I have a good friend who records sound in national parks and other natural settings to document the changing environment. He played one sound for me, noting that it was different than it used to be. It was crisp and scratchy—a firefly rubbing together its very dry wings. This was an effect of drought.
In Arizona, I’ve witnessed rising temperatures over the last decade, driving through the Sonoran Desert on summer days when the thermometer exceeded 115 and I wondered if my car would handle it. In southern Virginia, I’ve confronted sunny day flooding, and in New York, flooded subways. In California, I’ve been stopped by blazing wildfires and smoke-choked skies. I count myself among the lucky ones that I haven’t faced more serious events from the consequences of increasingly extreme and frequent hurricanes, floods or wildfires.
What about you? How have you experienced climate change and the reality of our changing planet? Has it caused you to rethink how or even where you live? Perhaps you’re on the East Coast now and facing another massive, possibly record snowstorm. Please stay safe. As always, I welcome the opportunity for this community to learn from each other.
Living in the PNW for the last 25 years I can attest to hotter driver summers, less rainfall, more sun in Seattle, and horrific fires. Water resources are less on people's minds than they should be. Conservation of water, farming practices, and overbuilding are concerning as snowpack lessens, rainfall lessens, aquifers go unmeasured, temps increase, and people continue on as if nothing is amiss. Worrisome. Will I move? No. Why? Because everywhere is problematic, it's not really a local issue.
I'm also in the PNW. Summer of 2020: unrelenting thick, choking smoke in Portland from nearby wildfires and elsewhere in the state. Summer of 2021: unrelenting heat as high as 115 degrees for three days that caused more than 100 deaths statewide and 60 in Portland. (Many homes here lack air conditioning.) Also, higher heat in general has lengthened the growing season, which has pluses and minuses.
Yes I know the issues: air filtration needed in our homes, using homemade filters behind fans to filter particulate out of the intake, sigh DIY air filtration... Irritated eyes and throats, bleh, and we're just not built for prolonged and extreme heat.
And the longer growing season creates more understory fuel while allowing lettuce to grow into October! Red skies, weird daylight, unable to go outside, everyone using air quality meter apps... Nuts. Fingers crossed for a better summer this year, doubtful but there's always hope. Take care!
I should have mentioned that the same record heat wave last June killed nearly 600 people in British Columbia. The dead included one of my wife's aunts in Vancouver, 315 miles north of Portland.
I live in Butte County CA. Over the fifty plus years I have lived here, rainfall patterns have changed, the summers are longer and hotter, winter is not as cold. We have experienced horrific super fires, such as the Camp Fire in Paradise which took 85 lives and simply mostly removed a town from the face of the Earth. It was followed by two more devastating fires in the two years that followed, including last year’s Dixie fire. Ash falls like snow and the sky is red. Every year recently. The Camp Fire started long after our traditional season for fires was over. Fire season is year around. My daughter lost her home in one of the conflagrations. We have community wide trauma. Our almond trees in our agricultural industry bloom two weeks earlier. The water wars have begun. Causing more political discord. We have fire refugees in our largest city which had to absorb 30K people overnight. This caused housing shortages and price gouging. From home grown tomatoes in my backyard to the air I breathe and the water I drink- it has all changed. And I want to sell and run away. But I am torn between running from climate and running from the loss of our democracy and living elsewhere as an ex-Pat. It has all changed.
Thanks for this thoughtful comment, Helen. You have experiences that enable you to inform others on where we are headed. The way forward is largely dependent on wise adaptations.
I have a bird feeder that used to be visited by many cardinals. Now, only a couple but rarely, Sometimes I see 2 blue jays; one takes a bath in a plastic plate of water I put out. Also rarely. I do get ground feeding mourning doves, up to 8 of them at a time. and that hungry lone squirrel all the time. I miss seeing, hearing the birds. There used to be one that sang Rita,Rita,Rita which is my name. What is enjoyable about being outside without birdsong?
Same here. No wrens, fewer crows, fewer hummingbirds, hardly any bats any more, we used to see Bluejays every day now they’re rare. I wonder if we’re being lied to, and it’s much much worse than what we hear and read in the news.
In SE Idaho last summer we had over 30 consecutive days of 100 degree temperatures. After a winter of 1/4 the usual snowfall most of the water recreation on the river was cancelled since the river became so shallow and narrow. At the same time we had overwhelming smoke from the tragic CA wildfires that destroyed the homes of so many Americans. So Brutal.
