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Call me a conspiracy theorist but something horrible is happening folks. Ok remember 2011 when Fukushima happened? Well year after year radioactivity has been affecting our oceans. For years there has been talk of the Blob: a big mass of warm water in the Pacific. You think? Sooo here is another thing to think about: why are there so many fires year after year? The blob must be affecting the weather. Dryer ...warmer summers. Another horrible thing on top of that is this: Salmon are disappearing. You heard about that Orca that carried its baby around that died? The Orcas are suffering because of lack of salmon. Here in WA we look forward to Copper River Salmon. This year there was none!!! This is serious! Something that does not get talked about but should. It’s been 7 years since that disaster and yet we hardly hear of it.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but something horrible is happening folks. Ok remember 2011 when Fukushima happened? Well year after year radioactivity has been affecting our oceans. For years there has been talk of the Blob: a big mass of warm water in the Pacific. You think? Sooo here is another thing to think about: why are there so many fires year after year? The blob must be affecting the weather. Dryer ...warmer summers. Another horrible thing on top of that is this: Salmon are disappearing. You heard about that Orca that carried its baby around that died? The Orcas are suffering because of lack of salmon. Here in WA we look forward to Copper River Salmon. This year there was none!!! This is serious! Something that does not get talked about but should. It’s been 7 years since that disaster and yet we hardly hear of it.
Okay. I'm calling you a conspiracy theorist.
If you take a broader view you quickly realize that this is a global issue, and not specific to the Pacific Rim.
You need to also consider the trends elsewhere.. this summer fires have burned in Scandinavia, Greece and Siberia. Several European cities just recently broke all-time heat records (Scotland, Spain). Don't forget the 2015 SE Asian Haze (caused by farmers).. that lasted from June to October...
Australia had an intensely bad one in 2009 (2 years before Fukushima). Greece had another deadly one in 2007 (4 years before Fukushima). Portugal had one in 2004 (and another more recently).
Many of the variables in these fires have links (direct or indirect) to climate change prediction models.
Call me a conspiracy theorist but something horrible is happening folks. Ok remember 2011 when Fukushima happened? Well year after year radioactivity has been affecting our oceans. For years there has been talk of the Blob: a big mass of warm water in the Pacific. You think? Sooo here is another thing to think about: why are there so many fires year after year? The blob must be affecting the weather. Dryer ...warmer summers. Another horrible thing on top of that is this: Salmon are disappearing. You heard about that Orca that carried its baby around that died? The Orcas are suffering because of lack of salmon. Here in WA we look forward to Copper River Salmon. This year there was none!!! This is serious! Something that does not get talked about but should. It’s been 7 years since that disaster and yet we hardly hear of it.
A lot of these things are completely unconnected. The Orca pod off WA coast is mainly in distress due to inbreeding, a lack of salmon (which is a combination of over fishing, WA using dams which trap and kill salmon...no global warming as far as we know.) Other Orca pods that migrate up and down the coast are flourishing since humans never trapped them into the area and forced them to depend on a main food source that we value and heavily consume. The pod off WA is a reclusive and mainly inbreed group that has lost the ability and knowledge to hunt larger prey and untimely will die off as that's what nature does when you don't adapt to your surroundings.
While the Fukushima plant disaster was great and we know the surrounding areas showed high radiation levels, it's unknown what effects it will have on sea life beyond the surrounding area it was released into the water. We're still trying to figure out the effects the atomic bombs have on the current great grandchildren of atomic bomb survivors so it's hard to state that it's changing the sea levels and it probably would be warming the waters and definitely not at the rate your stating.
The fires are a combination of having dry and hot weather and less fire management strategies due to lack of funding and more human populations in previously uninhabited areas leading to increased fire activity due to more fuel in areas with less available water due to the humans. Yes, as global warming trends go up we'll see more fires, but notice that many states with high levels of fire risk like Montana and Idaho don't seem to have as many fires or at least not as many that are declared "out of control". Because people don't live there or the access to the fire is easier for their fire crews (which are better funded then CA, WA, and BC) The fires are controlled and even encouraged to burn down flammable underbrush and weeds to prevent greater fires like you see down in CA.
The connection between them all in the end is human interference. If we helped the Orcas adapt sooner (or not have trapped them at all back in the day) or stopped caring about how much local salmon we wanted to sell to tourist and figured a way to prevent the salmon from dying in the runs due to our need for hydro power we would see both improve. The same can be said about Nuclear energy, despite the toxic and obvious danger nuclear power can do if despite our best and innocent intentions we continue to declare it "clean energy" and choose to use true clean energy like solar or wind. The wildfires are slightly similar, only I believe more controlled burns will be required if we continue to insist on living in areas that will always have a high fire level during the summer. It's importation that many of these things are simply a part of life, we can't change the past only adapt to the future and learn how we can avoid situations and learn from our mistakes. That takes looking at things one at a time despite our desire to connect them all to find a quick fix for everything. It's going to take many steps and most of them won't solve anything like the Orcas, but it's worth continuing to look at them all and making a commitment to doing what we individually can to not contribute (don't eat local salmon until the proper levels are restored, don't move into a new housing development build on former forest land without a large body of water, volunteer as a emergency firefighter, petition for more solar/wind power in your state and the removal of man made dams)
The Puget Sound area is due for yet another day of thick fog and unhealthy air quality. It's so bad, in fact, that our air quality is actually worse than Beijing.
