All Your Green Blog

We're very lucky to live where we do. We don't have the risk of natural disasters that are present in a lot of places. We don't have hurricanes like those in the south east. We don't have severe cold like those in the north east. We don't have the earthquake danger of those to our south west. It doesn't snow, but we can drive to where it does if we want. It gets pretty hot, but there are plenty of trees and creeks. In general, I really love living where I do.

In fact, until now, northern California seemed immune to the worries of the world. There was a fire every now and then, but nothing like southern California's crazy community and home-destroying fires.

This year, we had a very wet spring. This gave all the local vegetation cause for excitement. It grew fast and thick. The state was greener than normal by a significant margin. Not to soapbox, but it's consistent with the earlier springs predicted by many climate change models. Then, all of a sudden, it got hot and dry. All the over-grown plant life dried out and became a serious fire risk. And then... we had a rash of lightning storms with very little rain. Fire took off, and went nuts.

There's been a thick layer of smoke around the region for weeks now. It can't be very good for the atmosphere, but the danger of the fire tends to suppress our normally acute eco-senses, and we just hope not too many people's houses are lost. Although Chico, where AllYourGreen is based, hasn't been in direct danger, many surrounding communities have been. There have been evacuations and parades of fire trucks from distant lands coming to help fight the fires. The thin layer of ash that was on my car this morning reminded me that I have it pretty easy. I get up, work maybe 10 hours or so, and usually have a day off per week. It's not that bad when you're working on your own company, so it's actually a pretty relaxed schedule. Right now, there are hundreds and hundreds of firefighters working much longer days, and a lot more of them.

So this is a thank you to them. You brave men and women have much harder, and more important jobs than I do. Cheers to you, and here's hoping you get to take a vacation soon. Thanks for working so hard to protect people's homes and lives. You rock.

And now, to demonstrate how close to home the issue is...

Check out all the satellite images of the fires at NASA's Earth Observatory. It's an amazing resource, and is where I got this image.

If you know a firefighter, shake their hand for me.