The West in flames: Get used to it

The West in flames: Get used to it | Grist

grist.org 27 Jul '12, 11am

The West in flames: Get used to it

This year’s Whitewater Baldy Complex fire in New Mexico is the largest in the state’s history. (Photo by Gila National Forest .) Dire fire conditions, like the inferno of heat, turbulence, and fuel that recently turned 346 homes in Colorado Springs, Colo., to ash, are now common in the West. A lethal combination of drought, insect plagues, windstorms, and legions of dead, dying, or stressed-out trees constitute what some pundits are calling wildfire’s “perfect storm.” They are only half right. This summer’s conditions may indeed be perfect for fire in the Southwest and West, but if you think of them as a “storm,” perfect or otherwise — that is, sudden, violent, and temporary — then you don’t understand what’s happening in this country or on this planet. Look at those 346 burnt homes again, or at the High Park fire that ate 87,284 acres and 259 homes west of Fort Collins, C...

Full article: http://grist.org/climate-change/the-west-in-flames-get-us...

Tweets

@First_Power » 31 Jul '12, 4pm
RT @MikeSoron: Reality check: the US & Canadian West is being decimated by #climate change. #cdnpoli #bcpoli [link]
@MikeSoron » 31 Jul '12, 4pm
Reality check: the US & Canadian West is being decimated by #climate change. #cdnpoli #bcpoli [link]
@fisherdoc » 31 Jul '12, 11am
When do you start screaming "fire" in a crowd? Maybe now: The West in flames: Get used to it | Grist [link]
@mosquitohawk » 30 Jul '12, 3pm
The Western USA in flames: Get used to it - [link]
@MHBoys » 30 Jul '12, 2pm
The West in flames: Get used to it [link] #clilmate
@fisherdoc » 28 Jul '12, 1pm
RT@grist Fires raging this year are evidence of the new normal in the American West: [link]
@sailsmart » 28 Jul '12, 4am
RT @pdjmoo: WE WERE WARNED: The USA West in flames: Get used to it @Grist [link] #wildfires #climatechange #unfccc
@pdjmoo » 28 Jul '12, 4am
WE WERE WARNED: The USA West in flames: Get used to it @Grist [link] #wildfires #climatechange #unfccc
@garytx » 27 Jul '12, 9pm
RT @RayBeckerman: The West in flames: Get used to it ~ #grist [link]
@grist » 27 Jul '12, 9pm
Fires raging this year are evidence of the new normal in the American West: [link]
@NJDem » 27 Jul '12, 4pm
RT @drgrist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@GroenWerkt » 27 Jul '12, 3pm
#grist The West in flames: Get used to it #mlfeeds: Look at the fires that have raged this year in Colorado and ... [link]
@ZutPetje » 27 Jul '12, 2pm
Global warming burning down our planet - The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@Silvio_Marcacci » 27 Jul '12, 2pm
Eff RT @mims: Did not know: pine beetles are already in Alberta. Imagining a Canada of 2100 sans boreal forests. [link]
@UrbanCongress » 27 Jul '12, 2pm
Frightening... "The West in flames: Get used to it." Let's just call it the coming permanent eco-crisis. [link]
@NathanUnbound » 27 Jul '12, 2pm
Troubling. RT @mims: The new normal: Drought and wildfire in the West (until there are no more trees to burn, that is) [link]
@WestReadings » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
"The West in flames: Get used to it," by William DeBuys: [link] @grist
@the_wrangler » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
RT @westcenter: "The West in flames: Get used to it," writes Bill DeBuys: [link] @grist via @DrBobBullard
@westcenter » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
"The West in flames: Get used to it," writes Bill DeBuys: [link] @grist via @DrBobBullard
@carbonmarket » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
RT @DrBobBullard: The West in flames: Get used to it [link] @grist
@ok_paulo_ok » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
The West in flames: [link] The Southwest may lose 1/2 its forests to fire & insects over the next decades. #climate #fires
@EnvMkts » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
Bark beetles have laid waste to > 33M forest acres, killing a volume of trees 3X > Canada’s annual timber harvest [link]
@ckstackhouse » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
Fire season is 2.5 months longer than it was 30 years ago?! “@grist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link]”
@timrote » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
The West in flames: Get used to it [link] #climate
@mims » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
Did not know: pine beetles are already in Alberta. Imagining a Canada of 2100 sans boreal forests. [link]
@mikedelic » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
RT @mims: The new normal: Drought and wildfire in the West (until there are no more trees to burn, that is) [link]
@mims » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
The new normal: Drought and wildfire in the West (until there are no more trees to burn, that is) [link]
@ronaldwgumbs » 27 Jul '12, 11am
RT @grist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link] //@cspanwj
@grist » 27 Jul '12, 11am
The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@GreenIsTweet » 27 Jul '12, 11am
The West in flames - [link] #drought #wildfire #extremeweather #heatwave
@drgrist » 27 Jul '12, 4pm
The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@gardencatlady » 27 Jul '12, 2pm
The West in flames: Get used to it | Grist [link]
@RuralWest » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
RT @westcenter: "The West in flames: Get used to it," writes Bill DeBuys: [link] @grist via @DrBobBullard
@AmandaRARamos » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
RT @grist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@JohnPercyGPNS » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
[link] [link]
@DrBobBullard » 27 Jul '12, 1pm
The West in flames: Get used to it [link] @grist
@Ciataich » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
RT @mims: Did not know: pine beetles are already in Alberta. Imagining a Canada of 2100 sans boreal forests. [link]
@mikedelic » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
RT @mims: Did not know: pine beetles are already in Alberta. Imagining a Canada of 2100 sans boreal forests. [link]
@beleagueredst » 27 Jul '12, 12pm
RT @grist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@effoff_Monk » 27 Jul '12, 11am
RT @grist: The West in flames: Get used to it [link]
@NELSONSDAVIS » 27 Jul '12, 11am
The West in flames: Get used to it [link] [link]