Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

What Climate Change In California Looks Like

By now you have likely seen the California fire maps and photos of the wildfires raging in California. You’ve likely seen the displaced families that were evacuated from their homes in the middle of the night, and the devastation they left behind.

What you have seen less of is what daily life is like under these conditions. I live in the East Bay on the other side of the Caldecott Tunnel in Northern California, a decent 25 miles away from the worst fires in the Northbay, but right in the thick of smaller fires in Lafayette and Martinez, California.

Here is what you don’t see….

1. You don’t see the sky turn from blue to an apocalyptic red at any given point when the wind decides to shift.
2. You don’t see the air quality go from good (green) to hazardous (purple) overnight.
3. You don’t see children walking home from school with makeshift masks made out of shirts, sweaters, scarfs, or anything else that could cover your mouth and nose.
4. You don’t see a coat of ash covering your car when you step outside of the supermarket.
5. You don’t see schools shut down because PG&E decided to turn off the power with less than 24-hour notice.
6. You don’t see people missing work because they are dealing with a related…