With our organization based in San Francisco, our thoughts are of course with all of the people in Southern California suffering from the raging wildfires.  And we have to ask whether or not global warming is contributing to the conditions leading to the fires.  Here’s a good article by Amy Goodman that starts to explore these connections:  Global Warming Link to Natural Disasters:  http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/336682_amy25.html

Meanwhile, scientists are not giving us much more reason to hope.  Check out this article, which says that carbon dioxide emissions are growing even faster than expected:http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2003968367_co223.html.

This makes me wonder what we are doing to end our addiction to fossil fuels.  Yesterday, Rachel from our Alaska program was with a delegation of native peoples in Washington D.C. asking Congress to slow down the rush to drill for oil both onshore and offshore in the Arctic.  Industry is pushing the U.S. government to open up Arctic lands and waters and zone the Arctic for oil and gas.  This at the same time that we’re already facing the catastrophic and life-threatening impacts of global warming, and our greenhouse gas emissions just continue to spiral upwards out of control?  As Rachel says in this press release (http://www.pacificenvironment.org/downloads/10-23AKNativepressrelease_FINAL.pdf), “they need to move beyond oil.”