I snapped this “smokeset” image in my hometown San Diego – far away from the blazes that have ravaged our state, and yet the micro-bits of peoples lives and wildlife lost,  hung in the air, sullying our skies and our psyches even this far south.

Dozens dead, with that number growing daily, hundreds missing, a town so thoroughly wiped out that identifying the dead is made even more difficult due to destroyed dental offices and patient’s records, which were obliterated in the mega inferno. Homes,  businesses, livelihoods, nature, all vanished. The severe conditions amplifying the devastation and suffering labeled “the new abnormal” by Governor Brown, are due to climate change.

We must raise our voices as one. We can no longer allow our leaders to stand idly by, taking oil money campaign contributions in exchange for, at best, toothless rhetoric on climate. Politicians must be compelled to represent their electorate rather than their corporate sponsors. Representatives must stop playing party politics, stop bickering over political turf, and seniority, and start acting in terms of OUR SHARED SURVIVAL. Let’s PLEASE build something positive, proactive and unified from this horrific tragedy. We are ALL indigenous to this planet. I’m beyond ready for a #GreenNewDeal.