Lytton, BC the hottest spot in Canada, the mayor has order the town evacuated, wildfires have recently broke out and now the town is on fire. The Mayor calls the situation dire. Hope everyone gets out safely…
Give Peas A Chance…
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
Why this much heat is deadly:
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
Brian I had mentioned the 110 heat w humidity in Iowa. I would bring in a bunch of bananas for my men. They looked at me funny when I handed them all one. i said eat it and thank me later. It helps with cramping and the heat.
Best $6 I spent for a few days. No one passed out. They all had energy and I think they liked that I cared about there well being. Or maybe they all just liked bananas.
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
I hate fireworks as much as my dog…just more stupidity by humans…especially the dumb fucks walking around missing digits because they mishandled an explosive 🧨.
Give Peas A Chance…
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
Brian I had mentioned the 110 heat w humidity in Iowa. I would bring in a bunch of bananas for my men. They looked at me funny when I handed them all one. i said eat it and thank me later. It helps with cramping and the heat.
Best $6 I spent for a few days. No one passed out. They all had energy and I think they liked that I cared about there well being. Or maybe they all just liked bananas.
I didn't know that about bananas- good to know, thanks!
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
"Try to not spook the horse."
-Neil Young
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
I couldn’t survive in that heat…I’d be in AC until cooler weather prevailed. I much prefer cold weather over hot weather…
it’s not going to get any better.
I'm the same way. Living here in El Dorado County for 25 years has been a real challenge every summer- and they are loooong summers. I REALLY want to move! The northwest has been my goal for years, now I'm thinking maybe there is no place other than Antarctica that stays cool anymore.
I hate fireworks as much as my dog…just more stupidity by humans…especially the dumb fucks walking around missing digits because they mishandled an explosive 🧨.
Fourth of July is right around the corner and I absolutely hate it. My anxiety is already ramping up.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
I couldn’t survive in that heat…I’d be in AC until cooler weather prevailed. I much prefer cold weather over hot weather…
it’s not going to get any better.
I'm the same way. Living here in El Dorado County for 25 years has been a real challenge every summer- and they are loooong summers. I REALLY want to move! The northwest has been my goal for years, now I'm thinking maybe there is no place other than Antarctica that stays cool anymore.
I hate fireworks as much as my dog…just more stupidity by humans…especially the dumb fucks walking around missing digits because they mishandled an explosive 🧨.
Fourth of July is right around the corner and I absolutely hate it. My anxiety is already ramping up.
I’ve been saying for years they should be banned…both for individuals and government sponsored fireworks…
Give Peas A Chance…
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
"While humans can survive temperatures of well over 50C [122F]when humidity is
low, when both temperatures and humidity are high, neither sweating nor
soaking ourselves can cool us. What matters is the “wet-bulb”
temperature – given by a thermometer covered in a wet cloth – which
shows the temperature at which evaporative cooling from sweat or water
occurs. Humans cannot survive prolonged exposure to a wet-bulb
temperature beyond 35C [95F] because there is no way to cool our bodies. Not
even in the shade, and not even with unlimited water."
I couldn’t survive in that heat…I’d be in AC until cooler weather prevailed. I much prefer cold weather over hot weather…
it’s not going to get any better.
I'm the same way. Living here in El Dorado County for 25 years has been a real challenge every summer- and they are loooong summers. I REALLY want to move! The northwest has been my goal for years, now I'm thinking maybe there is no place other than Antarctica that stays cool anymore.
I hate fireworks as much as my dog…just more stupidity by humans…especially the dumb fucks walking around missing digits because they mishandled an explosive 🧨.
Fourth of July is right around the corner and I absolutely hate it. My anxiety is already ramping up.
I’ve been saying for years they should be banned…both for individuals and government sponsored fireworks…
Thank you- TOTALLY agree!
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
I've come to enjoy the boom and crackles even more as I get older... As long as I'm participating or wanting to see it. If not then I find it annoying, especially on a mid evening.
Part of the Arctic is nicknamed the “Last Ice Area,” because floating sea ice there is usually so thick that it’s likely to withstand global warming for decades. So, scientists were shocked last summer when there was suddenly enough open water for a ship to pass through.
The opening, documented by scientists aboard a German icebreaker, popped up in late July and August in the Wandel Sea north of Greenland. Mostly it was due to a freak weather event, but thinning sea ice from decades of climate change was a significant factor, according to a study Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
While scientists have said most of the Arctic could be free of summer sea ice by mid-century, the Last Ice Area was not part of that equation. They figure the 380,000-square-mile (1-million-square-kilometer) area won’t be ice-free in the summer until around 2100, said study co-author Kent Moore, a University of Toronto atmospheric physicist.
“It’s called the Last Ice Area for a reason. We thought it was kind of stable,” said co-author Mike Steele, a University of Washington oceanographer. “It’s just pretty shocking. ... In 2020, this area melted out like crazy.”
Scientists believe the area — north of Greenland and Canada — could become the last refuge for animals like polar bears that depend on ice, said Kristin Laidre, a co-author and biologist at the University of Washington.
The main cause for the sudden ice loss was extraordinary strong winds that pushed the ice out the region and down the coast of Greenland, Moore said.
That had happened in smaller, infrequent episodes, but this time was different, Moore said. The researchers used computer simulations and 40 years of Arctic sea data to calculate that “there was a significant climate change signal" — about 20%, they estimate — in the event, Moore said.
In the past, thicker Wandel Sea ice would have resisted the strong winds, but in 2020 it was thinner and “more easily broken up and pushed out,” said National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Walt Meier, who wasn’t part of the study.
