Joe Romm of Climate Progress gave testimony to the US Congress on the relationship between the release of long-trapped Carbon into the atmosphere through the use of fossil fuels and drying conditions that lead to an increase in wild fires. Joe notes "... we're already topping Dust Bowl temperatures in many places -- and the Earth has warmed only about 1 degree Fahrenheit since the 1930s Dust Bowl. Yet we are poised to warm some 10 degree Fahrenheit this century if we stay on our current path of unrestricted carbon pollution emissions."
Here's the testimony:
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"Can we prevent the extreme drought and ravaging wildfires of today from becoming the new norm?"
The answer is yes we ca can, however, we won't. It's not a "can we" question, it's a "will we" question, and the the answer is different depending on the phrasing.
Until we find a different way of financing elections, we're screwed. As long as the fossil fuel industry has an iron-fisted grip on the political process, as long as the Koch Bros contributions matter, but yours and mine don't, we're screwed.
Climate change is not a stand-alone issue. It's tied to the other deep flaws in our system that prevent us from looking after our own collective well-being.
If you want this to change, you should be doing stuff like writing your congress person to support the Fair Elections Act when they try to revive it again next year.
Americans are resourceful. they have skill, they have intelligence, they have the will to do what must be done.
We know how to develop non-fossil fuel energy.
But that is NOT where the problem is. The problem is with corporate money dominating the political and legislative process.
This is not really a science problem. The scientists have come to unprecedented levels of agreement about the problem and some of them have designed quite workable solutions.
The problem is political and social.
As it is now, without the fundamental structural change of removing unfair corporate influence form the legislative process, the answer to Joe's question is a solid "NO."
We have set ourselves a future whose challenge is to survive on a planet that will become increasingly hostile to human civilizations, with a political system that is also becoming increasingly less able to cope with the challenges of running that civilization.
As of now, THAT is our future.