The Atmosphere Has No Borders

As recent summers have made clear, wildland megafires are no longer a regional anomaly, but have become a global hazard. The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) reports that, due to human-induced climate change, "Extreme wildfire activity has more than doubled worldwide."

Hotter temperatures evaporate soil moisture and dry vegetation, making it more likely to burn. According to physicist Phillip B. Duffy, "What would have been a fire easily extinguished now just grows very quickly and becomes out of control.”

More intense wildfires are just one symptom of a much larger problem. A study in the journal Science concludes that global soil moisture is in "permanent" decline because of our warming climate.

The drying of continents, driven by increased heat and evaporation, has been so pronounced that the transfer of water to the oceans has altered the distribution of our planet's mass and affected Earth's rotation on its axis.

As continents dry and water resources are polluted and overused, researchers warn that the world has entered an era of "global water bankruptcy," in which critical water systems can no longer realistically recover to their former state.

According to a recent report, the Colorado, Indus, Yellow and Tigris-Euphrates rivers have undergone substantial changes in flow. Moreover, "about 70% of the world’s major aquifers exhibit long-term declining trends." This includes the largest groundwater reserve in the United States, the Ogallala Aquifer, which supports Great Plains agriculture.

As evidenced by toxic Canadian wildfire smoke drifting across the U.S., deadly European heatwaves, and rapidly expanding "mega-drying" regions in South Asia, the atmosphere has no borders.

As guests of this world, we must insist that our legislators enact policies to cut emissions, conserve water, and protect Earth's life‑support systems on which we all depend.

By Terry Hansen