I have cared for them for many years.

Dan

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

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

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

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.

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

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)

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. 

Ashley 

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. 

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

New York Times

July 14, 2025

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.

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

• 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

Tembra as told by her mother

Harriet

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

Kisito

Craig Foster, author

Amphibious Soul

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.

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

Anthony

Barbara

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.

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.

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

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

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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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.

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

--Neal

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.

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.