We Can Run from Global Warming But We Can’t Escape

A few weeks ago, when it was really really hot in southwestern Colorado, even at 6,600’ elevation, where I live, I thought, Where would be a good place to move to, at least theoretically? I settled on Montana, near the Canadian border, about 12 degrees of latitude farther north and near Glacier National Park. That sounded cool. That was then, but now we’re getting showers here and tolerable summer temperatures, but it’s been in the high nineties in northern Montana. Cross that off the list. On TV last evening I saw that visibility in the New York City area was markedly reduced by smoke. An animated map showed it mostly came from Manitoba or thereabouts. Meanwhile, our government is struggling to deal with imperatives and crises. I’m in awe of all the good people trying to right wrongs and make the world a better place, but so many people are cynical or nihilistic or self-obsessed –– I could name a couple of dozen public figures without taking a breath. It’s a huge challenge trying to save American democracy, much less the planet, and no, Mr. Bezos, we can’t escape into space.