The earthquake of 2015 killed 9,000 people and destroyed hundreds of villages. Thousands of people have never been able to return, and live unprotected in the streets of Kathmandu. (That's why my husband is over there. He's doing his biennial distribution of rice to the homeless in the streets. We used enough of our retirement that year to buy two tons of rice. This year, thanks to donations by our dearest friends, it will be three tons.)
Wow, kdsherpa. You two are phenomenol. Thank you. There was a very bad earthquake in Kashmir a few years ago, too, that people paid little attention to. My ex-husband's family is there. He organized a social media help group to collect money. This is how the world must proceed now, in kindness and sheer help.
P.S. Not phenomenal. Just trying to give back one grain of the spiritual gifts which various Teachers of Tibetan Buddhism have given to me over the past 35 years.
Don't forget, though, the Chinese invaded Tibet in 1959 and destroyed most of it. We are now required to call the Tibetan language "West Chinese" by the Chinese brainwashers.
Yes, the Chinese military killed 87,000 monks and nuns, and destroyed 6,000 monasteries and nunneries. In years past, I met Tulkus and Rinpoches who were there during the invasion, including on Rinpoche who is beyond my comprehension at how he handled 20 years of torture. Only 6 monasteries remain, and those are for the benefit of tourists. 1,200,000 Tibetans are said to have died as a result of the Chinese occupation. (Remind you of Gaza?) H.H. the Dalai Lama said something that I will remember till the end of my days, when asked in an interview by a Westerner, "Do you hate the Chinese?" H.H., always honest, paused and said, "Almost not. What I do is, I take in their anger, their hatred, and turn it into love and give it back to them." (That practice is the highest form of Tibetan Buddhist meditation, called Tong Lin.)
Let's collaborate?
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Don't Subscribe unless you want to join our Focus Group😁😁😁😁
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Very pleased and happy to live in West Virginia, where our mountains offer us some protection.
Thinking we can find a residency in a safe place is equivalent to how we used to say, "Just throw it away". There is no "AWAY" and there is no "safe from climate warming better place to live". We are all connected/ Mother Nature is fighting back,. life changes are here and now.
With every passing year, I’m that much more glad I never relocated from southeast Michigan. Yes, the winters suck, but climate change has made them suck less than they used to.
The only place I’d seriously consider moving to is Canada, but they’re restricting U.S. immigrants. I certainly don’t blame them.
the winters are not that long or cold anymore and so far the rare tornado has not made it that dangerous. Expert modeling suggests that MI and Upper Midwest as well as upstate NY likely to be the "best" places to be as the climate now is in a positive feedback loop, or so it appears. Family in CA and BC are seeing annual "once in a century" climate events now.
It's so strange... I grew up in Ann Arbor, Michigan and well remember walking to school in 20 below zero temperatures. That the temperatures are more livable is amazing! Well, I guess that's climate change.
I spent last winter in Detroit and was astounded at how warm it was. I remember solid snow all winter long from yearly visits to see family fifty years ago.
Yes, we have been saving all last year to move from the suburbs of New Orleans We have two reasons for moving. First is the climate crisis. Secondly, although New Orleans is Democratic, the suburbs are deep red. I am so tired of not having real representation in my senators & representatives. There are only two other Democrats on my entire block. I long to live among people who share my views.
Move to Cali!! It's great here. Plenty of space available outside LA for a new build.
I was born in California. Raised mostly in California, and even though I have traveled some, I always come back to California. I don’t care if there are earthquakes, fires, floods… I cannot think of any other place I would rather live. Not just for the culture and weather. Not just for the people. And not just for the blue. Well maybe for the blue. I love California. One more thing! I love Gavin Newsom. There. I’m done. I think.
Ditto.
Yes, you love Newsome and you're done. Truth.
I live in northern NY, 20 miles south of the Canadian border. I have lived up here for 50 years.
Our winters are warmer with less snow. Last blizzard was years ago.
Our summers are warmer and longer too.
I'm a gardener & our growing zone has gone from a 4 to 5 a.
So.
Less shoveling, more swimming and longer growing season.
I like it right where I am.
However, I am very concerned about how climate change is affecting our world.
I live in upstate NY as well. We have experienced the same weather pattern here. I, too, am a gardener and enjoy the warmer weather. However, I really miss the snow. By March, I'm ready for spring, but I do like the magic of a fresh snowfall.
How do you think climate change is affecting our world?
I just came back from Western North Carolina where I was visiting in-laws who live there. There had been a huge migration from places like Florida, the North Carolina coast, etc. of people who were escaping hurricanes, etc. That area of the country was considered disaster-proof. As it turned out, not even this safe haven is safe from climate changed-driven disaster. And like we're seeing in Los Angeles now, they were not immune from the scourge of MAGA misinformation about recovery efforts. Several of my in-laws are first responders & healthcare workers & they are furious about the misinformation that ultimately hampers their efforts to help those in need. This is all a long way of saying, there's no place in this country where you're immune to climate change-driven disaster.
