“Wildfire Season is upon us.”

Smoke travels fast—even one or two states away. Even on the plains below the mountains, air is thick, hazy, local governments advise children on summer break to stay indoors. Homes and even towns are destroyed. Pets and sometimes human lives are lost. Millions of dollars is spent fighting the fires, and millions more is spent rebuilding homes and lives.

But there is no Wildfire Season.

Wildfires are far worse, and rains far the lesser. Calling it a season belies the fact that

1. when I was a boy (not so long ago!) we used to get rains in Boulder the afternoon just about every day. Now we go 30 or 40 days at a time without rain.
2. that millions upon millions of pine trees have died in only a few years affecting Republicans and Democrats alike,
3. and that you and I—and everyone we know—created this season by driving, by running AC with the doors open, by leaving lights on, by creating Climate Change
4. that while wildfires have always happened, often to devastating effect, now—like hurricanes and floods—they happen with ferocious regularity and strength.

To end on a happier note, pretty soon there won’t be any trees left to worry about!