, Columnist
Cherry Blossoms Are Proof of a Planet Going Awry
The Washington cherry blossoms are peaking earlier and earlier.
Photographer: Heather Diehl/Getty Images
Earlier this month, a group of climate-change deniers gathered at the Hotel Washington in the US capital to celebrate their takeover of the government. Their conference’s theme was “Climate Realism Rising.”
About a mile away, circling the Tidal Basin next to the National Mall, were thousands of Yoshino cherry trees in declining bloom. The genus to which they belong offers a far different, and far more realistic, version of climate realism.