Climate Change, Human Activities Are Driving Fire Risk
I am heartbroken but unfortunately not shocked by the recent fires, in part because I just read The Deluge, a lengthy climate fiction novel which features an LA firestorm.
When we talk about these kind of increasingly frequent and severe climate-fueled extreme weather disasters, we need to always include climate change drivers as part of the story. (See, for example, this story in Climate Connections.)
The CO2 Foundation, which I have the privilege of directing, grants funds to projects which respond to both causes and consequences of climate change, including telling accurate stories about extreme weather events. These are not “natural” disasters; my own awareness of the inadequacy of this term dates to reading Ted Steinberg’s Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America while doing research at Princeton.
Human activities are driving significant risks. We can and should change our actions now that we know what kinds of effects they are having. Winding down the fossil fuel industry. Being honest with ourselves and each other. Putting our still-vast societal resources into building what comes next, not rebuilding in the same vulnerable patterns we have chosen in the last several decades.
My heart breaks for my fellow alumni, colleagues, and friends who have lost their homes and communities in these and other tragic events. The way to honor their losses is to be clear-eyed about the shortcomings of our collective choices and make different ones going forward. Nothing less will meet the moment.
I am heartbroken but unfortunately not shocked by the recent fires, in part because I just read The Deluge, a lengthy climate fiction novel which features an LA firestorm.
When we talk about these kind of increasingly frequent and severe climate-fueled extreme weather disasters, we need to always include climate change drivers as part of the story. (See, for example, this story in Climate Connections.)
The CO2 Foundation, which I have the privilege of directing, grants funds to projects which respond to both causes and consequences of climate change, including telling accurate stories about extreme weather events. These are not “natural” disasters; my own awareness of the inadequacy of this term dates to reading Ted Steinberg’s Acts of God: The Unnatural History of Natural Disaster in America while doing research at Princeton.
Human activities are driving significant risks. We can and should change our actions now that we know what kinds of effects they are having. Winding down the fossil fuel industry. Being honest with ourselves and each other. Putting our still-vast societal resources into building what comes next, not rebuilding in the same vulnerable patterns we have chosen in the last several decades.
My heart breaks for my fellow alumni, colleagues, and friends who have lost their homes and communities in these and other tragic events. The way to honor their losses is to be clear-eyed about the shortcomings of our collective choices and make different ones going forward. Nothing less will meet the moment.