For those who have lost everything in climate disasters, the apocalypse has already arrived. And as the planet gets hotter, climate disasters will get more frequent and more intense. The cost of these fires will be immense, and they will affect the insurance industry and the housing market.
How bad things get depends on how long we let the fossil fuel industry continue to call the shots. The oil, gas and coal corporations have known for half a century that they were causing irreversible climate chaos, and their executives, lobbyists and lawyers chose to spread disinformation and block the transition to cleaner energy. In 2021, testifying in front of Congress, several C.E.O.s refused to end efforts to block climate action or take responsibility for their disinformation. They use their wealth to control our politicians.
We need to build bridges to people on all sides of the political spectrum who are waking up as climate chaos worsens, despite the gross falsehoods from many Republican leaders.
Nothing will change until our anger gets powerful enough. But once you accept the truth of loss, and the truth of who perpetrated and profited from that loss, the anger comes rushing in, as fierce as the Santa Ana winds.