Tony I live in Charlotte NC and one reason we moved here from Los Angeles is that we are only 2 hours from Asheville. What happened there could happen anywhere including Charlotte. And still I have many friends who are climate deniers. I’m afraid the small towns in Western NC will take years to recover and it’s unfair to those who love those mountains.
Yes, absolutely.
I grew up in Austin, Texas in the 1970s and 80s, when escaping the 100-degree heat meant spending a week or 2 in Colorado in August. I hate heat and relished the time in Colorado.
I went to grad school in Santa Barbara. Heat was rare there at the time, but I became homeless in the 1990 fire, driving all my possessions and my cat from shady spot to shady spot on a 108-degree day hundreds of houses burned, including the one where I was renting a room.
Fast forward to 2015, when 100-degree highs for months in summer in Austin are common. I moved from Austin to Altadena, CA. Although I loved the neighborhood, and met my wife there, it was also too hot, nestled up by the mountains far from the ocean. And the pollution (including wildfire smoke) was aggravating health issues for my spouse.
When I got the chance, I took a job in Boulder, Colorado, and we bought an off-grid cabin high in the mountains. We both work full time on climate related careers. We have clean air, cool summer weather, and are working toward a zero carbon lifestyle. But we still worry about wildfires, and were evacuated once in 2020, for a nearby wildfire that but for wind direction might have taken our cabin. We watched a city suburb below us burn 3 years ago. We have an evacuation plan and HAM licenses.
We know no place is safe.
Colorado is a dream of mine, if we don't end up moving to Northern UK. Colorado is so beautiful.
Marybeth, UK as in United Kingdom? Be very cautious about moving to the UK. This has somehow not gotten into the news, but a man more evil than Trump has recently decided to run for prime minister of the UK. His name is Andrew Tate. He is evil, evil. He states women must be considered property; he was in prison in Romania for starting a criminal gang to prostitute and traffic women; he pushes something he calls "involuntarily celibate men (incels) that must be able to choose, seize, and rape any woman they please, so as to relieve their involuntary celibacy, which uppish women have pushed on them. Please, substack people, let others know about this impending horror as the globe (not just the USA) crumble. Putin forced ignorant Britishers to exit the European Union not long ago to further his goals of weakening and eliminating NATO; his troll farms helped push Trump into the presidency; I have no doubt he can get Andrew Tate in as prime minister of Britain. Tate's candidacy needs to get broader attention. At least let's know what's happening, regardless of whether we can stop it. And old article from The Hill here: https://thehill.com/homenews/4098441-political-right-redefines-traditionalism-andrew-tate/. Also a link to Tucker Carlson interviewing tate, although I haven't checked it since I don't have the stomach to listen to it. https://open.spotify.com/episode/4iuYA43CM57441Pp1HMHtw
Guess it needs to affect Mara Lago before you know who realizes it’s a real thing.
Oh, I think you misspelled. It's Mar A LARDO. Lol
He'll just blame the windmills for killing the whales and ignore the basic atmospheric physics.
he seems to be coming around to it--he talks about how climate change is affecting the Arctic and Greenland and now he covets all the natural resources and possible shipping routes climate change might create.
Trump is saying that about climate change because Musk knows its true and Musk wants newly created northern shipping lanes for his teslas and newly unfrozen lands for his maniacal data mining profit-grabbing corporations.
We moved from Florida to the northeast last year. The triple threat of toxic politics, a disastrous insurance market and hurricanes that go from cat 1 to cat 5 at ominous rates drove our decision. Climate change and its effects are well documented at this point. We felt like we were catching the last flight out of Saigon. Sadly, selling a house in a vulnerable place will not go well for those that don’t act promptly.
Me too....
Steven, trenchant analysis, as usual, but please talk to those, like me, who don’t have the means to move. Do we become wandering refugees fleeing the Dust Bowl? (Time to revisit “The Grapes of Wrath” - book or movie?) Prepare an emergency go-bag? Put on a brave face?
Or, like the poor or forgotten, just endure.
If we have a Grapes of Wrath exodus, maybe we can also have an Underground Railroad of kind people across the nation who will feed and shelter refugee people making their way to a new life. We have to find positive models for the New America we will need to build as Trump kills the Old America dead.
Looking forward to the past? Yes, we have endured terrible times—the Dust Bowls, the Great Depression, the strangely surviving Confederacy, polio, so much more. But as an old man that’s just not reassuring … for me, if not for the rest of us.
Yes. We'd already planned to "retire" back to the Great Lakes area some years ago. It's still the best climate haven in the US. As a Master Gardener, I've watched the bloom times of some plants shift months away from normal. The people born here in the South don't recognize this ever happening either.
