Héctor Tobar

The plague of insects is my fault. So was the poor snow season in Oregon resorts, and Hurricane Sandy, and the rising tides threatening assorted Micronesian islands.

As a native of Los Angeles, I am significantly more responsible for global warming than your average resident of planet Earth. We pioneered an energy-guzzling lifestyle for the masses and taught the world to follow our lead. Now a parched, endless summer is our punishment.
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Think of California as the planet in microcosm. Mankind came to this Eden, settled it and ravaged its rivers, soiled its skies and eventually transformed it into a furnace. We’ll need drought-resistant plants and lots of sunscreen to survive our purgatory. Unfortunately, there’s plenty of evidence here that we haven’t yet learned the lesson of the biblical parable in which we’re living.

Consider that most egregious of California’s anti-ecological excesses: the freeway. We brag that we built the first one, in a riverbed. Because of our dependence on driving, Californians burn more gasoline than all of Africa.

Article: The Sins of Angelenos
Héctor Tobar is the author, most recently, of “Deep Down Dark: The Untold Stories of 33 Men Buried in a Chilean Mine, and the Miracle That Set Them Free” and a contributing opinion writer.