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 >
Extreme Weather(Wild Fires)
The summer of 2020 in California and neighboring states was impacted with wildfires and earthquakes. We were literally on fire. 8,100 cases of wildfires so far with over 3.7 MILLION acres of land burned. According to Cal Fire, “As of Sept. 6, California passed the record for the worst year in history for the amount of damaged land.” It is proven and can be seen that each and every year that passes, the temperature in the summer increases and the amount of wildfires have increased. Just as of today, September 28, 2020, there are currently 27 major wildfires with around 18,00 firefighters fighting the fires. A few weeks ago, the air was literally unbreathable. Ash coated housetops and car roofs, the air was thick with smoke. It only recently got better to where it is healthy to go outside. What do all these statistics tell you? The amount of fires are growing increasingly dangerous. What is the root cause of fires? Extreme heat. The connection between climate change and this extreme heat is fairly simple. The greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere is currently too abundant, causing more heat to be trapped onto earth. The more heat trapped, the higher the temperatures increase. It then becomes a high risk for wildfire occurrences in places with large amounts of dry land. I feel that California residents already know that climate change is an issue, and we take it seriously. However, I can’t say for the politicians in today’s society.