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The January 2025 fires in Los Angeles were a great tragedy for all who lost their lives and homes, but also for the rest of us in Los Angeles. The fire was due to drought conditions caused by climate change (Laura)>

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Ad un certo punto Samuel mi chiede se avevo portato nella casa nuova i germogli di vite che erano spontaneamente cresciuti nei vasi accanto a quella piantata nella casa da cui ci eravamo trasferiti. Me lo chiedeva perché ne avevamo parlato – io ero preoccupata di non potermi portare via la vite che sin da quando è nato Samuel, e anche Leo prima, mi hanno visto potare d’inverno per poi ricrescere in primavera. Guardavo i germogli delle foglie crescere e quando diventavano foglie abbastanza grandi le toglievo per dare luce ai grappoli e fare in modo che l’uva maturasse bene.

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If I had to leave, I would take my bonsais.

I have cared for them for many years.

Dan

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Plants and humans are affected by climate change and have had to migrate to more hospitable habitats.

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The January fire tore through The Will Rogers State Park. Of the 31 room ranch house, which was open to the public, only two chimneys remain.  Will Rogers, actor, and humorist, born in 1879 was a citizen of the Cherokee nation. The cowboy philosopher’s 359 acre estate was donated by his widow to the State of California. It was a remarkable place to visit, picnic and hike. We all miss it.

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Hi Laura, it's Dan returning your call. It is July 15th. We were not affected by the weather, but parts of New Jersey got six or seven inches of rain. We got about half. But videos posted to social media showed scenes of subway platforms in New York City submerged under several inches of water, and water pouring down staircases. In one video passengers were seen standing on the subway seats to avoid floods pouring into open train doors.

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The torrential rains that inundated the New York City area left at least two people dead, officials said Tuesday, as road closures and transit disruptions lingered across the region. More than 2 inches of rain fell on Central Park in the span of a single hour on Monday night, the second-wettest hour ever recorded in the city.

A state of emergency was in effect in New Jersey, where Gov. Phil Murphy said flooding in the suburb of Plainfield swept away a vehicle on Monday night, killing two people inside. The sprawling storms swelled waterways up and down the Eastern Seaboard, and forecasters warned that flooding was still possible from Washington, D.C., to the Carolinas.

New York Times. July 16, 2025

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25 girls missing from the camp.

The girls were at Camp Mystic along the Guadalupe River in Hunt, in Kerr County, according to the County's sheriff. Desperate parents posted photos of their children online, seeking any information, others went to reunification centers to try to find missing loved ones. An unknown number of other people were also missing, Kerr County officials said in an update on Friday night, citing the sheriff, Larry Leitha.

The deadly flooding surprised many, including Texas officials, who said that some National Weather Service alerts had underestimated the risks. The most urgent alerts came in overnight, in the early hours of Friday.

Hundreds of emergency personnel were searching for stranded people. The Texas National Guard made 237 rescues and evacuations using helicopters and rescue swimmers, Maj. Gen. Thomas M. Suelzer, the guard’s commander, said at a news conference Friday evening.

July 5, 2025

New York Times

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National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Weather Service, scientists and environmental advocates are denouncing the cuts, saying they could cause real harm to Americans.

About 5% of NOAA employees stationed around the U.S. — approximately 650 staffers — received a termination email Thursday, according to White House and congressional officials. The cuts shrank teams across all facets of the climate-focused agency, from experts working on weather forecasting, ocean health, climate change, fisheries and developments in space and the atmosphere.

“People nationwide depend on NOAA for free, accurate forecasts, severe weather alerts, and emergency information,” Rep. Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael), the ranking member of the House Natural Resources Committee, wrote in a statement. “Purging the government of scientists, experts, and career civil servants and slashing fundamental programs will cost lives.”

Los Angeles Times

February 5, 2025

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I had always wanted to see the glaciers in Alaska. When I finally got the opportunity to travel there recently, I was disappointed that they had all receded, leaving nothing but barren, brown, dirt.

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My home region, Marche, in Italy, was repeatedly affected by floods in the last few years. The city I was born in, Senigallia, had its river flooding three times in ten years. We all know this is because of poor maintenance and care for the river. The municipal and regional powers, no matter their political beliefs, did nothing to prevent the flooding. Some people actually died, and lots of inhabitants lost parts of their houses or some of their goods.

It's unacceptable and shameful that lots of politicians still don't acknowledge the climate crisis.

If I had to move, I would bring red geraniums with me, since they were my granny's favourite and beloved flowers, and she used to had lots of them in her pretty house.

