Peter Walks for Democracy

My amazing colleague, Erica Smithwick answers the question, “Is climate change to blame” for the California fires? “The answer, simply, is yes.”

2024 is officially the hottest year on record, the tenth of the ten hottest ever-recorded years. Snowpack is reduced, droughts are longer and deeper, and everything on the ground is drier and therefore more combustible. Sure, years of unwise fire management and rapid housing and other development have played a powerful role. “But,” as Smithwick says, “the evidence connecting extreme wildfires to a changing climate is clear.”

What should we do? First, we have to reduce emissions by reducing and eventually eliminating the use of fossil fuels. With the rise of renewable energy and other sources of energy, we have the chance to do that rapidly. Second, we need healthy forest management, use fire proactively and beneficially to reduce risk to people, and support fire-prone communities. Third–and I love this–“we need to understand that we live in the Pyrocene Era.” This is a proposed “era when fires are so large, so hot, and so strong that they impact the earth’s climate systems.” Smithwick continues, “We currently depend on the combustion of fossil fuels to fuel our livelihoods, and due to the resultant warming, wildfires, also a combustion process, may be the price we pay.” Considering that our activities fuel and energize conflagrations so immense they generate their own weather and alter the climate, it seems appropriate.

The challenges are daunting. But as we say in the Local Climate Action Program, “Hope lives in action.” She ends, saying, “Communities across the world are stepping up to meet the moment, embracing renewable energy, sustainable living, and proactive fire management. We’re learning to adapt, innovate, and protect what we cherish. Every conversation matters, every action counts, and it’s never too late to make a difference.”