As the World Burns

Oregon, where I live, is on fire, again. At least 35 major fires are currently burning and over a 1.5 million acres have already been scorched. The state has been declared the national fire priority, but fires are also raging elsewhere. So far this year, 42,651 fires have burned more than 4.5 million acres across the United States.

Much of northern Canada is aflame as the boreal forest, the world’s largest forest region, burns. Hundreds of thousands of people in Spain and France have been forced to evacuate as record-breaking fires consume nearly a million acres. It’s the continent’s biggest evacuation since World War II. Extreme heat and strong winds are fueling a wave of wildfires across North Africa, with major fires burning in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Tunisia has called in international firefighting aircraft as crews battle fires threatening forests, farmland and nearby communities. Australia is ablaze. This year, the Arctic has burned more than at any other point in 3,000 years.

Twenty years ago, I was one of the first batches of people trained by Al Gore to deliver the Inconvenient Truth presentation. By that time, I was already a somewhat well-known climate change activist and renewable energy advocate, so I got invited to join the Gore project.

The Inconvenient Truth presentation was a massive PowerPoint with slides and animated graphics. I became part of a small army of people who got out there, showing the presentation and trying to raise awareness and encourage people, including policymakers, to take the issue seriously. For many people who hadn’t yet realized what was happening with climate change, the presentation was psychologically challenging. I remember after one presentation, a woman approached me and was visibly upset. She told me she had a two-year old daughter, then, on the verge of tears, she said, “What can we really do? I see the horror and enormity of what you just showed, what might be our future, and just switching to more efficient lightbulbs seems ridiculous.” She was right of course.

Despite the best efforts of thousands of environmentalists ans scientists, the leaders of nations and industries did not take serious action to reduce fossil fuel consumption and climate change emissions, and we are now living in the conditions so many of us hoped to avoid. There is no pleasure, only a unique flavor of grief and anger, for those of us who can say, “We told you so.”

Despite the science and the increasingly in-your-face real world climate catastrophes like extreme storms, freak hurricanes, and apocalyptic fire events, the people in positions of power repeatedly fail to confront the climate crisis. In 2025, global media coverage of climate change dropped by 14%. Not surprisingly, the current U.S. Republican party is riddled with climate deniers and openly hostile to renewable energy. However, even the Democratic party has adopted a stance of “climate hushing”. Since losing the presidential election in 2024, Democratic politicians have been mentioning the subject less in public comments and social media posts. This is yet another example of those in power being more concerned about staying in power than using that power to make real change. Ostrich politics at its finest, as the world burns.

Some good news is that polling suggests climate hushing might not be a successful strategy for candidates. Depending upon how the question is asked, 63 – 80 percent of Americans say they want action on climate change. Eighty percent say the government and corporations should take responsibility for climate action. Sixty-nine percent support transitioning the U.S. economy to 100 percent renewable by 2050. Polling shows that voters who want climate action are far more likely to vote for candidates who address climate change than climate opponents are likely to pull their vote due to the mention of climate change.

A few days ago, I was listening to NPR in the background as I was training my pup, Micki. I don’t recall who the show host was, but she was asking callers what they felt the U.S. should be focused on in the next couple of years. I was surprised how many said climate, or environment. One woman pointed out that nothing else will matter if we destroy the livability of the planet. That seems so obvious, but humanity isn’t behaving as though it is. (NOTE – I am aware that an NPR audience is mostly my choir).

In the Inconvenient Truth presentations there was a series of animated graphics showing how wildfire incidents might increase across the globe with unchecked climate change. That dire graphic imagery looked almost identical to what maps of our real world look like right now. My heart goes out to people losing homes, property, cherished possessions. My heart breaks for the trees and wild animals going up in flames and terror.

Humanity has got to find a better way. Humans designed civilization. Humans designed the economy. That means we can re-design. And we will, either by choice or by force. Nature bats last.

In the meantime, environmentalists like me will continue to point out the insanity of our current trajectory and will push those in power to take real action. We will grieve the charred landscapes and lost species. And we will continue to plan and prepare so that as systems break down – ecological, financial, governance, social systems – we can step in, redesign, and chart a better, saner way going forward.

Pieces of a redesigned civilization have been being developed for years. The New Economy Movement, the Great Turning, my friend and colleague Nate Hagen’s Great Simplification, the Regeneration Movement, my own life’s work, are just some of the good efforts gaining traction and preparing to come through the unravelling on a trajectory to create a world that works better for all beings.

We have fewer than 100 days until mid-term elections in the U.S. This is an excellent time to let your elected officials and candidates know you want real action to protect nature and our communities. Let them know you want them to speak to the importance of this issue, but even more importantly, you want them to act. I’ll be sending this post to my congressional representatives.

The world is burning and systems are breaking. The old, familiar ways are not going to hold much longer. I find it useful to remember that the Chinese word for crisis includes both danger and opportunity. It’s going to be a bumpy ride but one way or another the current, fundamentally unsustainable civilization is going to change.

Vision for an Economy for a Brighter Future, by Cylvia H.

Strategies for Navigating Eco-Grief, by Cylvia H

We know how to morn other humans – but what about ecological grief? By Megan Mayhew Bergman, The Guardian. This is a powerful piece.

Inconvenient Truth movie. By Al Gore. I believe you do have to rent or buy this to view it on Youtube.

For some light-hearted viewing pleasure here is a short video of my Border Collies (seals?) doing one of their favorite things – SWIMMING!

I am LOVING how both are so into it and I’m figuring out how to give each of them their own prize. Micki is also getting better about bringing her stick all the way to shore which is great because then I don’t have to collect a “stockpile” before each swimming hole.

I love this because, well, it is pure dog joy. It’s also a great low-impact fitness exercise for them and a super cross train for agility. Plus, it happens all along the way as I am doing my own fitness running. I feel so blessed to live in a place that has great rivers and access so that we can do this.

Much Love,

Cylvia

(and Olive (AKA Livvy) and Micki Brown (AKA Micki the Menace)

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