A Blaze to be Reckoned With

By: Trey Martin

https://www.sciencefocus.com/planet-earth/wildfire-science-computer-models-drones-and-laser-scanning-help-fan-the-flames-and-prevent-widespread-devastation/

Thinking about the year of 2020, there were many things that made headlines.

First and foremost, coronavirus was the main thing on everyone’s mind, because it shut the whole world down. Another event that took place was the election, let’s not think about that... Something else that was on many people’s minds were the wildfires around the world, especially the ones that wreaked havoc in California.

California has a long history of wildfires.

The overall trend in California is that rainfall has decreased, while both temperatures and fire weather have been increasing. This trend has been more obvious in recent years with California having its worst year of wildfires yet in 2020. This obviously does not look good for California because the trends are going in directions that will make weather more severe.

There are 2 sides to this issue: global warming and forest mismanagement.

https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/This-is-a-climate-damn-emergency-15560711.php

Global warming causes the Earth’s temperature to rise. This gradual warming has a big effect because it makes California drier. With water evaporating, this eventually leads to a drought. The drier it gets, the more plants die and pile up.

Mismanagement is a problem because with all of this dead vegetation and trees, it becomes much easier for a thunderstorm to start a fire after striking. A pile of dead trees can easily become fuel for a massive fire.

The way that climate change and forest management are linked is because if climate change wasn’t an issue, there wouldn’t be as many dead trees, which would reduce the possibility of dry, dead plant matter catching fire, and then all of these disastrous effects these wildfires could be avoided.

To make California better off against their wildfires, the way to approach this is to take measures so that the land isn’t as devastated by wildfires, and then focus on the bigger global issue of climate change.

How Do I Help?

The most obvious way to help out with the wildfires is by helping out. This could include donating, volunteering, or raising awareness. There are a lot of programs that one could donate to. The American Red Cross, California Fire Foundation, and California Wildfires Recovery fund are a few of them. Volunteering to help with the wildfires is an alternative that someone could go for.

To help with forest management we need a change in legislation. Most of the area is owned by the federal government, so the state cannot do much to help clean up these areas. If there was legislation that could allow for California to own more land so it could take care of these areas, that might solve that issue.

To Conclude

The whole world has had it hard this year of 2020. But California has had it even harder. If we keep letting this go as it is going, this will have massive effects in the future not only for Californians, but also will affect people all over the United States and even the world. Please join in the fight against California wildfires.