Another part of the Last Ice Area, off Canada’s Ellesmere Island, had open waters after the July 2020 collapse of part of the Milne ice shelf, but scientists are still studying it to determine if there is a climate change connection, Moore said.
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
Terrible. I can't believe what's happening in Canada. Until recent years, we hardly ever heard about this kind of news. Tragic.
Before and after main street Lytton…
Awful to see that.
Seen too many of those in the last decade. A big portion of Weed California in 2014, most of Paradise and Magalia, California in 2018. 2834 homes lost in the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma, CA in 2017.
And three or dour months of the major part of fire season to go in 2021.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Terrible. I can't believe what's happening in Canada. Until recent years, we hardly ever heard about this kind of news. Tragic.
Before and after main street Lytton…
Awful to see that.
Seen too many of those in the last decade. A big portion of Weed California in 2014, most of Paradise and Magalia, California in 2018. 2834 homes lost in the Tubbs Fire in Napa and Sonoma, CA in 2017.
And three or dour months of the major part of fire season to go in 2021.
The premier of BC was on the news this morning and said “the RCMP are investigating the fire in Lytton and said the wildfires and the Lytton fire are w different events.” I hope someone didn’t decide to torch a church and wiped out the town. I’ve seen indigenous leaders stand up and are against these church burnings…time for the prime minister to take a stand…
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
as much climate as direct human activity in this....
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
Today
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The silvery blue waters of the Great Salt Lake sprawl across the Utah desert, having covered an area nearly the size of Delaware for much of history. For years, though, the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River has been shrinking. And a drought gripping the American West could make this year the worst yet.
The receding water is already affecting the nesting spot of pelicans that are among the millions of birds dependent on the lake. Sailboats have been hoisted out of the water to keep them from getting stuck in the mud. More dry lakebed getting exposed could send arsenic-laced dust into the air that millions breathe.
“A lot us have been talking about the lake as flatlining,” said Lynn de Freitas, executive director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake.
The lake's levels are expected to hit a 170-year low this year. It comes as the drought has the U.S. West bracing for a brutal wildfire season and coping with already low reservoirs. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, has begged people to cut back on lawn watering and “pray for rain.”
For the Great Salt Lake, though, it is only the latest challenge. People for years have been diverting water from rivers that flow into the lake to water crops and supply homes. Because the lake is shallow — about 35 feet (11 meters) at its deepest point — less water quickly translates to receding shorelines.
The water that remains stretches across a chunk of northern Utah, with highways on one end and remote land on the other. A resort — long since closed — once drew sunbathers who would float like corks in the extra salty waters. Picnic tables once a quick stroll from the shore are now a 10-minute walk away.
Robert Atkinson, 91, remembers that resort and the feeling of weightlessness in the water. When he returned this year to fly over the lake in a motorized paraglider, he found it changed.
“It's much shallower than I would have expected it to be,” he said.
The waves have been replaced by dry, gravelly lakebed that's grown to 750 square miles (1,942 square kilometers). Winds can whip up dust from the dry lakebed that is laced with naturally occurring arsenic, said Kevin Perry, a University of Utah atmospheric scientist.
It blows through a region that already has some of the dirtiest wintertime air in the country because of seasonal geographic conditions that trap pollution between the mountains.
Perry warns of what happened at California's Owens Lake, which was pumped dry to feed thirsty Los Angeles and created a dust bowl that cost millions of dollars to tamp down. The Great Salt Lake is much larger and closer to a populated area, Perry said.
Luckily, much of the bed of Utah's giant lake has a crust that makes it tougher for dust to blow. Perry is researching how long the protective crust will last and how dangerous the soil's arsenic might be to people.
This year is primed to be especially bleak. Utah is one of the driest states in the country, and most of its water comes from snowfall. The snowpack was below normal last winter and the soil was dry, meaning much of the melted snow that flowed down the mountains soaked into the ground.
Most years, the Great Salt Lake gains up to 2 feet (half a meter) from spring runoff. This year, it was just 6 inches (15 centimeters), Perry said.
“We’ve never had an April lake level that was as low as it was this year,” he said.
More exposed lakebed also means more people have ventured onto the crust, including off-road vehicles that damage it, Great Salt Lake coordinator Laura Vernon said.
“The more continued drought we have, the more of the salt crust will be weathered and more dust will become airborne because there’s less of that protective crust layer,” she said.
The swirling dust also could speed the melting of Utah’s snow, according to research by McKenzie Skiles, a snow hydrologist at the University of Utah. Her study showed that dust from one storm made the snow so much darker that it melted a week earlier than expected. While much of that dust came from other sources, an expansion of dry lakebed raises concerns about changes to the state's billon-dollar ski industry.
“No one wants to ski dirty snow,” she said.
While the lake's vast waters are too salty for most creatures except brine shrimp, for sailors like Marilyn Ross, 65, it’s a tranquil paradise with panoramas of distant peaks.
“You get out on this lake and it’s better than going to a psychiatrist, it’s really very calming,” she said.
But this year, the little red boat named Promiscuous that she and her husband have sailed for more than 20 years was hoisted out of the water with a massive crane just as the season got underway. Record-low lake levels were expected to leave the boats stuck in the mud rather than skimming the waves. Low water has kept the other main marina closed for years.
“Some people don’t think that we’re ever going to be able to get back in," Ross said.
Brine shrimp support a $57 million fish food industry in Utah but in the coming years, less water could make the salinity too great for even those tiny creatures to survive.
