Record Heat arrives in the PNW

Here in the Pacific Northwest, it turns out the record heat was only delayed, not entirely evited, this year. We are experiencing "near 100°" temps all this week in the Willamette Valley, with even higher temps in the Transcascadia. (As I call it). Unfortunately, this has already become the "new norm" in all of the West. And of course similar phenomena are being experienced globally. I fear that our forests, which before being cut down in a huge wave of exploitation logging that nearly removed the entire Old Growth forest in the 19th and 20th centuries (and only partially recovering from that), were probably to some extent a relict of the Ice Ages, are going to disappear or at least be so transformed as to be unrecognizable... and within the lives of many people now living. Climate Change is not only real, it is here, and we are experiencing changes that will transform our landscapes, and, for the most part, make human existence on this planet more difficult.