Wildfires Everywhere
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LISTENING: to TSITP soundtrack!
FEELING: lovesick
SEEING: rain fall gently outside my window
The Everglades in Florida are on fire. Canada is burning in places that never used to. The flames may continue into the fall. Colorado is feeling the heat, too, as the Derby Fire forces evacuations in the northwestern part of the state. Meanwhile, a heat wave threatens to cause blazes in the Southwest. It's not just North America, either: Spain and Portugal are battling wildfires.
This scares the shit out of me. It's raining in New York, but I know we're not safe from the flames here, either. No one is. Not anymore. And a new study published Thursday in the Science journal emphasizes that people are to blame for this increased exposure to wildfires.
Between 2002 to 2021, the number of people exposed to wildfires globally increased by 40 percent. This isn't because more land is burning; in fact, the authors found a decline. More people are exposed because more people are moving into forest regions where these fires burn (otherwise called the wildland-urban interface).
The paper involved over 18 million fire records, which also included fires people intentionally lit to clear farms as is a common practice in the Global South. It didn't, however, account for wildfire smoke exposure or more indirect impacts. So while the researchers write that some 440 million people have been exposed to wildfires over the last 20 years, that number is actually much higher.
We're not inherently screwed, though. If people are going to live in the places where forests burn, they need to do everything they can to protect themselves. Homes need to be fire-resistant, the authors write in the paper. During my March trip to California, where I learned all about wildfires, I heard the words "home hardening" countless times. That means keeping vegetation away from your property. Using certain building materials that are less flammable. Developing strong evacuation plans and informing communities about them.
This responsibility can't land solely on homeowners or renters. The government, the insurance industry, and polluters need to be held accountable, too. What roles do they play? Especially beyond the U.S.
The study saw a disparate impact on Africa, where over 85 percent of the exposures were documented. I don't remember the last time I read about wildfires on the continent. It's a vast region, home to myriad cultures and landscapes, but none of them are the main drivers of the climate crisis. Last year, some 22 million hectares burned a week across the continent, primarily in Angola and the Democratic Republic of Congo. These countries haven't had the types of disasters the American West has, but their people are still exposed to the flames that cause all types of health issues.
Governments need to protect the most vulnerable. They need to keep developers from building homes where people won't be safe. And they need to give people the resources to protect themselves. California officials appear less willing to stand up to Big Oil and demand that the industry pay for the damages associated with its reckless pollution that helped fuel the Los Angeles fires in January.
But someone has to pay. The public has foot the bill long enough. 🌀
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Rest in Power
While we can't say for certain that climate change led to these specific weather events (we need attribution studies for that), we do know that the Earth's rising temperatures are already creating more frequent and/or stronger disasters like these.
The wildfires in Spain and Portugal have killed at least six people.
Over the weekend, monsoon rains in Pakistan resulted in over 350 people dead.
Currently Reading
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I'm so thrilled to see Zohran Mamdani on the cover of TIME. Mark Chiusano paints a really lovely portrait of New York City's next mayor.
For ProPublica, Sharon Lerner digs into how RFK Jr. killed the research team investigating environmental exposures that cause autism—the very issue he promised voters he'd invest in.
I can't stop thinking about Gaza. Qasem Waleed writes about heat as a weapon for Al Jazeera: "I read report after report advising Europeans to stay indoors, stay hydrated, use sun cream and avoid strenuous outdoor activity. Meanwhile, we in Gaza have no homes, no water, no shade and no escape."
Collage
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- Yessenia xx
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