“We’re really coming to a critical time for the Great Salt Lake,” said Jaimi Butler, coordinator for Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She studies the American white pelican, one of the largest birds in North America.
They flock to Gunnison Island, a remote outpost in the lake where up to 20% of the bird’s population nests, with male and female birds cooperating to have one watch the eggs at all times.
“Mom goes fishing and dad stays at the nest,” Butler said.
But the falling lake levels have exposed a land bridge to the island, allowing foxes and coyotes to come across and hunt for rodents and other food. The activity frightens the shy birds accustomed to a quiet place to raise their young, so they flee the nests, leaving the eggs and baby birds to be eaten by gulls.
Pelicans aren’t the only birds dependent on the lake. It’s a stopover for many species to feed on their journey south.
A study from Utah State University says that to maintain lake levels, diverting water from rivers that flow into it would have to decrease by 30%. But for the state with the nation's fastest-growing population, addressing the problem will require a major shift in how water is allocated and perceptions of the lake, which has a strong odor in some places caused treated wastewater and is home to billions of brine flies.
“There’s a lot of people who believe that every drop that goes into the Great Salt Lake is wasted,” Perry said. “That’s the perspective I’m trying to change. The lake has needs, too. And they’re not being met.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
"There’s one thing that many Americans can affirm right now: It’s freaking hot. In case you still had any doubts, Death Valley, California—the hottest, driest, and lowest place in the country—experienced
a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit (54.4 degrees Celsius) on
Friday, one of the hottest temperatures ever reliably recorded on the
planet."
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
suppose this can go here. couldnt figure out where else it should go....
(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink told global leaders the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are outdated and require a total overhaul if they’re to marshal the trillions of dollars in investment needed to bring sustainability to the developing world.
Specifically, he called for a “rethink” of their role as financiers -- instead of lending money themselves to promote development and economic stability, the World Bank and IMF would be more useful in the transition to clean energy as insurers that reduce risk for private investors. Fink commented in prepared remarks to the Venice International Conference on Climate, part of the weekend meetings of the Group of 20 in Italy.
“There is private capital that can be mobilized for the emerging markets, but we need to rethink the way the international financial institutions can support low-carbon investments at scale,” he said of the two organizations established 77 years ago in the waning days of World War II. “We need a financing system that isn’t built around bank balance sheets.”
A representative from the IMF declined to comment and the World Bank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fink, arguably the world’s most powerful investor with about $9 trillion under management at New York-based BlackRock, used his speech largely to highlight what he considers flaws or risks in the approaches many countries are taking to reach net-zero emissions. He flagged the unintended consequences of climate-related regulation on public companies and the potential for “politically untenable” $100-a-barrel oil if fossil fuel demand doesn’t slow fast enough.
BlackRock has made a big bet on sustainable investing in the past two years and stands to benefit as more capital flows to environment-friendly solutions.
The financing challenge, as Fink sees it, is creating “long-term, durable returns” in developing economies for private investors who shudder at the prospect of steep losses or wild volatility. His solution, using a crisis-fighting tool developed by the U.S. Treasury as a model, is turning the World Bank and/or IMF into “first-loss” guarantors.
In 2009, with the world reeling from the near-collapse of the financial system, the Treasury lured investors to buy portfolios of toxic assets by offering them insurance against initial losses. As the economy recovered, the participants in the Public-Private Investment Program made money and the government reaped $3.9 billion in interest on its $18.6 billion.
“We need global solutions and international organizations that are willing to mitigate the risks of investing in emerging markets,” Fink said in his speech. “We need more solutions like those used in mortgage-backed securities where some degree of losses is absorbed before they impact private investors.”
There is precedent for similar arrangements. In 2015, the World Bank’s International Development Association provided a policy-based guarantee, or PBG, insuring 40% of a $1 billion bond issue by Ghana. As a result, the debt received a higher credit rating, and Ghana was able to extend its maturity and lower the interest rate. Other PBG recipients under the same framework include Albania, Angola and Pakistan.
BlackRock also built a similar guarantee feature into the Climate Finance Partnership it formed with France, Germany and Japan and two philanthropies. That effort has raised more than $250 million so far to invest in carbon reduction in emerging markets.
‘Greater Magnitude’
“As excited as I am about this partnership, we need solutions of a much greater magnitude,” Fink said in Venice.
According to the International Energy Agency, clean-energy investment in emerging markets has to reach at least $1 trillion a year by 2030, up from $150 million a year today, for the world to reach a mid-century target of net-zero emissions.
Both the World Bank and the IMF were founded in 1944 at the so-called Bretton Woods Conference that created the postwar monetary system. Banks, once a major source of funding for sovereign borrowers in emerging markets, have cut risky lending since the 2008 financial crisis. Much of that credit capacity now lies in the hands of asset managers such as BlackRock and Pacific Investment Management Co.
While Fink has shared his first-loss concept with G-20 leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, according to people familiar with those discussions, some stakeholders may be less receptive. World Bank President David Malpass has lambasted the private sector for not doing its “fair share” in providing debt relief to poor countries and curtailed the use of PBGs since taking his position in 2019.
Often, the interests of public financiers and private creditors are at odds. One group has a mandate to assist nations in need, the other a fiduciary duty to get repaid.
BlackRock is among creditors that felt burned when Argentina, operating under an IMF bailout program, defaulted on its foreign debt in early 2020 and eventually restructured its obligations at 55 cents on the dollar. Fink, speaking last November, said it would take a “lot of time” for the private sector to be comfortable investing in Argentina again.