One of the many things I've noticed are BUGS, and lack of. We take a lot of road trips, and our windshield on the car would constantly be filled with bugs. Now...almost none. That really bothers me because it means the ecosystems are really messed up. The bugs, the butterflies and the bees...are disappearing at what must be an incredibly alarming rate.
really? I haven't noticed the reduction in mosquitoes yet. They still seem to find me! But, I am sure you are right. It's all very, very worrisome. No bugs? No bees? No life.
No question! I'm in Chicago. I grew up with snowforts in my backyard and snowball fights with my neighbors. Now that it's actually snowing here, so many are whining about it. It's so bothersome. It's not that I love winter, but I miss the normalcy of it. It's Chicago. It's SUPPOSED to be cold and snowy. I just hope young people understand what it SHOULD be, and not take this warmer milder weather as NORMAL. Do they know what that is? Do you they know the bugs are gone? It's their future...
Last summer we in the Pacific Northwest got to experience a heat dome. 115F. A village in British Columbia basically exploded in flames. Our thoroughly watered highly durable outdoor potted plants ended up with brown shriveled leaves. Our fully hydrated cat gasping as we wet him down and held him in fromt of the straining a/c to cool his body. And the underlying problem is not getting better.
Lived through last February’s “Snowpocalypse” in Central Texas and learned recently Austin is in the Top 5 (along with California cities) at risk for wildfires. Our GOP state appears unconcerned or, as our Guv stated “guarantees our power grid won’t fail again” even though nothing substantive has changed. Bought a home generator and keep trimming vegetation away from home - neither of these concerns ever existed for me just a couple of years ago! Keeping Austin weird is getting harder and harder!
Wow. Had no idea about this situation in Austin. I love Austin. My husband and I have it on our list of possible "blue" cities in a warmer climate than our beloved Chicago. Maybe if Beto wins, things will be taken a bit more seriously?
I used to wear sweaters every winter but have not worn one for at least a decade. I mean a pullover sweater you’d wear instead of a tee. And this year I’ve only worn my heavier jacket once. That’s just a personal “annoyance” because I love my sweaters. There are greater issues at stake. I’m in the SF Bay Area. As Marilyn said below, moving won’t save anyone.
I live in the Pacific Northwest. The broad leaf maples, which are a predominant deciduous species in the Douglas fir forests, have shallow roots and are greatly affected by drought. In recent years, in August, large sections of brown leaves appear on each tree, giving them a splotchy brown and green appearance. One can readily see that they are dying of thirst!
I live in a Connecticut shoreline town. Fortunately, I am 8 miles north of the shore, because sea level rise is predicted to be substantial in Long Island Sound. By 2100, it will be 6 feet. The south end of town will be remade and not in a good way. I've seen a lot more extreme weather in the last 10 years. Beginning in 2010 with more than 800 roof collapses from snowload, tropical storm Irene in 2011 was the first of many extended power outages. We bought a generator during that storm. Irene was followed by an October snowstorm that took out power for nearly the entire state a mere few months later, followed by tropical storm Sandy in 2012, a 30-plus inch snowstorm in 2013 that trapped most people in their homes for days, and a number of tropical storms and tornadoes since. I've lived in this same county for nearly all of my 70 years, so I can say with authority that this weather is not normal for this area. I would not own a home on a beach. In my town, many of those homes are now being raised. That will help for a while, but not forever. As a result of this, I have become a conservation advocate. It has become my primary avocation. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially. It will change how we live, but we must do it.
I just moved out of California after 64 years. Moved to Tennessee. The fires 🔥 became too real, the droughts longer and dryer. Lost people we knew in Paradise. Other family impacted in the Sierra fires.
We are experiencing extreme drought. Receiving only 60% of our normal precipitation. Plus, grinding La Niña winds. This will be a desert in 10 years if things continue as they are.
Yes! I live in Idaho and we are experiencing drought conditions. When we get rain or snow, I am relieved. For the past 10 years or so, smoke from fires from surrounding states and here have gotten so much worse. Last month, the Boise River was so low you could practically walk across!
