“Is It Going to Get Us?” Climate Dystopia, Borders, and the Future

A reflection on the world’s heatwaves and fires, from the borderlands of Greece and Arizona.

How we saw the fire in Corfu on July 23. (Photo by Todd Miller)

On the evening of July 23, my phone buzzed with an emergency alert. I was on the island of Corfu, Greece. There was a fire. Sure enough, I looked up and saw a plume of smoke coming over a ridge. It didn’t look far. Was it just a cloud? No— as night fell, my frivolous hope was debunked when t…