climate change killed their dogs
Two stories yesterday, one from Hawaii and one from DC, one about wildfires and one about floods, both described people's dogs dying from the exponentially growing effects of climate change.
In Hawaii some people lost track of their dogs during their scrambles to escape wildfire that was advancing as quickly as one mile per minute. Over 1,000 people are still missing in this deadliest US wildfire in over a century, with a death toll likely to rise to hundreds of people. We may never learn exactly how many dogs were lost.
Here in DC flash flooding from afternoon thunderstorms sent 6-foot-high water, within mere minutes, bursting through glass windows into a pet day care facility that I roll by every time I take the Red Line -- I recall yesterday morning looking at the building as I commuted to work. As of press time yesterday evening the number of dogs who died had not yet been released.
I found this DC story the most emotionally upsetting news I've read in years, and I read a lot of news. I hesitated to share it with people, ended up only sharing it with K, who then said he couldn't read it.
And here I'm sharing it in my LJ, after some hesitation.
But climate change isn't only making the world more dangerous for humans, it is also coming for our dogs.
It may not make any difference, we'll still burn more carbon next year than this year, fueling the exponentially growing chaos. But for me the problem became far less abstract yesterday.
In Hawaii some people lost track of their dogs during their scrambles to escape wildfire that was advancing as quickly as one mile per minute. Over 1,000 people are still missing in this deadliest US wildfire in over a century, with a death toll likely to rise to hundreds of people. We may never learn exactly how many dogs were lost.
Here in DC flash flooding from afternoon thunderstorms sent 6-foot-high water, within mere minutes, bursting through glass windows into a pet day care facility that I roll by every time I take the Red Line -- I recall yesterday morning looking at the building as I commuted to work. As of press time yesterday evening the number of dogs who died had not yet been released.
I found this DC story the most emotionally upsetting news I've read in years, and I read a lot of news. I hesitated to share it with people, ended up only sharing it with K, who then said he couldn't read it.
And here I'm sharing it in my LJ, after some hesitation.
But climate change isn't only making the world more dangerous for humans, it is also coming for our dogs.
It may not make any difference, we'll still burn more carbon next year than this year, fueling the exponentially growing chaos. But for me the problem became far less abstract yesterday.