The Apocalyptic Red Western Skies Caused by Climate Change-Fueled Wildfires
All day yesterday, my social media feeds were full of photos taken of the skies on the west coast, bloodied red and orange from the wildfires raging in California, Oregon, and other western states. Each fresh photo I saw shocked me anew. Friends told me: as weird as the photos look, they don’t do justice to what this actually looks like and feels like in real life. Automatic cameras (as on smartphones) had a tough time capturing the skies because the onboard software kept correcting the red and orange colors out — the phones know, even if climate change denying politicians and voters don’t, that our skies aren’t supposed to be that color.
I’ve compiled a few photos and photo collections taken of the western skies over the past few days:
- Christopher Michel’s The Day The Sun Didn’t Rise
- RavenRosie’s photo taken near Salem, OR at noon yesterday
- SFist’s 14 Photos Of San Francisco Landmarks Under a ‘Bladerunner 2020’ Orange Sky
- Wildfires Rage Across the American West from In Focus
- Shocking Photos Show The Hellish Scenes From The West Coast Wildfires from BuzzFeed
- Esquire’s Apocalyptic Photos of the Wildfires and Smoky Skies on the West Coast
- California skies glow orange as wildfires continue from The Guardian
Keep in mind that these photos were taking during the day — it only looks like night because the smoke so completely blocked out the sun.
And let me be clear (because others have not been): the frequency and intensity of the western wildfires over the past years are driven in part by climate change. These fires, along with the death, property damage, and poor health they’ve caused and will continue to cause, are just some of the debts coming due for decades of bad public policy, political inaction, and deliberate negligence by fossil fuel companies. The climate has changed and these are the consequences — the message in the sky is simply unmistakeable.
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