We can’t let up on climate issues
We knew the Pacific Northwest wildfire trends looked bad for August again this year. We didn’t dare imagine, however, just how awful it would get.
Like last year, most of the smoke drifted down from British Columbia, where the worst wildfire season in history was declared this week after the scorching of more than 8,000 square miles of forest and grassland.
No one was spared; you didn’t have to be asthmatic or coping with a heart condition — breathing was unhealthy if not downright dangerous for the entire population across vast swaths of the Western states.
As we emerge, coughing, from a blanket of the most oppressive “haze” ever experienced in the region, and a little freaked out by what felt like a three-week dance with the apocalypse, we’re left with one certainty: Human-caused climate chaos is here and now.
As the planet warms, longer and more intense wildfire seasons are the proven result. The land is bone dry for much of the year now, and a spark is all that’s required to unleash hell on Earth. Whether this is provided by lightning or an arsonist’s match, the destruction is the same, with more and more of the world’s northern forests obliterated with each passing year.
How are we responding to what’s happening before our very (irritated) eyes? As a nation, terribly. While the worst of the fires raged, the Environmental Protection Agency added insult to injury, announcing its intention to hurtle us back to the 19th century by relaxing emissions standards for coal-fired power plants. This follows other moments of policy brilliance stemming from the Trump administration, such as weakening pollution and fuel-efficiency standards for cars and a decision to stop funding NASA’s Carbon Monitoring System, which would have verified reduction targets that 175 countries agreed to in the 2015 Paris Climate Accord. (And from which Trump soon announced the United States would withdraw.)
Locally, though, Olympia and other Thurston County communities are out in front on climate change, picking up where federal leadership is failing and thus uniquely positioned to continue to address it.
First, the Thurston Regional Planning Council has developed a Thurston Climate Adaptation Plan. It’s here, showcasing how we can build resilience in the South Puget Sound and prepare for a fast-approaching future with rising seas, far more heat (and smoke) and far less fresh water.
Next, the City of Olympia is spearheading a Regional Climate Action Plan, along with the cities of Lacey and Tumwater. The plan will outline how to lower our local carbon footprint and meet our obligations under the Paris agreement. Thanks to a persuasive team of local climate activists, even the more conservative Thurston County Commissioners have agreed to join this effort.
In addition, on Aug. 21, the Olympia City Council passed a resolution to protect state pension funds by pressuring the Washington State Investment Board to investigate and report on its increasingly risky fossil fuel holdings. The city (and this columnist) will be watching closely to see if the board follows the lead of New York City, which recently announced plans to divest $5 billion from fossil fuels (and sue oil companies), the country of Ireland, the American Medical Association and a long list of others divesting trillions of dollars globally.
Soon you’ll also be hearing a lot more about Initiative 1631, which would charge polluters a fee for the right to emit carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The initiative will go before Washington state voters in November. If it passes, it will be the first carbon tax in the nation.
There are a multitude of local citizens organized into groups that are dedicated to stopping the madness and transitioning quickly to renewable energy. These include 350.org, the Thurston Climate Action Team, Climate Solutions, the South Sound chapter of Sierra Club and a local Thurston County chapter of former Vice-President Al Gore’s worldwide organization, The Climate Reality Project.
The message from the August smoke is that time is not on our side. The climate is changing now — and a lot sooner than predicted. How much worse it gets, we hope, is still up to us. There has never been a direr moment, for so many, in the whole of human history, and never a better moment in which to join the fight.
This story was originally published September 5, 2018 at 2:53 PM.