Wildfires

With Global Heating, Expect Inferno Seasons In The American West

September 14, 2020 Peter Kalmus and Natasha Stavros, LA times. Educate! California, climate crisis, Forests, Wildfires

More than 3.1 million acres have burned in California this year — some 3% of the state — with many wildfires still at zero containment and months of fire season left to go. This far exceeds the previous record set in 2018, when 1.7 million acres burned, including the town of Paradise. These raging fires, some exacerbated by the blistering heat last weekend, are the direct result of climate change. The planet is currently 1.0°C to 1.2°C (about 2°F) hotter than it ought to be. This excess heat is entirely due to humans, mainly from burning fossil fuels and destroying forests.

Oregon Can’t Fight Wildfires Because Its Helicopters Were Sent To Afghanistan

September 12, 2020 Alan Macleod, Mintpress News. Educate! Afghanistan War, Oregon, US military, Wildfires

More than half a million Oregonians have been forced to flee their homes, as wildfires continue to ravage the West Coast of the United States. Amid record-breaking temperatures, the wildfires, which have charred one million acres of land, have caused the sky to turn a terrifying shade of red, with many comparing it to Mars, hell, or the apocalypse. Air quality in Portland, the state’s largest city, is currently the lowest in the world, below even that of infamously polluted cities like Delhi and Beijing.

Clear-Cuts: Cause Hot Catastrophic Wildfires

September 12, 2020 Chuck Burr, Culture Quake. Educate! climate crisis, Forests, Logging, Wildfires

Pack billions of the same-age trees close together, wait for dry-lightning or another ignition source, and you have an unnatural firebomb. The cause of thousands of annual catastrophic hot fires around the world are tree farms created by timber industry clear-cutting and fire suppression to prevent timber inventory loss. I have seen it happen. About five years ago, driving home on Interstate 5 North of Lake Shasta, a dry-lightning storm began. It looked like the finger of God came down as lightning struck a conifer and it burst into smoke.

Wildfire, Hurricanes, Floods And Droughts Quadrupled In Cost Since 1980

August 26, 2020 By Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News. Educate! climate crisis, Droughts, Floods, Wildfires

In the last 40 years, 663 disasters linked to climate change in the United States killed 14,223 people. The total cost: an estimated $1.77 trillion, a bit more than Canada's Gross National Product in 2018. Economic losses in Europe resulting from climate-linked extreme weather from 1980 to 2017 were lower, totaling $537 billion. The difference was the cost of tropical storms, which don't affect Europe but accounted for nearly half of the U.S. total costs. The report analyzed data going back to 1980 from several sources, including a database of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) that catalogs climate disasters with costs of $1 billion or more and is continually updated. Only disasters with costs of that magnitude were included in the analysis.

California And Colorado: Climate-Driven Transformation Of Wildfires

August 25, 2020 Michael Kodas, Inside Climate News. Educate! California, climate crisis, Colorado, Wildfires

The wildfires that exploded over the past few days in California and Colorado show clear influences of global warming, climate scientists say, and evidence of how a warming and drying climate is increasing the size and severity of fires from the California coast to the high Rocky Mountains. They may also be the latest examples of climate-driven wildfires around the world burning not only much bigger, hotter and faster, but exploding into landscapes and seasons in which they were previously rare. For tens of thousands of Californians enduring evacuations, and millions more suffering through smoke that has brought some parts of the state the worst air quality in the world, the recent fire weather has seemed almost biblical. The entire state and much of the rest of the West has been, for the last week, in the grip of a "heat dome" that has brought temperatures of 129.9 degrees Fahrenheit to Death Valley, perhaps the hottest temperatures ever recorded on the planet.

Freakish Arctic Fires Alarmingly Intensify

August 14, 2020 Robert Hunziker, Counterpunch. Educate! Arctic, climate crisis, Russia, Wildfires

NASA satellite images of fires in eastern Siberia depict an inferno of monstrous proportions, nothing in modern history compares. And, as of July, it’s intensifying. Should people be concerned? Answer: Yes, and double yes. According to Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts: “What has been surprising is the rapid increase in the scale and intensity of the fires through July, largely driven by a large cluster of active fires in the northern Sakha Republic.”

Fossil Fuel Producers Should Pay For Australia’s Fires

January 8, 2020 Staff, Yubanet.com Create! Australia, Fossil Fuels, Wildfires

January 6, 2020 – The Australia Institute has welcomed the Government’s $2 billion bushfire recovery fund announcement, but has questioned why regular Australian taxpayers are being asked to pay when a levy on fossil fuel producers would be a more appropriate way to raise the required funding. “Regular Australians should not be forced to pay while fossil fuel producers are being let off scot-free,” says Ebony Bennett, Deputy Director of The Australia Institute.

