ain't seen nothin yet

Another line that plagues me: "we can adapt."  May so, maybe no. One thing is for sure, though. I am really pissed that I'm gonna have to find out --

I grew up in Idaho.  Among other things, I liked skiing in the winter & going to the mountains in the summer.  At the lake, I never get sick of floating on my Walgreen's air mattress, dangling one leg in the cool water & staring up at the sky.  

Now, we have less snow.  Forests are dying because winters aren't cold enough anymore to kill an insect called the pine beetle that destroys pine trees....  

Last summer, when I went home with my 9-year old son to visit my family, we took a trip to my favorite lake -- Redfish. The trip wasn't quite the same as so many trips before.  I felt like we were traveling on some trashed-out planet from Clone Wars -- not just the "ghost forests" of trees killed by the pine beetle, but also the  smoke. Miles away, but forest fires dotted the mountains around us.  A plane passed by heading to fight one fire, a little later a helicopter.  

As soon as we arrived at Redfish, we almost turned back.  Getting out of the car, the smoke was so strong it burned our eyes and we didn't even want to be outside because it was so gross to breathe the air.  

We hunkered down inside our rented spot in town and by morning the wind had shifted in our favor. We got a beautiful clear day,  unforgettably perfect. I got to float in a raft on the water for hours with my kid, dipping into the lake (whenever) for a swim, laying out on the dock to warm up in the sun, and  taking breaks only to grab snacks from our cooler on the shore. This is the stuff dreams are made of. 

The day after we left, we were back at my dad's house in Boise.  During the evening news-watching & happy hour ritual, we saw that Redfish was being evacuated, the forest burning.  Extreme understatement, but its sad to see your favorite place going up in smoke. 

The summer had lots of other days you'd prefer to avoid: record heat, making it unpleasant to even go outside, and lots of other, bigger- than-ever forest fires throughout the state.  

To me, its obvious that the benefits of fossil fuels aren't worth the damage they cause.  I don't want to trade my favorite places -- much less the well-being of a whole bunch of people --  for the convenience of using fossil fuels.  I'm sure you don't either. Especially not when we have plenty of other ways to generate electricity.  

I'm not a gambler so I don't want to turn my head, roll the dice &  just wait to see what the future brings.  I'd rather try and preserve whats left of the world as we know it.  I like it here.

"Ghost Forest" of pines killed by bettles