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En mi territorio propio Nicaragüense se bajaron los lagos tanto, el agua no se podia navegar en barco durante la pandemia. Ahora en Guatemala los lagos se a subido tanto que las calles estan inundadas.

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Weather extremes in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, USA)

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Weather extremes in the Pacific Northwest (Oregon, USA)

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We used to have much milder summers and winters when I first moved to Oregon about 20 years ago. Now, the weather is more extreme—hotter almost every summer and colder almost every winter. These extremes have also brought new dangers: forest fires and smoke in the summer, starting earlier in the year and lasting later into the fall.

One summer, we tried to escape the poor air quality by driving to visit friends in other towns and even heading to the coast, but the bad air followed us. In the end, there was nowhere to go but the basement, with air filters running constantly. You couldn’t walk outside without a mask because the air was thick with ash.

Then came the winters with heavy freezes and snow. Freezing rain, once uncommon, became more frequent, and although the ice storms are incredibly beautiful, they are also extremely dangerous. The power was out for 24 hours, and we were fortunate to have a fireplace, but none of our other utilities worked. So we ate cold food from the fridge before it would spoil. Driving was too dangerous, the roads too slippery. We eventually bought crampons so we could walk safely when the ice came.

Our beautiful old apple tree was so weighed down with ice that it fell onto its side. The arborists told us it was as good as dead and would need to be removed, but we couldn’t bear the thought of losing it—or the expense. Fortunately, the tree has proven more resilient than the experts predicted. Now four years later, it continues to bloom and produce apples, that the birds, deer and my family eat, even as it lies supine.

Somehow, I hope we can all be as resilient as that old tree, continuing to live and adapt in these changing conditions. - Rachel

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I was in Elche, Spain where there are groves of date palms. I smuggled 4 palm seeds home with me. One didn't germinate and two died, but one is still in a pot on my patio, a reminder of my summer in Spain.

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Our house is still standing

With all the work it still needs,

my uncle’s paintings, family pictures

too many to take, my books,

my wife's crystals. . . .

Sixty homes burned and my god the poor animals

one friend had ash covered bear cub prints

pawing her car to get in.

I opened up my computer to read

fires in Siberia were breaking records

burning more acreage

than all the world’s fires put together.

Olympus in Greece, home

to the original games, burning.

by Gene Berson (partial poem)

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Regions experience a shift from wet weather to extreme dry weather — a phenomenon scientists have described as “hydroclimate whiplash.” These swings can worsen wildfires, flooding and other hazards, and are growing more frequent and intense because of human-caused climate change, experts said.

This month, the Palisades and Eaton fires tore a devastating path through Pacific Palisades, Malibu and the Altadena and Pasadena areas, resulting in at least 28 deaths. The Palisades fire destroyed at least 6,770 structures while the Eaton fire levelled 9,418 buildings, including many homes. Damage assessments are continuing for the Palisades fire zone and have been completed for the Eaton fire. The cause of the fires is still being investigated.

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My mum's Calla lily in the family home, the last summer I was there. I could no longer go after I took this picture. This is now one of the plants I have in my own home.

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When I moved to California the UV rays were too strong for me and were made even stronger by the reduction of the ozone layer. I burn easily. I started carrying around an umbrella…very chic. My friend told me the other day I looked like a Victorian lady. And I would walk around campus in Riverside, which is really, really hot and everyone was really, really embarrassed for me. But now there are many people with umbrellas creating our private shade.

Ashley

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My name is Trisha Ward. The Altadena fire started a few blocks from my house and thankfully the windstorm moved the flames so my house wasn’t burned down. But it sure did poison everything, and I can’t live in my house. The fire took my roof off and all my solar panels. Now I’m fighting with the insurance company because they don’t want to pay and claim they’re not responsible for any of the poison that the fire brought to Eaton Canyon.

The fire started because of a electrical transformer with loose wires that was not maintained properly. The electric company is admitting that they were at fault.

The pollution from the fire is quite extensive. The smoke brought all of the benzene, lead, and asbestos, everything that houses were built with years ago. My house is 102 years old.

We hadn’t had any rain so it was exceedingly dry and the irony of the rain coming two days later after not having rain for so long was that everything loosened from the fire was washed into the soil.  That poisoned the neighbourhood. Our street literally became like poisonous thick sludge.

Even when you didn’t lose your house, you are a victim. And it’s hard to say really how it’s going to resolve itself. We evacuated at 9 o’clock at night when it was raining embers.  The next morning,  around seven when it was clear you could see our house still standing.