Ruling Class Bereft Of Answers While Catastrophic Fires Escalate Across Australia

January 6, 2020 James Cogan, Wsws.org Educate! Australia, Climate Change, Ruling Class, Wildfires

Catastrophic fire conditions exist today throughout much of Australia, from the southwest of Western Australia, across South Australia, to Victoria, the island state of Tasmania, and New South Wales (NSW), to the southeast of Queensland and areas of the tropical north. Another severe heat wave is moving across the continent, generating temperatures that may breach historical records that were broken only a few weeks ago. New fires are expected to ignite, while strong winds are predicted to fan the hundreds of blazes that are already burning.

Earth’s Hottest Decade On Record Marked By Extreme Storms, Deadly Wildfires

December 19, 2019 Bob Berwyn, Inside Climate News Educate! Climate Change, Global Warming, Wildfires

Deadly heat waves, wildfires and widespread flooding punctuated a decade of climate extremes that, by many scientific accounts, show global warming kicking into overdrive. As the year drew to a close, scientists were confidently saying 2019 was Earth's second-warmest recorded year on record, capping the warmest decade. Eight of the 10 warmest years since measurements began occurred this decade, and the other two were only a few years earlier. Arctic sea ice melted faster and took longer to form again in the fall.

We Need Publicly Owned Utilities

November 1, 2019 By Jill Richardson, Otherwords.org Create! California, Utilities, Wildfires

Right now, thousands of Californians are fleeing raging wildfires, while millions sit in the dark. And for-profit utilities may be to blame. Pacific Gas & Electric — a private, for-profit utility in the state — has admitted that its equipment likely caused 10 wildfires this year alone. To avoid further damage, the utility has been shutting off its customers’ power when weather conditions cause increased fire danger. Will this lower the risk of wildfires? Maybe. It will also leave blacked out hospitals choosing whether to refrigerate their vaccines or keep their medical records online.

Forest Fires Rage Through Lebanon

October 26, 2019 Rabiya Jaffery, Theecologist.org Resist! Lebanon, Wildfires

At least ten thousand protestors marched in the streets of Lebanon against corruption and incompetence in a government that is fuelling economic stagnancy in one of the world’s most indebted countries. Protestors chanted: “The people are exhausted"; “The people will bring down the regime.” Lebanon is one of the world's most heavily indebted states and, this week, the government unveiled a new tax to raise additional revenues - a charge of roughly $6 per month for calls on all voice over internet protocol (VoIP) apps such as WhatsApp and Facetime. The measure is expected to bring about $200 million in revenue per year.

Activists Follow The Money Fueling Amazon Fires

September 11, 2019 By Negin Owliaei and Kelsey Hawkins-Johnson, Inequality.org Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Deforestation, New Economy, Profit, Wildfires

While the world watches in horror as fires rage on in the Amazon, activists are shining a light on the big businesses destroying what’s popularly known as the “lungs of the Earth.” On September 5, people around the globe stood in solidarity with the rainforest’s indigenous communities by partaking in the Global Day of Action for the Amazon, staging protests and singling out the bad actors profiting off deforestation. In Washington, D.C. protesters chanted “Put out the flames, we name your names — politicians, corporate vultures, you’re the ones we blame,” as they marched from the White House to the Brazilian Consulate.

Propaganda Blitz Against Bolivia’s Progressive Government

September 10, 2019 Cassandra Howath, Off-guardian.org Educate! Bolivia, Latin America, Propaganda, Regime Change, Wildfires

On 26 August, Novara Media’s website published a vicious and reactionary article titled ‘It’s Not Just Brazil’s Forests That Are Burning, Bolivia Is on Fire Too’ by prominent Extinction Rebellion speaker and activist Claire Wordley. Novara and Wordley are recycling from the same imperialist playbook which has been drawn on in recent attacks against Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua – the so-called Troika of Tyranny. The gist of Wordley’s article is that Bolivian President Evo Morales is to blame for the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest...

The U.S. Footprint In Bolivia’s Incipient Colour Revolution

September 4, 2019 Bruno Sgarzini, Libya360.wordpress.com Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Bolivia, Latin America, Regime Change, Wildfires

The burning of the forest immediately gave way to an aggressive campaign in social networks and media against President Evo Morales, attributing the fires to Decree 3973 and Law 741 that supposedly allow deforestation and controlled burning for activities oriented to agriculture and cattle ranching. “Las leyes de quema y desmonte” (The laws of burning and clearing) was the qualification that the opposition daily El Tiempo used for both legislations, omitting that one of them was approved by opponents and government officials in Congress, according to the president of the Senate, Adriana Salvatierra.

Western Regime-Change Operatives Launch Campaign To Blame Bolivia’s Evo Morales For Amazon Fires

September 3, 2019 Wyatt Reed, Thegrayzone.com Educate! Amazon Rainforest, Bolivia, Latin America, Regime Change, Wildfires

With fires set by landowners raging throughout the Amazon for nearly a month, a group of Western-backed information warriors has begun working to redirect outrage from the far-right Brazilian government toward a more convenient target. After a flurry of media pinned the blame on everyone from poor people eating meat to China, a new target has come into focus: the leftist Bolivian government of President Evo Morales. Originally content to merely accuse Bolivians of not responding fast enough...

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