prepare for a firestorm of change
1967 was the Summer of Love. 2010 was the Arab Spring. It may be that in 2022, we will see the Summer of Fire.
As I write these words, 165,000 acres in northern New Mexico are on fire. This enormous blaze is just one more in a growing series of mega-wildfires throughout the country and the world. Mass devastation is the new normal, thanks to the failed leaders, institutions and systems planet-wide that ignored climate warnings made by scientists more than 40 years ago.
Somehow, those people and institutions and systems remain in place. They seem to be solidly in charge, still making excuses for their failures, still getting away with the biggest ongoing murder/suicide in history.
In some ways, they — and we — are oblivious to the enormous and unavoidable changes coming our way. This summer will be hot and dry in many places. The middle of the country and much of the west is a tinderbox. And, although we seem to not care about these fires no matter how big, how fierce or how deadly — unless we personally are caught in the path — these fires may very well change everything.
The New Mexico conflagration is officially called the Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire. But I call it the ExxonMobil Fire, or the British Petroleum Fire, or the Shell Oil Fire. I call it the Republicrat Bipartisan Fire. I call it the End Stage Capitalism Fire. I call it the Planet-Wide Complete and Utter Failure of Leadership Fire.
I think we should all insist on truth in advertising.
In any case, the ExxonMobil fire in New Mexico may be just a slight foretaste of what’s to come in the Summer of Fire. Because wildfires are becoming more frequent, more widespread and more deadly. And our ability to fight these fires is shrinking.
Going into the summer, huge swathes of Colorado, Arizona, Nebraska and New Mexico are already charred fields of ash. In recent years, these kind of wildfires were brought under control (sometimes) by using “controlled burns” — destroying the “fuel” surrounding the fires, limiting the spread. This technique is rapidly becoming impossible. Excessive dry and windy conditions — created by human-engineered climate abuse and the continued burning of fossil fuels — makes it dangerous to even try making…
