http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/01/17/MNGG0GOFQ11.DTLCabo Pulmo, Mexico -- When Jesus Castro-Fiol died last year at the age of 107, he was survived by seven children, all living in this little settlement on the Sea of Cortez, and by two generations of grandchildren.
The four generations had many things in common: a rich sense of family, a dependence on the sea for their food and livelihood, and a respect for the natural wonders that draw tourists here over many miles of bumpy dirt roads -- the spectacular Cabo Pulmo Reef and the giant gray whales that migrate from the Bering Sea to give birth in the lagoons of Baja California Sur.
... But in Castro-Fiol's last years, the family watched as a warming climate began to put their way of life at risk.
They saw parts of the reef sicken from a too-warm sea. They saw whales change their behavior, circling the Baja peninsula in new patterns in search of cool water. They saw a new tropical disease, dengue fever, emerge in Baja after a severe hurricane and kill a member of the family.
... Now when tropical storms come to Baja, many people fear more than losing electricity and roads washing out. The phrase common in Cabo Pulmo is "calentando'' -- global warming.
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