Set of Rules
In his Venice speech, Fink also told leaders investors need a more consistent set of rules on climate-related disclosures and warned that the regulatory focus on publicly traded companies may have unintended consequences.
“One negative effect it’s having is creating a massive incentive for public companies to divest dirty assets,” he said. “Divesting, whether done independently or mandated by a court, might move an individual company closer to net zero, but it does nothing to move the world closer to net zero.”
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the oil and gas giant, was ordered by a Dutch court in May to slash its carbon emissions harder and faster than planned. The company, which was already selling assets, is now considering more dispositions.
At the same time, there’s been little progress on reducing fossil-fuel consumption beyond electric vehicles. In most industries, the “green premium,” or cost of a sustainable alternative to hydrocarbons, remains too high. Fink raised the possibility that rising demand and shrinking supply may drive oil prices to $100 or even $120 a barrel.
“While some see higher prices as a way to constrain demand, rising costs in the energy sector will only sow greater economic inequality and a world of ‘haves and have-nots,’” he said.
(Updates with IMF decline to comment.)
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
0
brianlux
Moving through All Kinds of Terrain. Posts: 42,289
First the incredibly destructive heat dome in the North West of the Americas, now this.
Rescuers race to prevent more deaths from European floods
BERLIN (AP) — In one
flooded German town, the ground collapsed under family homes. In
another, floodwaters swept through an assisted living center, killing
12.
Rescue
workers across Germany and Belgium rushed Friday to prevent more deaths
from some of the Continent’s worst flooding in years as the number of
dead surpassed 125 and the search went on for hundreds of missing
people.
Fueled by
days of heavy rain, the floodwaters also left thousands of Germans
homeless after their dwellings were destroyed or deemed to be at risk,
and elected officials began to worry about the lingering economic
effects from lost homes and businesses.
Elsewhere in Europe, dikes on swollen rivers were at risk of collapsing, and crews raced to reinforce flood barriers.
Sixty-three
people perished in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, including
12 residents of an assisted living facility for disabled people in the
town of Sinzig who were surprised by a sudden rush of water from the
nearby Ahr River, authorities said.
German
President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “stunned” by the
devastation and pledged support to the families of those killed and to
cities and towns facing significant damage.
“In
the hour of need, our country stands together,” Steinmeier said in a
televised statement. “It’s important that we show solidarity for those
from whom the flood has taken everything.”
By
Friday evening, waters were receding across much of the affected
regions, but officials feared that more bodies might be found in cars
and trucks that were swept away.
A
harrowing rescue effort unfolded in the German town of Erftstadt,
southwest of Cologne, where people were trapped when the ground gave way
and their homes collapsed.
Fifty
people were rescued from their houses, county administrator Frank Rock
told German broadcaster n-tv. Aerial photos showed what appeared to be a
massive landslide at a gravel pit on the town’s edge.
“One has to assume that under the circumstances some people didn’t manage to escape,” Rock said.
Authorities
cautioned that the large number of missing could stem from duplicated
reports and difficulties reaching people because of closed roads and
disrupted phone service.
After
Germany, where the death toll stood at 106, Belgium was the hardest
hit. The country confirmed the deaths of 20 people, with another 20
still missing, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told the VRT
network Friday.
Several
dikes on the Meuse Rriver that runs from Belgium into the Netherlands
were at risk of collapsing, Verlinden said. Authorities in the southern
Dutch town of Venlo evacuated 200 hospital patients due to the river’s
looming threat.
Utility companies reported widespread disruption of electricity and gas service that they said could last for days or weeks.
The
governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, who hopes to succeed Chancellor
Angela Merkel as the nation’s leader after Germany’s election on Sept.
26, said the disaster had caused immense economic damage to the
country’s most populous state. The number of dead in North
Rhine-Westphalia stood at 43.
“The
floods have literally pulled the ground from beneath many people’s
feet,” Gov. Armin Laschet said at a news conference. “They lost their
houses, farms or businesses.”
Manfred
Pesch, a hotel owner in the small village of Gemuend, recounted how the
floods came suddenly and rose to 2 meters (over 6 feet).
“Our hotel needs to be rebuilt,” he said. “We need a lot of help.”
Wolfgang Meyer, owner of a painting business in Gemuend, said his family escaped the rising water, but his business was swamped.
“The
machinery, equipment, the entire office, files, records ... everything
is gone actually,” he said. “We’re going to have some work to do there.”
Malu
Dreyer, the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, said the disaster
showed the need to speed up efforts to curb global warming, which
experts say could make such disasters more frequent.
She
accused Laschet and Merkel’s center-right Union bloc of hindering
efforts to achieve greater greenhouse gas reductions in Germany,
Europe’s biggest economy and a major emitter of planet-warming gases.
“Climate change isn’t abstract anymore. We are experiencing it up close and painfully,” she told the Funke media group.
Steinmeier, the German president, echoed her calls for greater efforts to combat global warming.
“Only
if we decisively take up the fight against climate change will we be
able to limit the extreme weather conditions we are now experiencing,”
he said.
The
World Meteorological Organization said some parts of Western Europe have
received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days.
“What made it worse is that the soils were already saturated by previous rainfall,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said.
She
said it was too soon to blame the floods and preceding heat wave on
rising global temperatures but added: “Climate change is already
increasing the frequency of extreme events. And many single events have
been shown to be made worse by global warming.”
