Smoldering Planet, by: Saul Landau

Smoldering Planet

Colorado's wildfires and the record heat waves should sober up some climate change doubters.

By Saul Landau

As fires raged in Arizona last summer, Senator John McCain (R-AZ) discovered the culprits.

"There is substantial evidence," the former Republican presidential candidate told reporters, "that some of these fires have been caused by people who have crossed our border illegally."

That's right. Illegal immigrants, so he claims, set those fires to send signals, keep warm, and distract law enforcement agents. Conveniently, McCain didn't specify which particular fires illegal immigrants supposedly started — or any details of his "substantial evidence," for that matter.


Other conservatives say equally outlandish things. "Belief in man-made global warming is a lot like believing in Santa Claus," Rush Limbaugh asserted on his show.

QuietDangst/Flickr

Actual experts disagree with intellectuals like McCain and Limbaugh. Princeton University's Michael Oppenheimer, a longtime participant in the United Nations' climate science panel, blames another culprit: global warming.

"We're seeing a window into what global warming really looks like. It looks like heat, it looks like fires, it looks like this kind of environmental disaster," Oppenheimer told Reuters in late June as fires rampaged through Colorado. "This provides vivid images of what we can expect to see more of in the future."

In other words, the fires in Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, New Mexico, Arizona, California, and Utah should sober up some of our climate change doubters.

Few of the now former homeowners in Colorado Springs will likely pay much attention to ardent deniers of global warming. They've felt higher seasonal temperatures and witnessed earlier spring melt. They've lived through the large wildfires and lengthening fire seasons that have ravaged the west coast over recent decades.

"The record-breaking fires this year in the Southwest and Rocky Mountain region are consistent with trends [of global warming]," wrote Kevin Trenberth, leader of the Climate Analysis Section at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, in a recent scientific review. Trenberth's paper, co-authored with scientists Jerry Meehl, Jeff Masters, and Richard Sommerville, warns of an ever hotter — and out West, fire-ridden — world.

By late June, more than 32,000 people had evacuated Colorado Springs as fires wreaked havoc in the area. Flying over the city, Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper was stunned. "It was like looking at the worst movie set you could imagine," he said. "It's almost surreal."

"Climate change is clearly playing a role," said Trenberth. "There are wildfires all over the place."

Just like Rush Limbaugh, I'm no scientist. But I trust my guts — and my eyes, which have seen countless fires, droughts, floods, hurricanes, tsunamis, melting ice sheets, and tornadoes all over the news.

How is it possible not to believe in climate change?

Saul Landau is an Institute for Policy Studies fellow. www.ips-dc.org
Distributed via OtherWords (OtherWords.org)


This editorial is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative 3.0 License.

Cheers for green wines!

Red or white are the two colors normally associated with wine, but green wines are gaining popularity. By green, it does not refer to the color of the grape or bottle. 

Green wines aren't just about what does or doesn't go into the wine, green wines encompass how the grapes are raised, how the wine is produced, and how the wine is packaged. Green wines are gaining in popularity as folks try to make more mindful choices in their regular shopping. 

There are different levels of green for wines, from environmentally responsible to certified organic. The online wine site, Wine.com also has a symbol beside their selections to help choose a wine produced in a more "green" way. 

Presented By Wine.com, Purveyors of fine green wine.


The preceding infographic was provided by our sponsor to help clarify green wine making. 

Our Daily Green has been compensated for this post.  

Made in the USA clothing

This past week, a lot of the headlines were made about the USA Olympic team clothing being manufactured in China. It was an opportunity for politicians and celebrities alike to decry the decision and make more headlines.

Our Daily Green is also upset, as we've long encouraged local shopping and a buy American approach, but will confess, many of the clothes we personally own and wear are not manufactured in the USA. Between thrift stores and economizing, we just didn't see many USA labels. We made an effort, but not a dedicated one. Our effort didn't even achieve our sacred 80/20 rule, but probably is more like 20/80. We would choose the USA label if we saw it, but we didn't make a concerted effort to find it.

Realizing that you're part of the problem is a good start to being part of the solution. If we don't want our nation's athletes representing the USA in foreign made clothing, we should stop representing ourselves in it. With a little digging, we discovered a company that isn't just dedicated to making the clothing in the USA, but also completely sourcing it domestically. The All American Clothing Company has a mission to:

... support USA families and jobs by producing high-quality clothing in the USA at an affordable price. By keeping our production in the USA we provide jobs and a tax base that supports our communities. We care about our country and the people in it; if we were only in it for money we would move our production overseas. We will NOT trade USA jobs for foreign profits.

Each article of clothing has a traceability code to find out which American farmer grew the cotton and source of the other raw goods, where it was milled and where the final product was assembled (a small factory in western Ohio).

The company also sells shirts, boots, accessories and outerwear, all with the same dedication to Made in the USA. It's not just a marketing gimmick, the All American Clothing Company walks the walk.

Our Daily Green is proud to announce that we've become an affiliate for this company. As with all the profits we made as a result of our blog, at the year end, we will donate half to a charity. Because the All American Clothing Company donates to the BuyAmerican non-profit project, half the proceeds of any commissions we earn will be donated there.