RE: Wildfires, flash floods. A climate crisis unfolding

Jerise, Yesterday, Jane told you about this year’s shocking wildfire season. I’m here to remind you that this isn’t new―and it isn’t normal. In recent years, we’ve seen the sky turn orange at the Golden Gate Bridge:1 Flooding swallowed the River Arts District in Asheville, NC after Hurricane Helene:2 Sanders Institute Fellows like Bill McKibben and Naomi Klein have been leading the conversation about real solutions to the climate crisis. They are not the only voices that should be elevated in these times, but they would be a great place to start. The media needs to broaden their coverage from one-off reporting of wildfires, floods, extreme weather and recovery efforts to provide analysis of the related cause of these disasters and the actions required to address it. Send a message: Tell the media to connect the dots and tell the full story of the climate crisis, to put the individual disasters in context, and to hold politicians accountable for real climate solutions! Thank you, Dave Driscoll The Sanders Institute P.S. In case you missed it, here’s Jane’s message from yesterday. Read it and take action! 1 https://www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/orange-skies-day-remembered-4-years-later-photos/ 2 https://www.citizen-times.com/picture-gallery/news/local/2025/09/22/helene-asheville-devestating-photos/86116238007/ ----- Jane's Email ----- Jerise, Three hundred thousand people evacuated in France and Spain due to wildfires. Canadian wildfire smoke blanketed the Eastern seaboard and beyond. Millions of acres burned in Utah, California, Oregon, Washington, Nevada, Arizona, Idaho, Hawaii and several other states this summer. The Colorado River, Lake Powell, and Lake Mead all at their lowest levels in recorded history Flash flooding in New York, New Jersey, Missouri, Alaska, and Pennsylvania. These are not isolated incidents―they are one story. But the media isn’t connecting the dots. You’d think with all these disasters that there would be urgent action in our Nation’s Capitol, in state legislatures and in newsrooms around the country about combatting climate change. But no. Instead, the media reports each of the incidents separately, not seeing the forest for the trees (no pun intended). Politicians console their constituents and scramble for funding to pay for the damages. At best, the powers that be talk about adapting to the new (finally accepted) reality of climate change, and about creating resiliency – an important subject, but far from enough. Tell the media and our elected officials to call out these separate disasters out for what they are – part of a climate crisis that urgently needs to be addressed. It’s time to get serious about this issue. Focus on what politicians will actually commit to do to reverse course on the impending climate disaster. We need the media to make it clear: The climate crisis is here. It’s past time to put the individual news stories in context, to analyze the cause. Send a message to the news directors of CBS, CNN, ABC, NBC, Fox News, and MS NOW: Call the climate crisis what it is. Thank you, Jane O’Meara Sanders The Sanders Institute Paid for by the Sanders Institute 131 Church St., Burlington, VT 05401 The Sanders Institute is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.   Sent via ActionNetwork.org. To update your email address, change your name or address, or to stop receiving emails from The Sanders Institute, please click here.