The West is On Fire

This morning's sunrise here in smoke free Valhalla

Some days there’s only beauty. Thank the little baby Bast I still have it. The folks out west in California and Oregon? You know, the states where all those beautiful forests are burning — how much longer will they have beauty?

Heather Roberts/KBEND

Sky tells me that, up in Central Oregon, the smoke is right there – not some off in the distance thing. 

It’s the worst it’s ever been, he tells me, and it's become oppressive. I've lost count of days since we've seen clear skies.

And the smell gets into everything, worse than cigarettes. Even the cigarette smokers are complaining about it.
Visibility is a couple hundred yards.

Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP

A friend in the San Jose area writes:

Interesting optics here yesterday. The smoke from the fires north of us settled in like a heavy marine layer. Everything has that shrouded-in-fog quality, except the sun is shining through, giving it a grey-orange glow. Not the best air to breathe (we're 3x worse than China right now).

We aren’t just destroying the planet, we’re fucking up our ownselves clear through to hell and back.

Wildfire smoke includes particles from burning vegetation and building materials mixed with gases. If your eyes feel like they're stinging, smoke exposure could also be inflicting other damage. Particles could be getting into your respiratory system.

Exposure can cause chest pain, a fast heartbeat or wheezing or bring on an asthma attack. Besides coughing and trouble breathing, many people experience symptoms similar to a sinus infection, such as headaches, sore throat, a runny nose and even tiredness, according to the CDC. (source)

I understand there can also be flu-like symptoms – nausea, fever, chills.

This recent "abstract" painting now has a name – Smoke

In a time of destruction, create something.
~ Maxine Hong Kingston

The effects of global warming on temperature, precipitation levels, and soil moisture are turning many of our forests into kindling during wildfire season.

As the climate warms, moisture and precipitation levels are changing, with wet areas becoming wetter and dry areas becoming drier.

Higher spring and summer temperatures and earlier spring snowmelt typically cause soils to be drier for longer, increasing the likelihood of drought and a longer wildfire season, particularly in the western United States.

These hot, dry conditions also increase the likelihood that wildfires will be more intense and long-burning once they are started by lightning strikes or human error. (source)

Motherboard has a  post up, The Climate Change Deniers in Congress: How many are representing your state? More than half of our current congresscritters don't believe that human actions are seriously fueling climate change. MORE THAN HALF! Wanna know what letter they've got after their names? Their party affiliation? Yeah, no surprise here – they're Republicans. How's 'bout we vote these fuckers OUT in November – K?

But what about the chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Senator James Inhofe – surely he must believe in actual science!

Ahhhh, not so much.This is, after all, the seriously on-the-take, braindead asswipe who actually brought a snowball into congress as proof, PROOF that global warming doesn’t exist.

It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.
~ Upton Sinclair