The images from northern California and Oregon the past day have been otherworldly, despairing, literally unbelievable, and grim. Because we live in a time where the otherworldly can no longer be left to the imagination, we’re all accustomed to seeing some version of this in hi-def and metaphorical. Yet here it is. Capturing it all via drone and setting it to the music of Bladerunner feels a little too close to the bone, and yet it certainly evokes an emotional response.

Something about these images cuts to the hard truth of the world we live in now. I’ve known for decades now that climate change is a reality, but it’s always felt like a future reality – the world we leave to our children, etc. The charts and graphs, the “warmest year on record” (at least until the next), the satellite images of melted glacial fields, the superstorms – these have all felt like an abstraction. One that I very much want to avoid, but still. There’s no denying now the fire is here.