La Niña, a climate pattern of the Pacific Ocean that recurs every 4 to 12 years, is expected to affect the United States between December 2021 and February 2022. The northern states are expected to see below-normal temperatures, while much of the South will experience above-normal temperatures and a decrease in precipitation.
California is of particular concern, as it is currently experiencing a serious drought, which could become worse due to La Niña. The drought in California has triggered massive wildfires, which in turn create the conditions for mudslides and flash-flooding when more intense rainfall hits the region, as it has recently.
These are just recent examples of the more extreme weather swings that people around the world are increasingly facing due to the climate emergency. In the Unites States, the richest country in the world, the majority of people have not yet felt the most painful effects of climate change. But in poorer countries, people have been forced to migrate by the millions due to this emergency.
Many people are under the illusion that it will be hundreds years before the climate emergency becomes everyone’s emergency. The deadline is much sooner. Environmental scientists predict that we have a few decades at most to stop and reverse carbon emissions, and only a few decades before most people cannot even access water and arable land.
We know that the root cause of this catastrophic destruction of the Earth’s ecosystem is capitalism. We live in a society dominated by a tiny class of billionaire capitalists who have made it crystal clear that they will stop at nothing to grow their corporations, even when it means destroying the planet. How many more millions of lives will be destroyed before we rise up against their suicidal system?
