As recent summers have made clear, wildland megafires are no longer a regional anomaly but have become a global hazard. NASA reports that, due to human-induced climate change, “Extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide.”
Hotter temperatures evaporate soil moisture and create dry vegetation, making the land more likely to burn. According to climate scientist Phillip B. Duffy, “What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control.”
More intense wildfires are just one symptom of a much larger problem. A study in the journal Science concludes that global soil moisture is in “permanent” decline because of our warming climate.
The drying of continents, driven by increased heat and evaporation, has been so pronounced that the transfer of water to the oceans has altered the distribution of our planet’s mass and affected the Earth’s rotation on its axis.
As continents dry and water resources become polluted and overused, researchers warn that the world has entered an era of “global water bankruptcy,” in which critical water systems can no longer realistically recover to their former state.
Water bankruptcy is already evident in the United States. America’s largest groundwater reserve, the Ogallala Aquifer, which supports Great Plains agriculture, is being pumped far faster than it can refill. Water levels have fallen by hundreds of feet in some areas, with portions now effectively nonrenewable under current climate conditions and irrigation practices.
As evidenced by toxic Canadian wildfire smoke drifting across the U.S., a deadly European heat wave and rapidly expanding “mega-drying” regions in South Asia, the atmosphere has no borders.
As guests of this world, we must insist that our legislators enact policies to cut emissions, conserve water and protect the Earth’s life‑support systems on which we all depend.
— Terry Hansen, Grafton, Wisconsin
A preview of what’s to come
President Donald Trump’s administration has created a perfect storm of purposeful abuse, neglect and inaction. Dangerous wildfire smoke is smothering the Chicago area, and there is a public health crisis across much of the country. Forecasters warn we will endure more bad air quality alerts and scorching heat this month.
Climate change is making the world hotter and wildfires harder to fight. Blazes have been erupting faster than usual this year in the United States and Canada. National leadership at the Environmental Protection Agency and the White House offer no solutions, instead opting to play the blame game with Canada. Meanwhile, millions of people in red, blue and purple states are suffering through the worst air readings since we started keeping records.
On top of this, the EPA’s repeal of critical air quality protections in the last two years are all adding fuel to the fire.
This isn’t a “natural” disaster. It’s a human-made one. We can still take action to avoid a future in which our summers are filled with smoke and searing heat. Coordinated efforts at the federal level are a critical next step. But as long as the EPA caters to polluters and not people, we will have more days and weeks like these.
— Nicole Cantello, president, American Federation of Government Employees Local 704, Chicago
Broadcasters should be direct
Regarding the smoke from Canada’s wildfires, millions of people are wondering how to deal with the pervasive and dangerous clouds. We get lots of updates and warnings, but it is rare to hear a weather person or newscaster mention the connection to climate change. I heard one person say that “this is what to expect” in succeeding years.
As far as I am concerned, this is a teaching moment, a time to point out that the fires, winds and temperatures are a climate-warming reality. While the political powers would have us believe otherwise, science is the bottom line. Why can’t the news and weather reporters emphasize that the smoke is a symptom of climate change and what to expect? Isn’t it astounding that cities hundreds of miles from the deadly fires are experiencing very poor air quality? We are all connected and need to act with this reality in mind.
The responsibility to alter the trends lies with all of us, but at this juncture, it is undeniably incumbent on the weather reporters to disregard any political backlash and use their platforms to inform and warn their listeners and viewers.
— Andrea Amend, Highland Park
Don’t blame Canada for smoke
President Donald Trump can’t even accept responsibility for having chosen an unqualified vendor in a no-bid process and then asking them to do a rush job on the Reflecting Pool. He has to invent vandals and hope that if he keeps talking about them, some gullible Americans will believe him.
But, oh boy, is he quick to point the finger of blame when wind currents bring smoke from Canadian wildfires across the border. It would be excusable behavior if he was holding down a barstool in a neighborhood gin mill, but not when he sits in the Oval Office.
Where I live, we’ve had some of the worst of this. But I don’t want a president looking to impose tariffs on Canada for smoke while denying climate change, preventing utilities from closing belching coal generators and paying to stop wind farm development.
I want a president who doesn’t just market himself as a smart guy.
— John Podulka, Wolverine, Michigan
Locked into taxation system
Regarding the editorial “Our neighbors are rethinking income taxes. How about it, Illinois?” (July 17): I salute the Tribune Editorial Board for encouraging the state of Illinois to rethink its current income tax system, but as the editorial itself suggests, I won’t hold my breath.
First, unlike surrounding states, Illinois is totally dominated by one large Democratic city that is addicted to tax-and-spend policies that assume that more money will always be available from the rich, as if money grows n trees and those who produce wealth are indifferent to how much of it others take from them in the form of taxation.
Second, Illinois has more overlapping governmental units — legislative districts, townships, counties, municipalities, mosquito abatement districts, ad infinitum — than any state in the union. They come with buildings and grounds, offices and staffs. Apart from actual operating costs, there’s the ever-present future burden of pensions for those who make it that far.
Third, the Illinois Supreme Court has ruled that the 1970 Illinois Constitution prohibits any kind of meaningful pension reform. That means that employees of those governmental units are on the state payroll, with compounded annual increases and income tax-free retirement income, all paid for by working taxpayers for as long as the retirees are around to collect their pensions.
Illinois would indeed do well to look at what surrounding states are doing to encourage both economic and population growth, which tend to go hand in hand.
But whoever says that Chicago isn’t ready for reform could well have been talking about the entire state.
— David Applegate, Huntley
Send less to federal government
It would delight everyone to reduce taxes; that is a no-brainer. The editorial calling for us to look at other states and their lower taxes ignores the fact that we are a federal “donor” state and subsidize other states. While Illinois has huge debt, the money we send to the federal government goes to poorer states.
Let us keep the fruits of our own labor, and then we may be able to cut taxes and pay our own bills.
— Jim Fulton, Tinley Park
Note to readers
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