I thought that might be the case. That's too bad. Beautiful country up there. You would think they'd like to save it--for themselves and for generations to come. And conservative? Not quite. No conserving going on there except their compassion and concern for their felllow man.
I live in Vermont. Our summers have gotten hotter and more humid, and our winters, this one in particular are frigid. In fact, today, while we're not getting snow bombed, we are getting the bitter cold Canadian wind, that's making our wind chills negative 21. We've been as low as -35 wind chill. It is getting worse year after year and the lazy attitude of the people in charge is eventually going to kill us all.
I thought it would be easy to unite people on things that hurt everybody. But the COVID anti-vaxx and anti-mask polarization gives a little less hope that we can unite behind a common enemy like Climate change. Am I too pessimistic?
I purchased a Hybrid car last year - I hope to trade for fully electric but we need charging station infrastructure. I have been following the electric battery and charging stations progress via the stock market for a while. It is finally in our near future
Me too. Hybrid, because there is not enough charging. I don’t often, but once a year take a 800 mile trip to visit my kids, and in my rural area I sometimes have trips beyond the one charge limit to all-electric vehicles.
The prices for hybrids are thru the roof and new-car manufacturing seems to be all electric. A mistake, imho
I live in Southern California since 1985. Up until about 2010 we’d get raging rainstorms in Feb Mar Apr. I can’t remember the last gully washer. We’re in Palm Springs now, last summer was brutal even by desert standards.
No. I have lived in every part of the USA except the great plains and always traveled the country a great deal for my musical performing with Sha Na Na. I'm 72 now. Have I "experienced climate change" then? Just no.
Living in the PNW for the last 25 years I can attest to hotter driver summers, less rainfall, more sun in Seattle, and horrific fires. Water resources are less on people's minds than they should be. Conservation of water, farming practices, and overbuilding are concerning as snowpack lessens, rainfall lessens, aquifers go unmeasured, temps increase, and people continue on as if nothing is amiss. Worrisome. Will I move? No. Why? Because everywhere is problematic, it's not really a local issue.
I'm also in the PNW. Summer of 2020: unrelenting thick, choking smoke in Portland from nearby wildfires and elsewhere in the state. Summer of 2021: unrelenting heat as high as 115 degrees for three days that caused more than 100 deaths statewide and 60 in Portland. (Many homes here lack air conditioning.) Also, higher heat in general has lengthened the growing season, which has pluses and minuses.
Yes I know the issues: air filtration needed in our homes, using homemade filters behind fans to filter particulate out of the intake, sigh DIY air filtration... Irritated eyes and throats, bleh, and we're just not built for prolonged and extreme heat.
And the longer growing season creates more understory fuel while allowing lettuce to grow into October! Red skies, weird daylight, unable to go outside, everyone using air quality meter apps... Nuts. Fingers crossed for a better summer this year, doubtful but there's always hope. Take care!
I should have mentioned that the same record heat wave last June killed nearly 600 people in British Columbia. The dead included one of my wife's aunts in Vancouver, 315 miles north of Portland.
I'm so sorry for your loss. We have friends in BC as well.
I live in Butte County CA. Over the fifty plus years I have lived here, rainfall patterns have changed, the summers are longer and hotter, winter is not as cold. We have experienced horrific super fires, such as the Camp Fire in Paradise which took 85 lives and simply mostly removed a town from the face of the Earth. It was followed by two more devastating fires in the two years that followed, including last year’s Dixie fire. Ash falls like snow and the sky is red. Every year recently. The Camp Fire started long after our traditional season for fires was over. Fire season is year around. My daughter lost her home in one of the conflagrations. We have community wide trauma. Our almond trees in our agricultural industry bloom two weeks earlier. The water wars have begun. Causing more political discord. We have fire refugees in our largest city which had to absorb 30K people overnight. This caused housing shortages and price gouging. From home grown tomatoes in my backyard to the air I breathe and the water I drink- it has all changed. And I want to sell and run away. But I am torn between running from climate and running from the loss of our democracy and living elsewhere as an ex-Pat. It has all changed.
Thanks for this thoughtful comment, Helen. You have experiences that enable you to inform others on where we are headed. The way forward is largely dependent on wise adaptations.
I feel you on this...it breaks my heart. All of it.
It’s heartbreaking. I can’t imagine losing our home in a fire.
They got their dogs out alive and themselves alive. Others were not so fortunate.
