Climate change. It's intimidating. It's scary. For many of us, it's hard to even wrap our minds around the changes that are bound to come, and the changes that are already here. I'm Mormon-Halny. For years, we've tried our best to ignore the changing climate. From drought? The lack of rain accompanied by heat waves.

This is the worst drought to hit South Africa since 1982.

Two fires?

Now what's happening in Australia is unprecedented.

The bushfires have killed 18 people.

They've killed close to half a billion animals. To heat.

The last 10 years were the hottest ever recorded. In 2020, there were deadly heat waves around the

world. Ecological collapse. Up to one million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction.

There are so many problems that we just haven't faced up to, but we've run out of time.

And as Southern Californians, we have to face those challenges.

We've told ourselves we're so far away.

I could see the fire in my driveway.

It was terrifying. I was shaking.

I needed to get to my brother.

I needed to get him out, and I needed to find a place to take him.

In Watts, I'd say 90% of the trees that we planted were

eviscerated for reasons officially unknown to us.

I can't let myself give up.

Even if the future is completely dark, completely grim, I can't use that as an excuse to give up.

This is not possible.

In this six-part series, we'll draw attention to local reality. What are we doing or not doing about various aspects of climate change?

How are they affecting real people? I want to begin to confront this

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