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I am a real estate agent. Anytime there is tragedy, there is opportunity. Disasters, like fires, earthquakes, and wars create new situations for something to be done. People in construction build new homes, and the new homes here in Los Angeles cost about 3 million dollars.

I have done several sales with Palisades buyers who were fire victims. Their houses were completely destroyed. I’ve been seeing them at Open Houses, just walking around in a daze.  Well, they just look so traumatized, and now they are thinking about starting over and buying a new house. It’s really especially hard for older people.  There’s still a ton of those fire victims who have signed short-term leases or are staying with someone, who still need a home.

Jerry Jaffe

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I would take a huge amount of orange blossoms with me. The scent drives me crazy and reminds me of my beloved home, family and a tradition we created to gather together and collect some to make distilled orange blossom water. We used to call the ceremony 'blossom theft' because we did it after dark, not to attract the attention of passersby. Now that I am miles away from home and the connections are fading little by little, I wonder whether it might be because we no longer collect orange blossoms. It would not have happened if I had filled my suitcase with orange blossoms instead of useless stuff.

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Flash floods triggered by intense rainfall are one of the deadliest extreme weather phenomena and are projected to become more severe as a warming planet delivers more extreme weather. Experts warn that the Trump administration is dismantling the government’s disaster capabilities

New York Times

July 14, 2025

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We’ve evacuated from fires three times, once having to drive through flames to get off of our property. In this poem is my deeply felt sadness about what has been lost, and my fear about what the world is becoming.

This is where the moon cracks its skull against the dry sand. This is where shadows spread themselves so thin that they wander lost against the white land. This is where there is no water, where the empty wind pushes sharply through the eyes. This is where nothing blooms for whole seasons, where even in winter water gathers in small drops. This place holds the dry bones of the heart as if they were small broken flutes. This place holds the worn bones of the heart, and at night, like the wind, the white moon moves through them.

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In April the Trump administration fired over 400 climate experts saying their reports are biased. His statements came after the Trump administration in April dismissed more than 400 experts who had already started work on the sixth National Climate Assessment, due for publication in late 2027 or early 2028. The administration in July also removed the website of the U.S. Global Change Research Program, which housed the reports.

The move marks the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s efforts to downplay climate science. The president and Department of Energy in recent months have championed fossil fuel production and slashed funding and incentives for renewable energy projects.

Los Angeles Times Aug 12, 2025

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climate news from around the web:

After a Pennsylvania coal plant was shut down, emergency room visits for pediatric asthma declined by 40 percent, according to new research covered in Inside Climate News.

Heat waves have strained Europe’s energy grids this summer, the Financial Times reports. As energy demand from air-conditioning spiked, hot weather forced some nuclear plants to close temporarily.

An Italian regulator has levied a million-euro greenwashing fine on the fast-fashion retailer Shein after an investigation revealed the company had misled consumers about the sustainability of its products and its commitment to reducing emissions,

Reuters reports

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During the Redwood Valley fire, my daughter’s best friend had to escape her burning home. When I asked her about it later, while we were evacuated, she said  the scariest thing about the fire was watching the roses fly through the air, and I later realized she was referring to the embers.

Tembra as told by her mother

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When I looked outside there was smoke. Lots of smoke. The evacuation zone was three miles north of my beach house. My yellow Volkswagen was covered in ash, and the Bougainvillea had lost all of its leaves.

Harriet

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Do you have any personal stories about how climate change has affected you?

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Do you have any personal stories about how climate change has affected you?

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I migrated to the UK many years ago, but I am still very connected to my rural village where I grew up in Italy in a family of farmers; in 2023 and 2024 the area was flooded 4 times and several homes and fields either badly damaged or destroyed. Even though I don't live there, I have been very anxious about the whole thing and some of the victims are friends and relatives, which makes it hard not to worry for them; additionally, this is happening in parallel with my parents being more frail as they age. The most personal and unexpected impact has been on my art practice (I am an artist for a living) which is rooted in my relationship with my native land; I never thought my practice could be impacted so strongly by these climate change events. I am now doing some academic research on this as a way to come to terms with the events, understand what's happening inside me and turn the difficult events into something that can create empathy, rather than sense of hopelessness, for my community, even though I am aware this is a very small scale project.

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In 2023, torrential rains hit the town of Tsevie in Togo, not far from my farmland. The residents were affected by flooding that engulfed the market, houses, roads, and schools. Fortunately, there were no human casualties.