The
German military deployed over 850 troops to help with flood efforts,
and the need for help was growing, Defense Ministry spokesman Arne
Collatz said. He said the ministry had triggered a “military disaster
alarm.”
Italy sent civil protection officials, firefighters and rescue dinghies to Belgium to help in the search for missing people.
In
the southern Dutch province of Limburg, which also has been hit hard by
flooding, troops piled sandbags to strengthen a 1.1-kilometer (0.7
mile) stretch of dike along the Maas River, and police helped evacuate
low-lying neighborhoods.
Caretaker
Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the government was officially
declaring flooded regions disaster areas, making businesses and
residents eligible for compensation. Dutch King Willem-Alexander visited
the region Thursday night and called the scenes “heartbreaking.”
Meanwhile,
heavy rain in Switzerland caused several rivers and lakes to burst
their banks. Public broadcaster SRF reported that a flash flood swept
away cars, flooded basements and destroyed small bridges late Thursday
in the northern villages of Schleitheim und Beggingen.
Erik
Schulz, the mayor of the hard-hit German city of Hagen, 50 kilometers
(31 miles) northeast of Cologne, said a wave of other regions and
ordinary citizens were offering to help.
“We
have many, many citizens saying ‘I can offer a place to stay. Where can
I go to help? ... Where can I bring my shovel and bucket?’” he told
n-tv. “The city is standing together, and you can feel that.”
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
‘Everything is on fire’: Siberia hit by unprecedented burning
Locals fear for their health and property as smoke from raging forest fires shrouds an entire region of eastern Russia
The extraordinary forest fires, which have already burned through 1.5m
hectares (3.7m acres) of land in north-east Siberia have released
choking smog across Russia’s Yakutia region, where officials have
described this summer’s weather as the driest in the past 150 years. And
that follows five years of hot summers, which have, according to
villagers, turned the surrounding forests and fields into a tinderbox.
"Pretty cookies, heart squares all around, yeah!" -Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Comments
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Best $6 I spent for a few days. No one passed out. They all had energy and I think they liked that I cared about there well being. Or maybe they all just liked bananas.
Tulare county city's have had this happen before.
https://thecounter.org/california-town-no-running-water-heat-wave-teviston-central-valley/
it’s not going to get any better.
I didn't know that about bananas- good to know, thanks!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
I'm the same way. Living here in El Dorado County for 25 years has been a real challenge every summer- and they are loooong summers. I REALLY want to move! The northwest has been my goal for years, now I'm thinking maybe there is no place other than Antarctica that stays cool anymore.
Fourth of July is right around the corner and I absolutely hate it. My anxiety is already ramping up.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Thank you- TOTALLY agree!
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Terrible. I can't believe what's happening in Canada. Until recent years, we hardly ever heard about this kind of news. Tragic.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Part of the Arctic is nicknamed the “Last Ice Area,” because floating sea ice there is usually so thick that it’s likely to withstand global warming for decades. So, scientists were shocked last summer when there was suddenly enough open water for a ship to pass through.
The opening, documented by scientists aboard a German icebreaker, popped up in late July and August in the Wandel Sea north of Greenland. Mostly it was due to a freak weather event, but thinning sea ice from decades of climate change was a significant factor, according to a study Thursday in the journal Communications Earth and Environment.
While scientists have said most of the Arctic could be free of summer sea ice by mid-century, the Last Ice Area was not part of that equation. They figure the 380,000-square-mile (1-million-square-kilometer) area won’t be ice-free in the summer until around 2100, said study co-author Kent Moore, a University of Toronto atmospheric physicist.
“It’s called the Last Ice Area for a reason. We thought it was kind of stable,” said co-author Mike Steele, a University of Washington oceanographer. “It’s just pretty shocking. ... In 2020, this area melted out like crazy.”
Scientists believe the area — north of Greenland and Canada — could become the last refuge for animals like polar bears that depend on ice, said Kristin Laidre, a co-author and biologist at the University of Washington.
The main cause for the sudden ice loss was extraordinary strong winds that pushed the ice out the region and down the coast of Greenland, Moore said.
That had happened in smaller, infrequent episodes, but this time was different, Moore said. The researchers used computer simulations and 40 years of Arctic sea data to calculate that “there was a significant climate change signal" — about 20%, they estimate — in the event, Moore said.
In the past, thicker Wandel Sea ice would have resisted the strong winds, but in 2020 it was thinner and “more easily broken up and pushed out,” said National Snow and Ice Data Center scientist Walt Meier, who wasn’t part of the study.
Another part of the Last Ice Area, off Canada’s Ellesmere Island, had open waters after the July 2020 collapse of part of the Milne ice shelf, but scientists are still studying it to determine if there is a climate change connection, Moore said.
___
Read stories on climate issues by The Associated Press at https://apnews.com/hub/climate.
___
Follow Seth Borenstein on Twitter at @borenbears.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
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-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
Brian, It looks like it’s going to be a shitty summer in BC and in the US west…
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
'Abysmal attempt': B.C. wildfire response criticized by Indigenous leader
By LINDSAY WHITEHURST
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The silvery blue waters of the Great Salt Lake sprawl across the Utah desert, having covered an area nearly the size of Delaware for much of history. For years, though, the largest natural lake west of the Mississippi River has been shrinking. And a drought gripping the American West could make this year the worst yet.
The receding water is already affecting the nesting spot of pelicans that are among the millions of birds dependent on the lake. Sailboats have been hoisted out of the water to keep them from getting stuck in the mud. More dry lakebed getting exposed could send arsenic-laced dust into the air that millions breathe.
