August 13, 2026 Sheri Edwards July 2025 August 2 2026 August 12 2026 Banks Lake, Steamboat Rock State Park, WA, USA Smoke and Drought Take a look at the progression of photos— the left picture from 2025 is what our area once looked like every day: blue skies, bunch grasses, sparkling lake. Now, when July and August arrive, it’s fire season, not summer. The middle pic is what we’ve been dealing with for breathing. Even the sun gets blocked. Yesterday we had some rain– and a few new fires from lightning, but I think they are all contained already. The three big fires in eastern WA are still burning. As you can see in the right photo, the air is clearing, but still not good for being outdoors. And notice the grasses— all drying up, fuel for any spark. Climate Change: Get Woke How bad is it? KHQ6 news shared the loss of surface water in the Spokane River: SPOKANE, Wash. – All surface water has disappeared from various sections of the Spokane River, marking the second year in which this issue has been observed, according to an announcement from Spokane Riverkeeper on Tuesday. “This year, it’s happening even faster,” the organization stated. “As our region faces extreme heat, increasingly dry conditions, and devastating wildfires, the river is showing us another consequence of a hotter, drier climate.” KHQ6 News Learn more at Spokane RiverKeepers: The River and The Aquifer at Spokane Riverkeeper As I said before, and hopefully you’ll pass on the information: In our area, we now call the summer season, Fire Season, and it is caused by climate change. Some information: A 2016 study found climate change enhanced the drying of organic matter and doubled the number of large fires between 1984 and 2015offsite link in the western United States. A 2021 study supported by NOAA concluded that climate change has been the main driver of the increase in fire weatheroffsite link in the western United States. NOAA Climate change-driven droughts and extreme heat events increase the drying of organic matter in forests, the material that burns and spreads wildfire. Compared with 35 years ago, fire seasons are a month longer in parts of the United States, starting earlier and ending later. Additionally, between 2001 and 2020, the average peak wildfire growth rate in the United States nearly doubled.CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS CENTER FOR CLIMATE AND ENERGY SOLUTIONS Europe is also fending with extremely dry and hot weather creating fires across Spain and France. This article in the Guardian explains the effects of climate change on the world: ‘Extremely scary findings’ show climate crisis is supercharging Europe’s wildfire weather. It’s time the United States takes climate change seriously again. Don’t you think? Wildfires are progressively larger each year– the smoke itself spreads across the continent, affecting everyone. So yes: It’s time the United States takes climate change seriously again. And what is the current administration doing? Cancels Green Energy Grants The Trump administration has acknowledged in court documents that it canceled $7.6 billion in grants for hundreds of clean energy projects “based solely on the political identity of the grant recipient’s state” — in this case, 16 states that voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. The statement contradicts repeated assertions by Energy Secretary Chris Wright and other officials that the projects were canceled because they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or had other problems that made them a poor investment of taxpayer dollars. Democrats and environmental groups seized on the court filing Friday, saying the administration had “weaponized” the federal government to kill good jobs and punish working families because of their political views. AP News And what is being done about that? Last August, the Pentagon stopped signing off altogether. It wasn’t denying any wind farms, or saying they were problematic. It just stopped responding. In December it halted mailing out paperwork. Then, starting in April, it cancelled all scheduled review meetings. Meanwhile, oil and gas projects zipped through. And the Pentagon quietly took down the public website where you could see which energy projects were in a holding pattern. A hundred and six wind farms were frozen in place, with nearly 35,000 jobs riding on them. And Trump wasn’t hiding why. He bragged that no “windmill” had been approved since his return to the White House. But on August 6, Trump-appointee Judge Karin Immergut ordered the Pentagon to start the process again for wind energy. Immergut said the regime can’t pick which laws it feels like obeying, ordering Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to report to her every thirty days with proof that the reviews are moving again. The blockade on wind is finally lifted. The Dworkin Report August 12, 2026 Keep speaking up. Don’t look away. Use your First Amendment Rights. Below is a video about other things, but at the end she says, “Public opinion matters.” “Speak up.” “Make your voice heard.” https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1CA5fHUbxn/ Published by Sheri Edwards Geeky Gramma ~~ Retired Middle School Language Arts/Media Teacher ~~ Writer and Thinker~~ Art from the Heart View all posts by Sheri Edwards