• rodbiren@midwest.social
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    1 year ago

    It’s one thing to hear the warnings of scientists my entire life on the ravages of climate change. It is entirely another to see it play out in real life. News of fire and destruction will become as commonplace as school shootings in less than 10 years. Living in Hell will be normal soon.

    • rapscallion@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      With the same people who block action on gun violence now offering thoughts and prayers to climate change victims and saying that anyone trying to solve the problem is just politicizing a tragedy.

    • DudePluto@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How is this fire related to climate change? Genuine question because I don’t understand the connection

      • SwingingTheLamp@midwest.social
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        1 year ago

        Based on my own training in environmental science, I can say that virtually all phenomena in nature have multiple, interacting causes. To synthesize what I’ve read about the wildfires on Maui, the direct factors were: invasive grass species which have taken over much of the land area after the sugar cane and pineapple plantations shut down decades ago; a flash drought on the island; and high winds from Hurricane Dora. A flash drought means it’s hot and dry enough to pull moisture out of the plants and the ground, so the conditions on the island were very, very dry. The dry grasses burn quickly and intensely, and the fire was fanned by 70-80MPH winds from the hurricane passing by in the Pacific Ocean.

        Climate change has a role in making flash droughts much more likely, and more intense. It also helps fuel bigger, stronger hurricanes. Thus, a flash drought coinciding with a hurricane is much more likely due to it.

      • PorradaVFR@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Changes to rain patterns, higher temperatures drying vegetation…what might have been minor or even nothing can now become an inferno.

    • notatoad@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      It is entirely another to see it play out in real life. News of fire and destruction will become as commonplace as school shootings in less than 10 years

      in some countries, it already is!

      • MyNameIsIgglePiggle@sh.itjust.works
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        1 year ago

        In Australia someone’s house burnt down the other day. I haven’t heard of any bushfires this year, but that house burning down sure pushed us ahead of the school shooting count for the year.

  • FlashZordon@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    So many historical sites just GONE. Spent Summer’s in my teens working jobs along Front Street. Extremely sad and I hope they get the hope they need soon.

  • RedditRefugee69@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I just flew out of Oahu back to San Diego. I thought I was seeing a pool of lava and took a picture excitedly. Then I learned about all of this after getting home…

    • chase_what_matters@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      That’s how shit looks after it burns. You ever seen a campfire? And cloud cover or smoke filters daylight which actually reveals a lot of natural color. Think about what your town looks like on an overcast day vs a clear one.

      • A_A@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        Also, a lot of ashes falling everywhere makes everything look grey.

    • cybervseas@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The image below has enough hints of color that I think it’s a color image, too. I guess there’s so much smoke in the air that the sunlight is getting filtered and everything looks grey.

    • CaptainBlagbird@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I guess a lot of it is due to the unclear sky, there still is a lot of smoke visible in the bottom picture. Direct sunlight makes the colours more vibrant, whereas grey sky will also reflect on the sea greyish. It’s always possible they might also have helped a bit with a filter.

      Here are clearer, more close-up pictures:

      [2

    • Openmindedskeptic
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      1 year ago

      I mean, everything else matches; it’s exactly where the worst of the fires happened (Lahaina), and nothing else anywhere near there looks like this. It’s probably a structure that was added after the one at the top. Temporary floating dock or something.

      Commenting this just bc it sounds like you’re casting suspicion on the photos, but I’m pretty sure they’re the same place.

    • Num10ck@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      fortunes in real estate are born in tragedy, so yes. the fact that this is your initial public response to paradise being destroyed and thousand+ missing lives, i fear no fortune could heal the hole in your character.

    • Selmafudd@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      I think it would be the opposite actually.

      Fuck I hope so badly they don’t let a developer in there to rebuild and it ends up looking like the shops at wailea

      • Gork@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        That just means that companies will buy the land for pennies on the dollar, build houses and then rent them out instead of selling them.