“A lot us have been talking about the lake as flatlining,” said Lynn de Freitas, executive director of Friends of the Great Salt Lake.
The lake's levels are expected to hit a 170-year low this year. It comes as the drought has the U.S. West bracing for a brutal wildfire season and coping with already low reservoirs. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, has begged people to cut back on lawn watering and “pray for rain.”
For the Great Salt Lake, though, it is only the latest challenge. People for years have been diverting water from rivers that flow into the lake to water crops and supply homes. Because the lake is shallow — about 35 feet (11 meters) at its deepest point — less water quickly translates to receding shorelines.
The water that remains stretches across a chunk of northern Utah, with highways on one end and remote land on the other. A resort — long since closed — once drew sunbathers who would float like corks in the extra salty waters. Picnic tables once a quick stroll from the shore are now a 10-minute walk away.
Robert Atkinson, 91, remembers that resort and the feeling of weightlessness in the water. When he returned this year to fly over the lake in a motorized paraglider, he found it changed.
“It's much shallower than I would have expected it to be,” he said.
The waves have been replaced by dry, gravelly lakebed that's grown to 750 square miles (1,942 square kilometers). Winds can whip up dust from the dry lakebed that is laced with naturally occurring arsenic, said Kevin Perry, a University of Utah atmospheric scientist.
It blows through a region that already has some of the dirtiest wintertime air in the country because of seasonal geographic conditions that trap pollution between the mountains.
Perry warns of what happened at California's Owens Lake, which was pumped dry to feed thirsty Los Angeles and created a dust bowl that cost millions of dollars to tamp down. The Great Salt Lake is much larger and closer to a populated area, Perry said.
Luckily, much of the bed of Utah's giant lake has a crust that makes it tougher for dust to blow. Perry is researching how long the protective crust will last and how dangerous the soil's arsenic might be to people.
This year is primed to be especially bleak. Utah is one of the driest states in the country, and most of its water comes from snowfall. The snowpack was below normal last winter and the soil was dry, meaning much of the melted snow that flowed down the mountains soaked into the ground.
Most years, the Great Salt Lake gains up to 2 feet (half a meter) from spring runoff. This year, it was just 6 inches (15 centimeters), Perry said.
“We’ve never had an April lake level that was as low as it was this year,” he said.
More exposed lakebed also means more people have ventured onto the crust, including off-road vehicles that damage it, Great Salt Lake coordinator Laura Vernon said.
“The more continued drought we have, the more of the salt crust will be weathered and more dust will become airborne because there’s less of that protective crust layer,” she said.
The swirling dust also could speed the melting of Utah’s snow, according to research by McKenzie Skiles, a snow hydrologist at the University of Utah. Her study showed that dust from one storm made the snow so much darker that it melted a week earlier than expected. While much of that dust came from other sources, an expansion of dry lakebed raises concerns about changes to the state's billon-dollar ski industry.
“No one wants to ski dirty snow,” she said.
While the lake's vast waters are too salty for most creatures except brine shrimp, for sailors like Marilyn Ross, 65, it’s a tranquil paradise with panoramas of distant peaks.
“You get out on this lake and it’s better than going to a psychiatrist, it’s really very calming,” she said.
But this year, the little red boat named Promiscuous that she and her husband have sailed for more than 20 years was hoisted out of the water with a massive crane just as the season got underway. Record-low lake levels were expected to leave the boats stuck in the mud rather than skimming the waves. Low water has kept the other main marina closed for years.
“Some people don’t think that we’re ever going to be able to get back in," Ross said.
Brine shrimp support a $57 million fish food industry in Utah but in the coming years, less water could make the salinity too great for even those tiny creatures to survive.
“We’re really coming to a critical time for the Great Salt Lake,” said Jaimi Butler, coordinator for Great Salt Lake Institute at Westminster College in Salt Lake City. She studies the American white pelican, one of the largest birds in North America.
They flock to Gunnison Island, a remote outpost in the lake where up to 20% of the bird’s population nests, with male and female birds cooperating to have one watch the eggs at all times.
“Mom goes fishing and dad stays at the nest,” Butler said.
But the falling lake levels have exposed a land bridge to the island, allowing foxes and coyotes to come across and hunt for rodents and other food. The activity frightens the shy birds accustomed to a quiet place to raise their young, so they flee the nests, leaving the eggs and baby birds to be eaten by gulls.
Pelicans aren’t the only birds dependent on the lake. It’s a stopover for many species to feed on their journey south.
A study from Utah State University says that to maintain lake levels, diverting water from rivers that flow into it would have to decrease by 30%. But for the state with the nation's fastest-growing population, addressing the problem will require a major shift in how water is allocated and perceptions of the lake, which has a strong odor in some places caused treated wastewater and is home to billions of brine flies.
“There’s a lot of people who believe that every drop that goes into the Great Salt Lake is wasted,” Perry said. “That’s the perspective I’m trying to change. The lake has needs, too. And they’re not being met.”
Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
(Bloomberg) -- BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink told global leaders the World Bank and International Monetary Fund are outdated and require a total overhaul if they’re to marshal the trillions of dollars in investment needed to bring sustainability to the developing world.
Specifically, he called for a “rethink” of their role as financiers -- instead of lending money themselves to promote development and economic stability, the World Bank and IMF would be more useful in the transition to clean energy as insurers that reduce risk for private investors. Fink commented in prepared remarks to the Venice International Conference on Climate, part of the weekend meetings of the Group of 20 in Italy.