I have a bird feeder that used to be visited by many cardinals. Now, only a couple but rarely, Sometimes I see 2 blue jays; one takes a bath in a plastic plate of water I put out. Also rarely. I do get ground feeding mourning doves, up to 8 of them at a time. and that hungry lone squirrel all the time. I miss seeing, hearing the birds. There used to be one that sang Rita,Rita,Rita which is my name. What is enjoyable about being outside without birdsong?
I'm a bird watcher too! I have a bunch of feeders in my yard. I too, have noticed the decline of visitors! Makes me sad.
Same here. No wrens, fewer crows, fewer hummingbirds, hardly any bats any more, we used to see Bluejays every day now they’re rare. I wonder if we’re being lied to, and it’s much much worse than what we hear and read in the news.
I read somewhere that 50% of birds in US are gone.
In SE Idaho last summer we had over 30 consecutive days of 100 degree temperatures. After a winter of 1/4 the usual snowfall most of the water recreation on the river was cancelled since the river became so shallow and narrow. At the same time we had overwhelming smoke from the tragic CA wildfires that destroyed the homes of so many Americans. So Brutal.
Oh my gosh, I was shocked by how long those hot temps were. I had to hike at sunrise to beat the heat. I'm in SW Idaho
One of the many things I've noticed are BUGS, and lack of. We take a lot of road trips, and our windshield on the car would constantly be filled with bugs. Now...almost none. That really bothers me because it means the ecosystems are really messed up. The bugs, the butterflies and the bees...are disappearing at what must be an incredibly alarming rate.
Same for us..we’ve gone from hating bugs to longing for them
And the bees! No bees...no life for any of us.
The same. We have taken our screens off at home, barely even notice. Not even mosquitoes.
really? I haven't noticed the reduction in mosquitoes yet. They still seem to find me! But, I am sure you are right. It's all very, very worrisome. No bugs? No bees? No life.
It’s so disorienting not to have any bugs. I’m sure that means less birds and lizards too…
No question! I'm in Chicago. I grew up with snowforts in my backyard and snowball fights with my neighbors. Now that it's actually snowing here, so many are whining about it. It's so bothersome. It's not that I love winter, but I miss the normalcy of it. It's Chicago. It's SUPPOSED to be cold and snowy. I just hope young people understand what it SHOULD be, and not take this warmer milder weather as NORMAL. Do they know what that is? Do you they know the bugs are gone? It's their future...
I have great faith in Gen Z.
I do too!
I'm glad. I do worry. There is reason to worry, but maybe they can galvanize and turn it around!
Last summer we in the Pacific Northwest got to experience a heat dome. 115F. A village in British Columbia basically exploded in flames. Our thoroughly watered highly durable outdoor potted plants ended up with brown shriveled leaves. Our fully hydrated cat gasping as we wet him down and held him in fromt of the straining a/c to cool his body. And the underlying problem is not getting better.
We pretty much had the ac on from 5 am to midnight. Which is part of the problem but at least we have solar.
How awful!
We had the whole HVAC rebuilt this year, more efficient ac and all new ducts and more insulation, we hope it helps.
Lived through last February’s “Snowpocalypse” in Central Texas and learned recently Austin is in the Top 5 (along with California cities) at risk for wildfires. Our GOP state appears unconcerned or, as our Guv stated “guarantees our power grid won’t fail again” even though nothing substantive has changed. Bought a home generator and keep trimming vegetation away from home - neither of these concerns ever existed for me just a couple of years ago! Keeping Austin weird is getting harder and harder!
Wow. Had no idea about this situation in Austin. I love Austin. My husband and I have it on our list of possible "blue" cities in a warmer climate than our beloved Chicago. Maybe if Beto wins, things will be taken a bit more seriously?
Austin is the blueberry in a sea of ketchup! Wonderful place despite Abbott!
I had a cousin who lived there, and spent a few days there years ago, and loved it.
I spent some time there, counterintuitively it is possible to live on .25 draws and day old cinnamon buns!
I used to wear sweaters every winter but have not worn one for at least a decade. I mean a pullover sweater you’d wear instead of a tee. And this year I’ve only worn my heavier jacket once. That’s just a personal “annoyance” because I love my sweaters. There are greater issues at stake. I’m in the SF Bay Area. As Marilyn said below, moving won’t save anyone.
