58 Comments
Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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?

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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!

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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.

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Jan 29, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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!

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Jan 30, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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Feb 10, 2022Liked by Steven Beschloss

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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Derecho was a new term 2 years ago in Iowa. Then got a repeat the very next year!

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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.

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