The wildfire season is off to a roaring start. The hot summer is worsening drought and drying out vegetation—an unfortunately ideal environment for wildfires to rage. But that’s just one consequence of global warming; it’s also leading to flooding, torrential rainstorms and heat-related deaths. In fact, the climate crisis has led to a widespread public health crisis. And as an ear, nose and throat physician, I see the effects more and more often.
I vividly remember a patient who came in late for her appointment during a July heat wave. When I walked in, she said, “I’m so sorry I’m late, I was up all night walking my grandbaby around the train station.” Without air conditioning at home, the child was sweating through her clothes in the heat of the night, putting her at risk for dehydration.
July 2019 was the hottest July on record; September 2019 was the hottest on record; January 2020 was the hottest on record; May 2020 was the hottest on record. This is not a coincidence. It is a pattern. Carbon dioxide, an important greenhouse gas contributing […]
It is not just hotter summer weather. It was very cold this spring; so much so that I got my garden crops out late and they might not be able to finish this growing season and become ripe so that I can replenish my storage for the year. It is a “topsy-Turvy” affair for those of us who garden here in Pa. Only those who can afford a greenhouse can survive this kind of “hot/cold” cycle which climate change has given to us, and of course only the poor folks who cannot afford a greenhouse can garden with success.
P.S.: I meant cannot garden with success, while the richer gardeners can survive and produce good food for their families.
I should add that climate change threw me a sucker punch when it climbed into the low 80’s in March which made me take a chance and planted beet seeds and carrot seeds which I thought would have a chance since the ground felt warm. Then in April in dipped back down below freezing for a while and all my seeds died and never came up, which meant I had to replant with new seeds. I was an April fool. That old saying came from farmers who would do just what I did and planted before April 1st.
A big shift in growing is on the way. Already in action in places like Holland where greenhouse growing – a totally controlled environment – was in play according to a Natl. Geo article I read approx one year ago. I don’t know what’s happening in NYC right now, but some high end restaurants began growing in their basements. That too, may have changed due to flooding. Farmers and gardeners everywhere are being challenged. I suspect the severe temp drop and then rising is due to the huge chunks of glaciers that are falling into the sea.