You're right. Everytime someone says to me "I gotta move", I say WHERE ARE YOU GOING TO GO? Seriously. No place will escape the destruction. No one.
I was just going through my drawers and found a favorite sweater I haven’t needed in years…
I live in the Pacific Northwest. The broad leaf maples, which are a predominant deciduous species in the Douglas fir forests, have shallow roots and are greatly affected by drought. In recent years, in August, large sections of brown leaves appear on each tree, giving them a splotchy brown and green appearance. One can readily see that they are dying of thirst!
I live in a Connecticut shoreline town. Fortunately, I am 8 miles north of the shore, because sea level rise is predicted to be substantial in Long Island Sound. By 2100, it will be 6 feet. The south end of town will be remade and not in a good way. I've seen a lot more extreme weather in the last 10 years. Beginning in 2010 with more than 800 roof collapses from snowload, tropical storm Irene in 2011 was the first of many extended power outages. We bought a generator during that storm. Irene was followed by an October snowstorm that took out power for nearly the entire state a mere few months later, followed by tropical storm Sandy in 2012, a 30-plus inch snowstorm in 2013 that trapped most people in their homes for days, and a number of tropical storms and tornadoes since. I've lived in this same county for nearly all of my 70 years, so I can say with authority that this weather is not normal for this area. I would not own a home on a beach. In my town, many of those homes are now being raised. That will help for a while, but not forever. As a result of this, I have become a conservation advocate. It has become my primary avocation. We need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions substantially. It will change how we live, but we must do it.
I just moved out of California after 64 years. Moved to Tennessee. The fires 🔥 became too real, the droughts longer and dryer. Lost people we knew in Paradise. Other family impacted in the Sierra fires.
I miss California, but it has been changed.
Oh, boy. I’m a Wyoming rancher.
We are experiencing extreme drought. Receiving only 60% of our normal precipitation. Plus, grinding La Niña winds. This will be a desert in 10 years if things continue as they are.
I am saddened to hear this.
Yes! I live in Idaho and we are experiencing drought conditions. When we get rain or snow, I am relieved. For the past 10 years or so, smoke from fires from surrounding states and here have gotten so much worse. Last month, the Boise River was so low you could practically walk across!
Do you have enough representative support for such worries in Idaho?
Oh gawd, no. Idaho is often times called Idasippi. Very red state and controlled by very conservative special interest groups.
I thought that might be the case. That's too bad. Beautiful country up there. You would think they'd like to save it--for themselves and for generations to come. And conservative? Not quite. No conserving going on there except their compassion and concern for their felllow man.
We went through Idaho and Montana a few years back. Simply breathtaking.
I live in Vermont. Our summers have gotten hotter and more humid, and our winters, this one in particular are frigid. In fact, today, while we're not getting snow bombed, we are getting the bitter cold Canadian wind, that's making our wind chills negative 21. We've been as low as -35 wind chill. It is getting worse year after year and the lazy attitude of the people in charge is eventually going to kill us all.
I thought it would be easy to unite people on things that hurt everybody. But the COVID anti-vaxx and anti-mask polarization gives a little less hope that we can unite behind a common enemy like Climate change. Am I too pessimistic?
If you are too pessimistic, you've got a lot of company, sadly.
Agreed. Too many bitching. Not enough DOING.
I purchased a Hybrid car last year - I hope to trade for fully electric but we need charging station infrastructure. I have been following the electric battery and charging stations progress via the stock market for a while. It is finally in our near future
that's fantastic. I am considering a hybrid for my next car as well!
Me too. Hybrid, because there is not enough charging. I don’t often, but once a year take a 800 mile trip to visit my kids, and in my rural area I sometimes have trips beyond the one charge limit to all-electric vehicles.
The prices for hybrids are thru the roof and new-car manufacturing seems to be all electric. A mistake, imho
I live in Southern California since 1985. Up until about 2010 we’d get raging rainstorms in Feb Mar Apr. I can’t remember the last gully washer. We’re in Palm Springs now, last summer was brutal even by desert standards.
Derecho was a new term 2 years ago in Iowa. Then got a repeat the very next year!
No. I have lived in every part of the USA except the great plains and always traveled the country a great deal for my musical performing with Sha Na Na. I'm 72 now. Have I "experienced climate change" then? Just no.