Monday, September 14, 2020

California Burning. By JIM GERAGHTY

 California Burning. By JIM GERAGHTY

Excerpt: If you’re following the news about the wildfires in California or other Western states, you’ve probably heard that the wildfires are exacerbated by climate change. Warmer, drier weather creates a lot of kindling-like dry vegetation that burns easily and spreads embers, and no amount of human firefighting efforts are as effective as rain. A lot of coverage of wildfires follows a simple formulaic theme: This is the wildfire. It is caused by climate change. Climate change is caused by electing Republicans. You probably have heard much less about how much government policy and deliberate decisions can exacerbate the damage of wildfires. In late August, ProPublica did an important, detailed, and thorough work of journalism looking at how the fires in California are seriously exacerbated by national, state, and local policies that minimize the use of controlled burns that would limit the scope of naturally occurring fires.

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