“There is private capital that can be mobilized for the emerging markets, but we need to rethink the way the international financial institutions can support low-carbon investments at scale,” he said of the two organizations established 77 years ago in the waning days of World War II. “We need a financing system that isn’t built around bank balance sheets.”
A representative from the IMF declined to comment and the World Bank didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Fink, arguably the world’s most powerful investor with about $9 trillion under management at New York-based BlackRock, used his speech largely to highlight what he considers flaws or risks in the approaches many countries are taking to reach net-zero emissions. He flagged the unintended consequences of climate-related regulation on public companies and the potential for “politically untenable” $100-a-barrel oil if fossil fuel demand doesn’t slow fast enough.
BlackRock has made a big bet on sustainable investing in the past two years and stands to benefit as more capital flows to environment-friendly solutions.
The financing challenge, as Fink sees it, is creating “long-term, durable returns” in developing economies for private investors who shudder at the prospect of steep losses or wild volatility. His solution, using a crisis-fighting tool developed by the U.S. Treasury as a model, is turning the World Bank and/or IMF into “first-loss” guarantors.
In 2009, with the world reeling from the near-collapse of the financial system, the Treasury lured investors to buy portfolios of toxic assets by offering them insurance against initial losses. As the economy recovered, the participants in the Public-Private Investment Program made money and the government reaped $3.9 billion in interest on its $18.6 billion.
“We need global solutions and international organizations that are willing to mitigate the risks of investing in emerging markets,” Fink said in his speech. “We need more solutions like those used in mortgage-backed securities where some degree of losses is absorbed before they impact private investors.”
There is precedent for similar arrangements. In 2015, the World Bank’s International Development Association provided a policy-based guarantee, or PBG, insuring 40% of a $1 billion bond issue by Ghana. As a result, the debt received a higher credit rating, and Ghana was able to extend its maturity and lower the interest rate. Other PBG recipients under the same framework include Albania, Angola and Pakistan.
BlackRock also built a similar guarantee feature into the Climate Finance Partnership it formed with France, Germany and Japan and two philanthropies. That effort has raised more than $250 million so far to invest in carbon reduction in emerging markets.
‘Greater Magnitude’
“As excited as I am about this partnership, we need solutions of a much greater magnitude,” Fink said in Venice.
According to the International Energy Agency, clean-energy investment in emerging markets has to reach at least $1 trillion a year by 2030, up from $150 million a year today, for the world to reach a mid-century target of net-zero emissions.
Both the World Bank and the IMF were founded in 1944 at the so-called Bretton Woods Conference that created the postwar monetary system. Banks, once a major source of funding for sovereign borrowers in emerging markets, have cut risky lending since the 2008 financial crisis. Much of that credit capacity now lies in the hands of asset managers such as BlackRock and Pacific Investment Management Co.
While Fink has shared his first-loss concept with G-20 leaders including French President Emmanuel Macron and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, according to people familiar with those discussions, some stakeholders may be less receptive. World Bank President David Malpass has lambasted the private sector for not doing its “fair share” in providing debt relief to poor countries and curtailed the use of PBGs since taking his position in 2019.
Often, the interests of public financiers and private creditors are at odds. One group has a mandate to assist nations in need, the other a fiduciary duty to get repaid.
BlackRock is among creditors that felt burned when Argentina, operating under an IMF bailout program, defaulted on its foreign debt in early 2020 and eventually restructured its obligations at 55 cents on the dollar. Fink, speaking last November, said it would take a “lot of time” for the private sector to be comfortable investing in Argentina again.
Set of Rules
In his Venice speech, Fink also told leaders investors need a more consistent set of rules on climate-related disclosures and warned that the regulatory focus on publicly traded companies may have unintended consequences.
“One negative effect it’s having is creating a massive incentive for public companies to divest dirty assets,” he said. “Divesting, whether done independently or mandated by a court, might move an individual company closer to net zero, but it does nothing to move the world closer to net zero.”
Royal Dutch Shell Plc, the oil and gas giant, was ordered by a Dutch court in May to slash its carbon emissions harder and faster than planned. The company, which was already selling assets, is now considering more dispositions.
At the same time, there’s been little progress on reducing fossil-fuel consumption beyond electric vehicles. In most industries, the “green premium,” or cost of a sustainable alternative to hydrocarbons, remains too high. Fink raised the possibility that rising demand and shrinking supply may drive oil prices to $100 or even $120 a barrel.
“While some see higher prices as a way to constrain demand, rising costs in the energy sector will only sow greater economic inequality and a world of ‘haves and have-nots,’” he said.
(Updates with IMF decline to comment.)
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Not today Sir, Probably not tomorrow.............................................. bayfront arena st. pete '94
you're finally here and I'm a mess................................................... nationwide arena columbus '10
memories like fingerprints are slowly raising.................................... first niagara center buffalo '13
another man ..... moved by sleight of hand...................................... joe louis arena detroit '14
Rescuers race to prevent more deaths from European floods
BERLIN (AP) — In one flooded German town, the ground collapsed under family homes. In another, floodwaters swept through an assisted living center, killing 12.
Rescue workers across Germany and Belgium rushed Friday to prevent more deaths from some of the Continent’s worst flooding in years as the number of dead surpassed 125 and the search went on for hundreds of missing people.
Fueled by days of heavy rain, the floodwaters also left thousands of Germans homeless after their dwellings were destroyed or deemed to be at risk, and elected officials began to worry about the lingering economic effects from lost homes and businesses.
