By Joseph Romm
Global warming threatens our White Chistmases with winter heatwaves. And our Halloweens with poor pumpkin crops. And our Arbor Days with record wildfires. And our immoral myopia threatens Father's Day. At this rate, the only holiday left will be the gas tax holiday -- for oil companies!
But I digress. Last year, Independence Day fireworks fizzled out for many thanks to ever worsening droughts. And MSNBC reports the droughts have done it again this year:
Authorities scared of setting off wildfires in drought conditions have imposed new bans on fireworks displays across a swath of the West and the Southwest.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger pleaded with residents this week not to buy or use fireworks in California, where wildfires sparked by lightning are burning up hundreds of thousands of acres in the northern part of the state.
"Don't buy the fireworks, don't go out and play with fireworks, because it's just too dry and too dangerous to do those things," Schwarzenegger said.
Fires in many counties in eastern North Carolina led authorities to include holiday fireworks in their bans on outdoor burning. Similar bans have been declared in parts of Oregon, Idaho and Utah.
Have a happy and fire-free 4th!
This post was created for ClimateProgress.org, a project of the Center for American Progress Action Fund.
