In the Northern Hemisphere in 2017 and 2018 brought several destructive hurricanes to the shores of North America, the Caribbean, and throughout the Pacific rim. Such extreme weather events are predicted to get more common and more severe with increasing climate change.
Several participating classes in the ISCFC were or are in the path of these storms and we hope for the best for them, their families and communities.
We would love to hear from students affected directly and indirectly by extreme weather events, and also any students who have been following the news this summer.
What are your thoughts about the connection between climate change and extreme weather events? Has this hurricane season increased your concern about climate change or not? Do you think that US citizens and residents (and others in the region) will take climate change more seriously now?
Extreme Weather >
Wildfires
We recently had a couple of really bad wildfires here in California and Global Warming definitely has an effect on this. This an example of the many effects of Global Warming we don’t think about everyday
We should start using less polluting methods of living to stop climate change and that would stop wildfires
I don’t think using was polluting methods would stop wildfires ¿
Global warning does have an effect on it. I agree with @gavin_eisentraut because things like carbon monoxide emitted from cars encourages global warming. I do disagree to an extent with @rawrxd . It WOULD help slow down the amount of wildfires in the US, but it would not necessarily stop wild fires. Some wildfires occur because of electrical failures, which is not a product of nature. And from then on it's just a series of "ifs."
Wildfires are mainly a big problem in California because of the lack of water. These wildfires contribute to global warming by releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
I agree with most of the statements here, though one thing that wasn't discussed was how to stop wildfires, while preferably not increasing carbon footprint.
The wildfires in California are a very big issue that majorly affected many communities and families nearby. There are many causes of this, but one main cause is climate change. Although not all fires are caused by pollution and/ or greenhouse gases, it is a major factor that can truly increase the number of large forest fires and brush fires all over the world. According to an article by Union of Concerned Scientists, one reason this is true is because global warming causes shorter snow seasons, and the grass and brush dries out faster than usual. This increases the risk of a wildfire, and there is less time to prepare. Global warming is also changing the precipitation patterns in certain areas, which is changing the way the government needs to prepare for these wildfires.
As someone who lives in California and has first handedly been affected by the California wildfire, I know that climate change has been affecting our world. The increase of production of CO2 has been steadily increasing the temperature in our atmosphere. It has also caused California and other states to go into extreme droughts. With the mixture of extreme temperatures and lack of water, fires became very common. These fires have destroyed miles of land. This left thousands of people without homes. Not only did people lose everything that they owned, but they had no where to go. The fires took weeks to put out causing many health issues and even deaths. The smoke was so bad that people weren't allowed to leave their homes. Ashes were visible in the air even one hundred miles away. People lives began to slowly come to a stop because no one was allowed to do anything. These fires had such tolls on our everyday lives. We, as a world, need to stop producing more CO2 before it gets too far out of control.
I also live California and was affected by the unhealthy smoke in 2018. However, I don't think that the wild fires can be completely blamed on global warming and climate change. Yes, lack of water made it easier for the fires to spread and dry areas were perfect fuel for the fires to consume, but most of the blame for starting the fires should be accredited to people's careless actions. According to USA Today, 84% of wildfires are started by people, whether it was caused by a "downed power line, a flat tire or a tossed cigarette butt". In addition to decreasing our carbon footprint to make our environment less prone to fires, we need to be careful with small actions because, as exhibited by the wild fires this year, little mistakes can have disastrous consequences.
I live in California as well and was dearly affected by the unhealthy smoke due to the forrest fires. But wildfires should not be blamed for global warming. In fact forrest fires are essential for large trees because they need them to spread their seeds. Forrest fires are part of the circle of life and they are essentail if we want more redwood trees to grow in our day to day life. Of course I am not suggesting that all forrest fires happen because of this I am just saying that they do need to happen for more trees to grow.
I agree with everyone. Yes, it is part of a trees cycle to grow because seeds were spread throughout fires, but I also think that the amount of fires we are having and the struggle to contain them is a completely different topic. We are having so many fires because the fossil fuels we let out into the air are not combining well with all of the wind that there is in forests. It is healthy for forest fires to happen once in a while, but also very unhealthy for ourselves and all other organisms to have to breathe and live alongside all of that smoke and unhealthy air.
I live in California and was affected by the previous wild fire. that filled up the air with a lot of smoke that causes people to have issues.I feel that people shoud take care of the earth better