In Service to the Future (with updates)

Three news stories that didn't get much play come together for our Independence Day synthesis for the future.

First: the continuing fires here in California. Down in Big Sur, the fires have forced evacuations of some 1800 homes, while fires threaten other towns near Santa Barbara. Here in northern CA, there are some 13 large complexes of fires that have been burning for a couple of weeks, and are expected to keep burning for several more weeks. Some large camp grounds have been closed. Because of continuing dry conditions, campfires have been banned in other parks, and fireworks on the Fourth discouraged.

Saturday Update: On Friday, the Big Sur fire alone consumed another 4407 acres. This fire continues to grow and is not expected to be controlled until August. Some 27 large fires or fire complexes are still active around California, some 335 fires in all, which already have destroyed half a million acres. In addition to the nearly 20, 000 people fighting fires, Gov. S. ordered in some 200 National Guard troops on Friday. The state's resources are being stretched thin.

Sunday Update: Cooler weather helped firefighters in southern CA at the Santa Barbara fire, but another heat wave is expected the first few days of the week, with temps exceeding 100 degrees, meaning hot, dry and inflammable landscapes.

Second: new computer models spell out something of what global heating will really mean. Longer duration, higher temperature heat waves have been predicted, but this study attachs some numbers to specific places. By 2100, peak temperatures for Los Angeles are projected at 117F. Kansas City can expect 116, and Atlanta 110. New York would see 106; it has already hit 104 once. In general, heat waves become longer and temperatures should increase from 3 to 5 degrees by 2050. In southern France, where a heat wave in the 1950s meant 91, and which had a peak temperature in the 1990s of 104, the region can expect 111 by 2050 and 118 by the end of the century.

Third: Barack Obama devoted a speech in Colorado to a call for expanded national service, particularly by young people, as a "central cause" of his administration, as a way for individuals to help "shape the future." In addition to expanding government sponsored organizations, he proposes to use technology and existing nonprofit organizations to network and innovate, to make service more responsive and creative. Also he proposes to work through middle and high schools, and through colleges, to encourage volunteer service, who will be paid in educational opportunities, such as grants for college.

So what does national services have to do with fire, drought, storms and heat waves? Plenty.

Obama specifically included the Climate Crisis as one of the reasons that America will need trained volunteers. He previously announced plans to expand Americorps and establish divisions within it, including those devoted to public health, renewable energy and conservation, and community emergencies.

These volunteers will be needed. For example, the heat waves in Europe in 2003 killed tens of thousands, and scores and even hundreds have died unheralded in various heat waves in American cities in the past decade. Only a corps of volunteers will be enough to keep tabs on vulnerable populations, especially elderly living alone, during dangerous heat waves.

There are likely to be so many emergencies, at the same time as so much infrastructure will need to be changed for energy conservation and renewable energy systems, that only those trained, organized and dedicated to accomplishing necessary tasks will be nearly enough. Look at all that is happening this summer, and how much of the country it is affecting. And we're barely into the summer yet.

Others have recognized this oncoming necessity before. Bill McKibben calls it the Green Corps ; Bruce Sterling has a darker vision of what he calls khaki green --military troops perhaps with coercive power, or Blackwater-type mercenaries, to deal with these multiple emergencies. Obama's vision speaks to the best in people, the empathy in everyone and the desire to do good and to do something constructive for the future that young people feel most ardently.

"No one should be left out of the American story," Obama said. No one should be left out of the future. And there will be no future for anyone if we don't work together to ensure it. Obama's speech makes the connection between individual freedom and destiny, and the health of the community and nation. It is this change, from greed, selfishness and predation to "we're all in this together" and "you'd do the same for me" as our national ethic, that will win the future.