With fires on all sides -- including the other side of the Cascades -- the air quality has dropped drastically all over the state and the smoke has gotten even thicker. Some places, like Chelan, have even dropped to hazardous.
Within the Puget Sound area, most places are coming in at "unhealthy," meaning many more people than average may have breathing problems or worsened symptoms of conditions like existing lung or heart disease. It also means that you should work to limit times outdoors, and avoid exercising outdoors.
Statistically it looks more like an abrupt transition rather than a general trend. Possibly that means we'll return to the average at some point. We'll have to wait and see.
If you take a broader view you quickly realize that this is a global issue, and not specific to the Pacific Rim.
You need to also consider the trends elsewhere.. this summer fires have burned in Scandinavia, Greece and Siberia. Several European cities just recently broke all-time heat records (Scotland, Spain). Don't forget the 2015 SE Asian Haze (caused by farmers).. that lasted from June to October...
Australia had an intensely bad one in 2009 (2 years before Fukushima). Greece had another deadly one in 2007 (4 years before Fukushima). Portugal had one in 2004 (and another more recently).
Many of the variables in these fires have links (direct or indirect) to climate change prediction models.
of course it's global, but the Blob is not helping the situation over here!
I guess conspiracy theorist is a strong word, but in other words, things are not doing well for our planet at all.
A lot of these things are completely unconnected. The Orca pod off WA coast is mainly in distress due to inbreeding, a lack of salmon (which is a combination of over fishing, WA using dams which trap and kill salmon...no global warming as far as we know.) Other Orca pods that migrate up and down the coast are flourishing since humans never trapped them into the area and forced them to depend on a main food source that we value and heavily consume. The pod off WA is a reclusive and mainly inbreed group that has lost the ability and knowledge to hunt larger prey and untimely will die off as that's what nature does when you don't adapt to your surroundings.
While the Fukushima plant disaster was great and we know the surrounding areas showed high radiation levels, it's unknown what effects it will have on sea life beyond the surrounding area it was released into the water. We're still trying to figure out the effects the atomic bombs have on the current great grandchildren of atomic bomb survivors so it's hard to state that it's changing the sea levels and it probably would be warming the waters and definitely not at the rate your stating.
The fires are a combination of having dry and hot weather and less fire management strategies due to lack of funding and more human populations in previously uninhabited areas leading to increased fire activity due to more fuel in areas with less available water due to the humans. Yes, as global warming trends go up we'll see more fires, but notice that many states with high levels of fire risk like Montana and Idaho don't seem to have as many fires or at least not as many that are declared "out of control". Because people don't live there or the access to the fire is easier for their fire crews (which are better funded then CA, WA, and BC) The fires are controlled and even encouraged to burn down flammable underbrush and weeds to prevent greater fires like you see down in CA.
The connection between them all in the end is human interference. If we helped the Orcas adapt sooner (or not have trapped them at all back in the day) or stopped caring about how much local salmon we wanted to sell to tourist and figured a way to prevent the salmon from dying in the runs due to our need for hydro power we would see both improve. The same can be said about Nuclear energy, despite the toxic and obvious danger nuclear power can do if despite our best and innocent intentions we continue to declare it "clean energy" and choose to use true clean energy like solar or wind. The wildfires are slightly similar, only I believe more controlled burns will be required if we continue to insist on living in areas that will always have a high fire level during the summer. It's importation that many of these things are simply a part of life, we can't change the past only adapt to the future and learn how we can avoid situations and learn from our mistakes. That takes looking at things one at a time despite our desire to connect them all to find a quick fix for everything. It's going to take many steps and most of them won't solve anything like the Orcas, but it's worth continuing to look at them all and making a commitment to doing what we individually can to not contribute (don't eat local salmon until the proper levels are restored, don't move into a new housing development build on former forest land without a large body of water, volunteer as a emergency firefighter, petition for more solar/wind power in your state and the removal of man made dams)
Lots of good points! You learn something new every day. I'm just concerned about the Blob which is really contributing to the weather around here. It's very sad that CA and WA and BC do not get a quick enough response to fire danger...very sad.
You know, I've never understood how the forest fires somehow knew there's an international border in the vicinity, and avoid the US side.... Not to mention the bark beetles. For years, it seemed like news of the beetle infestation also stoped at the border.
OMG, that's CANADIAN smoke??
Alert Homeland Security immediately --
We want only AMERICAN pollution in our air!
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