If I had to move, I’d bring Aloe Vera plants with me to keep the home safe from evil spirits.

Kisito

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What can each one of us do in our own small way to support the Mother of us all? She has worked twenty four hours a day for almost fourteen billion years. She has fed us from the beginning; it's not much to ask that we now support her. All our lives depend upon it.

Craig Foster, author

Amphibious Soul

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Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address Greetings to the Natural World 

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Haudenosaunee Thanksgiving Address Greetings to the Natural World 

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The People

Today we have gathered and we see that the cycles of life continue. We have been given the duty to live in balance and harmony with each other and all living things. So now, we bring our minds together as one as we give greetings and thanks to each other as people. Now our minds are one.

The Earth Mother

We are all thankful to our Mother, the Earth, for she gives us all that we need for life. She supports our feet as we walk about upon her. It gives us joy that she continues to care for us as she has from the beginning of time. To our mother, we send greetings and thanks. Now our minds are one.

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Africa Story

In 2001 I traveled in southern Africa for about three weeks. We traveled with a tour guide and a small group of tourists. The tour guide requested that we make a random stop off the road at a small family farm. The family was destitute with no food and no money to buy any. The hungry children were given one meal a day at school. The old people sat quietly on their mats to conserve energy. We put together a pot of donations which we gave to the village elder to share among the local families.

This experience has given me a reference point with which to develop empathy for people in dire circumstances.

Deborah

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A number of years ago I did a research project where I looked at plants growing in the cracks of sidewalks in different Los Angeles neighborhoods. I found epazote brought by immigrants to use as medicine and in Mexican cuisine.

Anthony

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When my husband and I moved from a canyon in Los Angeles to the desert, he brought only two of his precious bonsai. The rest he sold or gave away. After he died, his son took the two back to Los Angeles with him.

Barbara

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I am not much of a gardener, no green thumb, but if I had to leave m home I think I would take two plants that have meaning for me.

One was given to me when my husband died and the other was a birthday gift from a dear friend, now in the last stages of Alzheimers.

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Climate change is affecting me in that it is a constant worry. Summers are too hot and people are still talking about ‘great weather’. Highest recorded temperatures….. birds falling from the sky, plants and trees giving up and shedding leaves.

If I had to go I would take a day lily. They seem to be resilient so far. I like their cheerfulness and they are tasty too.

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The Gunas of Gardi Sugdub are the first of 63 communities along Panama's coasts that officials expect to be forced to relocate by rising sea levels. "We're a little sad, because we're going to leave behind the homes we've known all our lives, the relationship with the sea, where fish, where we bathe, and where the tourists come, but the sea is sinking the island. Lately, I've seen that climate change has had a major impact. Now the tide comes to a level it didn't before, and the heat is unbearable" Nadin Morales

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Cambiamento Climatico

Il mio impatto con il cambiamento climatico è indiretto ma radicato e consapevole. Stagioni alterate, immagini di una Natura sofferente, disastri ambientali turbano ogni singola giornata. Il cambiamento climatico può inoltre influenzare la disponibilità di energia, la produzione di cibo e la stabilità delle infrastrutture: un problema serio per l'umanità e per l'intero pianeta. Amando e vivendo il mare - oggi assediato dagli effetti di un clima tropicale che ne snatura la proverbiale mitezza meteorologica - soffro vedendo il Mediterraneo minacciato da un inquinamento intensivo, specialmente da plastica, che mette in pericolo migliaia di specie. Letizia Cini

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​​Bambù e sequoia gigante

Se potessi, porterei con me due tipi di piante: il bosco di bambù: Crescono velocemente e assorbono una grande quantità di anidride carbonica. Se fossi costretto a spostarmi, mi piacerebbe portare con me una foresta di bambù per aiutare a ripristinare il mio nuovo ambiente e combattere il cambiamento climatico. Inoltre la sequoia gigante: si tratta di alberi longevi che vivono per migliaia di anni. Se dovessi lasciare la mia casa, vorrei portare con me una sequoia gigante per conservare la sua storia, in modo da poterla imparare e trasmettere.

Letizia Cini

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Abandoned Swan-shaped Paddle Boats, Lake Urmia, Photo by Airin Farahmand

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In January 2025, I visited Lake Urmia, a childhood holiday destination near where I grew up in northwestern Iran. Once one of the largest salt lakes in the world, it is now barely recognizable. Poor water management and prolonged droughts over recent decades have drained its vitality, leaving behind dry salt deserts. It breaks my heart every time I think about how much biodiversity has been lost in the region. What was once a thriving tourist destination has turned into a ghost town. Abandoned signs, swan-shaped paddle boats, and shower stalls now stand as the only witnesses to my bygone memories, silent reminders that the force of life once reigned over these now barren lands. - Airin

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Jacaranda trees. Seeing them again fully, but not here.

