There is always a new war, a new economic panic, a new made-up political scandal demanding our full attention. Crisis follows crisis, each one seemingly born just in time to bury the one before it.
This has been the decade of the “unprecedented” — a word we have used so often it has lost its meaning. And somewhere in that noise, we have forgotten, or worse, normalized, the one crisis that will outlast and outweigh all the others: the climate crisis.
Open your phone on any given day and you will find inflation numbers, gas prices, ICE raids, announcements of fees and mortgage rate increases or budget shortfalls, endless wars and the latest distraction stunt out of Washington. And, buried somewhere in the scroll, news like the EPA quietly rolling back greenhouse gas regulations a few weeks ago.
We are bombarded, intentionally, by a media and political system built to maximize clicks, engagement and outrage. It works. It also exhausts us. Bad-news fatigue does not just wear us down; it flattens our sense of priority, so the crisis that will determine whether we have breathable air, drinkable water and enough food gets treated as background noise instead of the headline it actually is.
The numbers are not subtle. Global greenhouse gas emissions have been increasing and hit a record high of nearly 58 billion tons in 2024. The three-year average from 2023 to 2025 pushed past 1.5°C above preindustrial levels for the first time on record — the very threshold the Paris Agreement was intended to avoid.
Forecasters now give 2026 a strong chance of becoming the hottest year ever measured. In 2025 alone, researchers documented 157 severe extreme weather events worldwide, events that killed thousands and displaced millions. This is not a distant, future problem. It is compounding, in real time, across the world.
Here at home in San Diego, the danger is not abstract. Sea levels along our coast are projected to rise between 1.6 and 3.2 feet by 2100, threatening low-lying communities like Mission Beach, Del Mar, Oceanside, Pacific Beach and others, where high tides already send water into city streets. Nearly half of San Diego’s neighborhoods face meaningful wildfire risk, and heat has become the single most widespread climate hazard across the region. By 2050, San Diego County is expected to see roughly seven times as many extreme heat days as it does now. These risks will continue getting worse with every passing decade.
Perhaps the cruelest twist is how partisan this crisis has become. It was not always this way. Even George W. Bush acknowledged human-caused climate change and the need to address it 25 years ago. Now, accepting basic climate science has turned into a litmus test for which party a person belongs to.
Meanwhile, many of the world’s leaders treat the climate crisis as a talking point between flights to a steak dinner at the annual United Nations climate summit. Real, structural change tends to arrive only after the damage breaches the comfort zone of those in power.
Fortunately for everyone, the younger generations are stepping up. Gen Z did not create this crisis, but they are the ones organizing around it. Our generation has failed to mitigate the climate crisis. Our next best contribution is to postpone it as long as possible and buy time until the next generation finishes educating themselves and reaches the positions of power where they can implement the systemic policy changes needed.
The best way to do so is to start locally, pushing local leaders, from Mayor Todd Gloria to county supervisors and city councilmembers, to act now rather than later. Don’t know where to start? You can participate San Diego Climate Week from Oct. 1 to 8, when San Diego’s climate experts, leaders and advocates convene to network and share solutions.
There are already people and organizations across this region pouring their time, expertise and heart into this fight. It has not been enough to outpace the consumption and pollution of everyone else — but it can be, if more of us join in.
San Diegans know how to organize, how to show up for each other, how to advocate, and how to keep our neighborhoods safe and thriving. We have done it before. The climate crisis does not end when the next headline arrives. So neither should we.
Arturo Angeles is an environmental and sustainability expert who lives in San Diego.
