Firestorm

Now is not a good time to be living in Southern California. There used to be just earthquakes, and now there are fires all over the place. More than 100,000 acres have burned and over 250,000 people have been in evacuated in San Diego alone. Luckily, I’m not in any danger, but I have friends and family who could possibly be evacuated from their homes.

I used to grow up with the Santa Ana winds, but I never thought that they could cause such destruction. I heard yesterday that the wind reached hurricane force on occasion. Usually, the Santa Ana winds only last about a day, but this year it’s lasting a few days, making the firefighting that much more difficult. It’s hard not to link the increased severity of these winds (and therefore the massive wildfires going on) with global warming. Mother Nature is lashing out at us for all the harm we’ve done to her.

It’s pretty surreal to see pictures of the flames engulfing Southern California. Watching the news, it’s more like I’m looking at a volcano than California. Sometimes I feel untouchable from all the tragedies and disasters of the world, that they could never happen to me or the people I care about. In reality, though, no one is safe. But what can we do?

They Deserve Better

I love kids. They’re so cute and little and full of life. I definitely want my own child in the future, whether biologically (somehow) or by adoption. I see kids with their parents now and it reinforces how much I want one.

Sometimes, though, I see kids and think about what kind of future we’re giving them. If the world continues as it is, the arctic icecaps will be completely melted in less than twenty years. Prices of everything, especially food and water, will reach insane highs, which only the richest people would be able to afford. The climate could eventually become unbearable in many places, and natural disasters will increase in frequency and severity, as we have already seen in recent years.

A few years ago, I would have thought all this talk of such a bleak future was far away and possibly nonsense. But these days, the topic is unavoidable and the effect of global warming is undeniable. What really boggles my mind (and ticks me off like nothing else) is to know that President Bush is doing everything in his power not to do anything. Becoming less reliant on (hopefully even independent from) the use of oil would completely change how the US economy (and therefore politics) would work. Much of the US (and world) wealth and prosperity comes from oil, and that is not something Bush wants to lose, even if it means 99% of the population will either die from natural disasters or starve from being unable to afford basic necessities.

How can I subject my child to the future we’ve made? We should be giving our children the best possible world in which to live, but all we will give them is a dying world, ready to swallow them whole at any time. I don’t want my child to live in such a world. Our children don’t deserve to live with our mistakes.

I really hope the next president (and people in general) can turn things around. Maybe it’s not too late to change the future.