Where I live we can eventually expect water shortages, and our political environment is unprepared to deal with that. This city keeps growing, and at some point it will be unsustainable. The Plantation Mentality here makes us want to move even sooner. It's always been here, but never this openly corrupt and hateful. We prefer to live in a state that respects our family members. This state government respects none of us. We're done, and getting out before water and traffic kills this place. Our daughter and her husband already moved. One thing about the Great Lakes basin is no one's ever running out of water.
I feel so bad for all the folks impacted in SoCal. As I commented above, we were burned out in Colorado. I can say that after all the work and sadness, my wife and I are in a good place. It’s different though, because we didn’t grow up here - it was our retirement destination. For those that grew up in Pac Palisades or similar, and seeing your whole world destroyed is much, much harder. I’m so sad for all of these folks. They face years of rebuilding, and into something not like what it was before. We have areas in CO where the burn was so hot that the ground was effectively sterilized so nothing will grow.
I talk about climate change when I can with people and recommend books like The Uninhabitable Earth and others, because I think we should all be aware of what’s coming. In my opinion, there is no turning away from fossil fuels in any kind of timeframe that will really help. Just look around and see how much of the world economy is FF based - it’s in everything we consume and everything we do. And the expansionist monetary policy on which world commerce is based means there must always be growth to feed that system. It’s why you “expect” a positive return on your investments. Historically that growth has been enabled by FF extraction and consumption. Perhaps other sources of energy can supplant FF in the future and keep the engine running, but I don’t believe it will be in time to keep us from several degrees of eventual warming. The lives of our kids and grandkids are going to be much different and much harder than in the past.
One might think this would make me depressed or nihilistic, but I am happy for the lives and times we have and for those of my kids and grandkids. And it remains true that whatever we can do, whenever that happens, and to whatever extent possible, it means that days in the future will be better than they otherwise would be. So I am happy, hopeful and at the same time realistic about what the future holds. Still it is very hard to see such devastation happen and know that there is only so much we can do. My thoughts are always with those directly impacted because I know what that’s like.
John, I like your pragmatic realization that we can only do what we can do to combat climate change, but we can do that. And it's important. I think the planet is undergoing a millennium-long shift, and if we did 100% eliminate fossil fuel use, it would greatly help modify global warming, but not 100% eliminate it. Everything we can do to help Mother Earth as she undergoes her shift we should do. As humans who rely on her for our very existence, it's the least we can do in gratitude.
Not a bit, but the climate of politics prompted us to relocate to South America, not without its own issues but not issues about hate- human rights and more
We lived in So Cal from 1997-2013 and loved every minute, leaving only due to a job assignment elsewhere. Never thought I'd find any silver lining to moving back to the dreary Northeast where I was raised, but I have to admit, at least in regard to weather events, it is safer here. So worried and heartbroken for friends and family in So Cal. It's positively apocalyptic. 😞
You have a choice where to live:
New England 4 seasons: rain and occasional hurricanes; muggy, cold and damn cold (live there)
Mid-Atlantic: hurricanes and tidal flooding, paralyzing snow {lived there)
South East: Hurricanes; crop killing cold; now rivers of rain and flooding
Florida: hurricanes, flooding, sinkholes, and high or no homes insurance costs
Gulf coast and Texas: floods, hurricanes, and tornadoes. unreliable utilities
Midwest: Hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzards or dust storms
Great Lakes: Tornadoes, blizzards, winds and heavy snows
South west: dust storms, drought, heat
Rocky mountains: cold long winters, blizzards, drought
West Coast: drought, fires, earthquakes and now high cost hone insurance (live there now)
Alaska: long, bitter cold winters; high cost of living
Hawaii: high cost of living, occasional drought with fires, volcanoes
Puerto Rico: hurricanes, mostly speak spanish, poor infrastructure
Anywhere in the USA: uncertain political and economic future, democracy and free speech.
BUT I STILL PREFER IT TO MOST OTHER PLACES:
Europe: Both world wars, economically still struggling except for Germany which sadly is seeing a resurgence of fascism in some areas,
Asia and the Pacific Islands: both world wars, fi]our centuries of political struggles and wars.
Australia: 90%(?) desert. tropical heat in north, drought and fires in the south
New Zealand: weather like New England, high requirements to immigrate there.
South Pole, Greenland, most of Canada: extreme long cold winters, no or sparsely populated, cost of living could be very high in most areas, most area no or poor infrastructure.
BUT I STILL PREFER ITHE USA TO MOST OTHER PLACES:
WE, THE PEOPLE, can still stave off or survive economic and political disasters with the Democrats and TRUE Conservatives opposing MAGA, RINO, white supremacy and pseudo-christian bigotry. Do not lose HOPE, or surrender. What we had and better is worth the struggle and temporary setbacks. The USA has had the most successful government experiment with self-rule BY THE PEOPLE in human history and we can do it even better in the future.
THANK YOU. Please also follow me at Substack or RLBLAINPUBLISHING.com