Inslee: Washington battling ‘climate fires’ not wildfires
13 September 2020
Published by https://komonews.com/
USA – Unless some dramatic lifestyle changes are made, we will continue to see intense wildfires and difficult circumstances across our state.
It’s a sobering declaration from Washington’s governor.
“We need to act and we need to act now,” Governor Jay Inslee said.
Inslee: Washington battling ‘climate fires’ not wildfires
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Inslee: Washington battling ‘climate fires’ not wildfires
On “This Week” with George Stephanopoulos, Inslee said the devastating fires that have burned thousands of acres throughout the state are a direct result of climate change.
“These are not just wildfires, these are climate fires,” Inslee said.
These have been some of the worst wildfires to burn our state in years.
Smoke has filled our beautiful Northwest skies causing people to stay inside with windows closed in the hopes of not breathing in these unhealthy particles.
“The skies have smoke like you’ve never seen before, except two or three years ago. It’s apocalyptic,” Inslee said.
Scientists say this is climate change up close.
With rising global temperatures, they say we will continue to see intense wildfires and difficult circumstances unless some dramatic lifestyle changes are made.
“It is way too late to be debating this,” Inslee said. “This is not a debate. The time for excuses, for denial, for downplaying this. Those days are over.”
Though fires have been prevalent up and down the West Coast, Inslee says climate change takes different forms depending on where you live.
“It may not be fires in the Midwest, it’s floods in Hamburg, which washed away Hamburg, Iowa,” Inslee said. “If this is not a signal to the United States, I don’t know what it will take.”
The governor says as we wait for the smoke to clear, we need to take action on trying to prevent our climate’s future from becoming a reality.
“Most of the scientists thought, you know, maybe we had a few more years to deal with this but it’s today,” Inslee said.
Wildfire season has just started and already millions of acres have burned up and down the West Coast.
According to the U.S. Air Quality Index, while much of western Washington is still dealing with unhealthy air, Oregon and central Washington’s air quality is still very unhealthy.
