Grief and Gratitude in a New Mexico Fire
Shortly before midnight on May 3, we directly and personally entered the growing multitudes of climate evacuees. Such an event was not unexpected. Our forests had become drier than kiln-finished lumber. If you struck 100 matches and dropped them to the ground, 90 to 94 of them would ignite a fire. Precipitation had become a long-lost friend. The link of a warming climate to such a cataclysmic event was evident throughout the region long before the fire drew its first breath.
Editor’s note: As we first published this story (May 3, 2022), author John McLeod and his family in rural New Mexico were evacuated from their home and farm due to the Hermit’s Peak / Calf Canyon fire that started not far from their home. “This is what Climate Change looks like,” he wrote, “making the […]
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