Too much Acceptance for 117 Degree Heat

Remember the balmy, salad days when a high near 100 meant alarm and warning?

Seems quaint now
August 2018

Oh wait, that was just three years ago. 

The coverage of our intense heat wave suggests we have become too comfortable with rising temperatures. The focus consistently was on ways to find relief and opportunities for fun in the water. The imagery was all fun and games.

Front page today - fun!

In Seattle they found different ways to signify heat, relief, and its cost.

Seattle Times front page today - cost, not fun

Even the explainer the paper picked up from the AP today doesn't say anything about climate change and ways our greenhouse gas pollution increases the frequency and severity of extreme events like the heat dome.

Climate and emissions is a notable omission here

The State Climatologist for North Carolina, a former resident and climatologist in Corvallis, was unequivocal: "This is absolutely climate change."

NC State Climatologist: Climate Change

And you might remember this from the Labor Day fires last year.

via Twitter

So, in conclusion:

FAFO - via Twitter

It's time to stop effing around and to get serious about reducing our emissions. Resilience and adaptation won't stop things from getting worse. If we don't want our children to have to deal on a routine basis with what we consider extreme heat now, we have to slow and stop our emissions now. Can we make this a wake up call for our Climate Action Plan?

Drive less now (and other things too!) or more days of 117 degrees in the future.

A Sad Postscript, Thursday, July 1st

On the same day as news about Oregon opening up and removing masking requirements as we see the end of the Pandemic in sight, the larger, featured story on the front page of the Oregonian is about the death toll from the heat wave. 

The SJ does not appear to note Marion County's share of the dead in today's paper.

Front page, July 1st