Arizona Fires & Climate Change
By Dr Arvind Kumar
Arizona in the United States is currently in the grip of wildfires encompassing more than 700 square miles of the region. Besides, more than 4,300 square miles of Texas has reportedly been swept by monster wildfires. The massive columns of acrid smoke drifting eastward are a kind of smoke signal with the warning that a globally warming world is not a matter of some future worst-case scenario. Rather it’s happening right here, right now. According to preliminary media reports, walls of flame 100 feet high rolled over the land like a tsunami from Hades. The heat from such a fire is so intense and immense that it can create small tornadoes of red embers that cannot be knocked down and smothered by water or chemicals. Reports indicate air tankers have been dropping fire retardant on what is being called the Wallow fire in Arizona and firefighting crews have been mobilized, but the fire remained “zero contained” for most of last week and only 18% so early in the new week, too big to touch with mere human tools like hoses, shovels, saws, and bulldozers.
Global warming or climate change is not just happening in some distant region, it’s happening in our vicinity as well. The seas have warmed, ice caps are melting, and the old reliable ocean currents and atmospheric jet streams are jumping their tracks. The harbingers of a warming planet and the abruptly shifting weather patterns that result vary across the globe. It is right time to address the climate related issues at the ensuing Durban Conference and conclude an all-inclusive effective treaty that binds all for a clean and safe environment.
