I wrote this piece as a letter-to-the-editor in response to an article on the impending drought and wildfire season.  I had to condense my ideas to 200 words. It was a good exercise. There’s so much more I wanted to say!

We know it’s coming, a summer drought and an out of control wildfire season.

The main difference between this crisis and the Covid 19 crisis was that the virus came at us like a bullet train hot out of hell, shocking us into action while the climate crisis has crept up on us slowly, over decades but is now set to cause exponentially more deaths than a mere virus ever could. But surely, if we can ‘flatten the curve’ of a deadly virus we can also flatten the curve of global warming using science, political will and public acceptance. Our individual behaviour changes would be a whole lot easier; no face masks, no social distancing, no lock downs. And we wouldn’t have to give up all those things we love like sports, theatre, dining out etc.

The solutions are many; an abrupt shift to clean energy, adopting plant-based diets, scaling back recreational air travel, and reeling in rampant consumerism to name but a few.

The climate crisis is now that bullet train. For our children, grandchildren and future generations, let’s act like we care, in our homes, our communities and in our country.