Guardian US readers share how global heating and biodiversity loss affected their lives in ways that don’t always make the headlines
The past year was another one of record-setting heat and catastrophic storms. But across the US, the climate crisis showed up in smaller, deeply personal ways too.
Campfires that once defined summer trips were never lit due to wildfire risks. There were no bites where fish were once abundant, forests turned to meadows after a big burn and childhood memories of winter wonderlands turned to slush.
We asked Guardian readers to share some of the ways these changes have affected their lives this year, and how they’ve tried to adapt.
Growing up near the Puget sound, Heath Breneman remembers his dad shoveling drifts off the roof of his garage and the powder delicately collected in his pant cuffs after a day spent sledding. He recalled how the snowplows would push enormous piles off the parking lot of his elementary school to create the perfect berms for kids to play on. He can still conjure the satisfying crunch of how it sounded under his boots and the thrill of the chill each year that made warmth feel earned.
