- Two studies published this week forecast a dire future of climate-fueled disasters for the American West.
- Without substantive action, wildfires will dramatically increase dangerous air pollution in the Pacific Northwest and parts of northern California.
- More fires followed by floods also are predicted to cause more devastating mudslides.
SAN FRANCISCO – The West, once a beacon for all that was new and hopeful in America, could become an example of the grim, apocalyptic future the nation faces from climate change.
The last five years already have been harrowing.
Whole neighborhoods burned down to foundations. Children kept indoors because the air outside is too dangerous to play in. Killer mudslides of burned debris destroying towns. Blood-red skies that are so dark at midday, the streetlights come on and postal workers wear headlamps to deliver the mail.