A Climate Ride to Remember

Heat. Everywhere dust. Today not much wind.

We pass a little to the South of the Salton Sea, CA’s largest lake, too far away to see. In a few decades it may not be there. It was created almost by accident in the early 20th century, when an irrigation channel was breached by the Colorado River, which filled up a low lying dry natural basin. It became a popular resort for the wealthy for a while. Then, decades ago, it began to shrink, drying up, a process that is no doubt being hastened by climate change. It may suffer the fate of Russia’s Aral Sea.

For now, a century of agricultural run off, pesticides, fertilizers has ended up in the “sea”. The water is toxic, and so is the air. As the bed dries out, all the toxins are mixing with the desert dust and industrial emissions. As the wind blows, the air becomes noxious. Respiratory diseases run rife. The wealthy elite is long gone. This is an area for the low income, and people of color, suffering the impact of environmental degradation, hastened by climate change.

https://www.theguardian.com/…/salton-sea-california…