Purple jacaranda flowers line the streets of Mexico City this end of March 2023. Full bloom, big mature trees. And carpets of fallen flowers on the ground. It’s Easter and there is an odd calm in traffic. At Barragan’s Casa Gilardi, built around a jacaranda – the tree came first, a handful of petals are collected up in a bowl. Hand made, home grown.

There is an abundance of jacarandas in LA. I am thinking of these, seeing these fully, from another city. And most of all, I am seeing Nairobi again. That’s when we first met, in the early 1980s, still a child, only just, on the cliff edge of swapping jacaranda-friendly climates for life in Europe. That’s the first impression, what I see again, always, when I meet new trees, in other places. Like us, they are often imports. Chosen for their adaptability, and relocated, not local. But always planted.

Sabine Jaccaud

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My sister in-law is from Beirut. At her wedding to my brother, she gave each guest a sapling of a Lebanese Cedar. The wedding was in Switzerland. I lived in London, and took the sapling with me. I kept it in a pot. It moved from London to Cambridge. Over nearly 20 years, it stayed in a pot. So, it was tiny. Bonsai, almost. My mother planted her sapling in France where it grew and grew in the soil, well over ten metres tall. When she moved back to Switzerland, the big tree stayed. When I moved away from the UK, to California, the tiny version stayed behind. It was settled in a planter on a terrasse of the house we sold. I left it there. Abandoned to the new home owners. I often miss that tree, it's strange shape, and how I did not have the mental capacity at the time to re-home it and keep it in our circle.

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Since childhood, I’ve loved succulents. We lived in East Africa then.

Here in LA where I now live, they are everywhere and recall early days of marvel, elsewhere. Soft, sharp, dark, bright, greys and greens, scales and flowers. They plump out of front yards and pots along main roads. Some almost tree-like.

I have started gathering some up. By the end of our first year here, I had planted a bed of succulents, from scraps and off-cuts. A scavenger hunt for a fallen piece, a loose stem, something so nearly dead at times it won’t be missed where it is.

Here’s the thing: they are starfish. They re-grow. Drop them down and something re-starts. Cut them up and something usually sprouts back. Life as an implant is the strategy for survival, weather proofed and living on thin sustenance, resilient and change ready. Be more succulent.

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All borders should be porous--Al

I hate air conditioning. More buildings and public transportation are air conditioned and more windows are being sealed. This is bad.

--Neal

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We live in Cambridge. This year we have had low rain and a number of heatwaves. This has caused hardships for farmers and nature. We have a water butt so we use this to create a little artificial pool for animals to use at the back of our garden. We have definitely seen an increase in birds visiting to drink and wash!

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I remember floods encroaching on our home in the southern US. many years ago. When the rains ceased, neighbours waded through waist-high waters—some dazed, some searching. Others shouted from their windows, warning the waders that the water was toxic. Still, many continued onwards to nowhere in particular. When the rains ceased and the waters began to recede, I ran outside with a plastic bowl to rescue fish that flailed in the street, struggling to breathe. I delivered them back into the pond that the floods had ejected them from. I wonder if they survived that day, that storm, and all the storms and pollution that would come and encroach on their home too. The storms and floods have become more frequent in the years since.

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In recent years, the way I look at the sky has changed.

I used to observe it in order to read the weather, the wind, the changes in the air. I trained for sailing races, so watching the sky meant understanding where the wind was coming from, anticipating a change, preparing for movement.

Today, that same gesture has taken on another meaning. I look at the sky, the air, the heat, the clouds and the wind with a different kind of attention,to sense possible danger. I feel that climate change has transformed my relationship with MY Senses. It is as if I need to reactivate them in order to understand whether something around me is changing too quickly.

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If I had to leave my home, I would take my pothos with me. I even have one in the shower: it is a plant that accompanies my everyday life, resistant, simple, and able to adapt.

I would also take some succulents, because I imagine they might survive better through water scarcity, heat, and change. And I would take the pots too: small portable homes for plants that can no longer be rooted in the ground, but have to live with me in a temporary, unstable situation.

Perhaps I would take with me plants that are able to survive, but also able to remind me of home.