Elsewhere in Europe, dikes on swollen rivers were at risk of collapsing, and crews raced to reinforce flood barriers.
Sixty-three people perished in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, including 12 residents of an assisted living facility for disabled people in the town of Sinzig who were surprised by a sudden rush of water from the nearby Ahr River, authorities said.
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he was “stunned” by the devastation and pledged support to the families of those killed and to cities and towns facing significant damage.
“In the hour of need, our country stands together,” Steinmeier said in a televised statement. “It’s important that we show solidarity for those from whom the flood has taken everything.”
By Friday evening, waters were receding across much of the affected regions, but officials feared that more bodies might be found in cars and trucks that were swept away.
A harrowing rescue effort unfolded in the German town of Erftstadt, southwest of Cologne, where people were trapped when the ground gave way and their homes collapsed.
Fifty people were rescued from their houses, county administrator Frank Rock told German broadcaster n-tv. Aerial photos showed what appeared to be a massive landslide at a gravel pit on the town’s edge.
“One has to assume that under the circumstances some people didn’t manage to escape,” Rock said.
Authorities cautioned that the large number of missing could stem from duplicated reports and difficulties reaching people because of closed roads and disrupted phone service.
After Germany, where the death toll stood at 106, Belgium was the hardest hit. The country confirmed the deaths of 20 people, with another 20 still missing, Belgian Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden told the VRT network Friday.
Several dikes on the Meuse Rriver that runs from Belgium into the Netherlands were at risk of collapsing, Verlinden said. Authorities in the southern Dutch town of Venlo evacuated 200 hospital patients due to the river’s looming threat.
Utility companies reported widespread disruption of electricity and gas service that they said could last for days or weeks.
The governor of North Rhine-Westphalia, who hopes to succeed Chancellor Angela Merkel as the nation’s leader after Germany’s election on Sept. 26, said the disaster had caused immense economic damage to the country’s most populous state. The number of dead in North Rhine-Westphalia stood at 43.
“The floods have literally pulled the ground from beneath many people’s feet,” Gov. Armin Laschet said at a news conference. “They lost their houses, farms or businesses.”
Manfred Pesch, a hotel owner in the small village of Gemuend, recounted how the floods came suddenly and rose to 2 meters (over 6 feet).
“Our hotel needs to be rebuilt,” he said. “We need a lot of help.”
Wolfgang Meyer, owner of a painting business in Gemuend, said his family escaped the rising water, but his business was swamped.
“The machinery, equipment, the entire office, files, records ... everything is gone actually,” he said. “We’re going to have some work to do there.”
Malu Dreyer, the governor of Rhineland-Palatinate state, said the disaster showed the need to speed up efforts to curb global warming, which experts say could make such disasters more frequent.
She accused Laschet and Merkel’s center-right Union bloc of hindering efforts to achieve greater greenhouse gas reductions in Germany, Europe’s biggest economy and a major emitter of planet-warming gases.
“Climate change isn’t abstract anymore. We are experiencing it up close and painfully,” she told the Funke media group.
Steinmeier, the German president, echoed her calls for greater efforts to combat global warming.
“Only if we decisively take up the fight against climate change will we be able to limit the extreme weather conditions we are now experiencing,” he said.
The World Meteorological Organization said some parts of Western Europe have received up to two months of rainfall in the space of two days.
“What made it worse is that the soils were already saturated by previous rainfall,” WMO spokesperson Clare Nullis said.
She said it was too soon to blame the floods and preceding heat wave on rising global temperatures but added: “Climate change is already increasing the frequency of extreme events. And many single events have been shown to be made worse by global warming.”
The German military deployed over 850 troops to help with flood efforts, and the need for help was growing, Defense Ministry spokesman Arne Collatz said. He said the ministry had triggered a “military disaster alarm.”
Italy sent civil protection officials, firefighters and rescue dinghies to Belgium to help in the search for missing people.
In the southern Dutch province of Limburg, which also has been hit hard by flooding, troops piled sandbags to strengthen a 1.1-kilometer (0.7 mile) stretch of dike along the Maas River, and police helped evacuate low-lying neighborhoods.
Caretaker Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the government was officially declaring flooded regions disaster areas, making businesses and residents eligible for compensation. Dutch King Willem-Alexander visited the region Thursday night and called the scenes “heartbreaking.”
Meanwhile, heavy rain in Switzerland caused several rivers and lakes to burst their banks. Public broadcaster SRF reported that a flash flood swept away cars, flooded basements and destroyed small bridges late Thursday in the northern villages of Schleitheim und Beggingen.
Erik Schulz, the mayor of the hard-hit German city of Hagen, 50 kilometers (31 miles) northeast of Cologne, said a wave of other regions and ordinary citizens were offering to help.
“We have many, many citizens saying ‘I can offer a place to stay. Where can I go to help? ... Where can I bring my shovel and bucket?’” he told n-tv. “The city is standing together, and you can feel that.”
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"
I have friends participating in the clean up. It's a big mess down there right now.
‘Everything is on fire’: Siberia hit by unprecedented burning
Locals fear for their health and property as smoke from raging forest fires shrouds an entire region of eastern Russia
The extraordinary forest fires, which have already burned through 1.5m hectares (3.7m acres) of land in north-east Siberia have released choking smog across Russia’s Yakutia region, where officials have described this summer’s weather as the driest in the past 150 years. And that follows five years of hot summers, which have, according to villagers, turned the surrounding forests and fields into a tinderbox.
-Eddie Vedder, "Smile"