Seven Ways Climate Change Will Hit California in the Next Decade

The fires burning in Northern and Southern California right now are catastrophic and heartbreaking. The entire city of Paradise is devastated. Malibu is in flames. An eerie smoke rests over the Bay Area, leaving an ominous orange light and thick air through which kids are walking to school in masks. The scariest thing of all may be that due to the ever-worsening trend of climate change, this is fast becoming the new normal. While fearmongering is rarely helpful, in this case our biggest worries may become a reality.

The eerie reality of climate change.

The fact that the EPA, our government’s foremost legislative body responsible for stemming the tide of impending environmental catastrophes, was recently run by Scott Pruitt, a man who made it his mission in a past lobbying career to essentially dismantle its very foundations, should frighten every American. (Fun fact: while his former position is still officially unfilled, it’s being quasi-filled by Andrew Wheeler, an under-the-radar man with a gobble similar to Mitch McConnell’s who’s quietly and incrementally advancing the interests of the fossil-fuel industry.)

While Californians are pushing back on the White House’s sins against good ol’ Mother Nature, the sobering, unholy facts still remain: our seas are rising; our air is warming; and our flora and fauna are disappearing. The damage has been done—we’re now in crisis-management mode.

Read the story from Medium by Matt Charnock - “Seven Ways Climate Change Will Hit California in the Next Decade."

Fire chief: climate change helped make California wildfires more devastating

As fire officials from across Ventura and Los Angeles county gathered to speak to reporters on Sunday, beyond the charred and smoldering hills where the Woolsey fire burned through the weekend, the wind was already starting to pick up.

 Firefighters hose down hot spots on a
wildfire-ravaged property in Malibu, California.

As Los Angeles fire chief Daryl Osby took the podium, strong gusts swirled smoke, ash and dust through grey skies. Along with updates on progress in fighting the fire, he said this blaze signified a shift: fire crews are now facing the most erratic and challenging fight of their lives.

Climate change, Osby said, was undeniably a part of why the fires burning in northern and southern California were more devastating and destructive than in years past.

The death toll stood at 25: two in the LA-area fires, 23 around the destroyed town of Paradise 500 miles to the north. The total was expected to rise.

Read the story from The Guardian by Gabrielle Canon - “Fire chief: climate change helped make California wildfires more devastating.”