Posted on 08/09/2018 10:31:04 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
CALIFORNIA, THE nation’s most populous state and the world’s fifth-largest economy, is on fire. In a state already known for monster conflagrations, the past month has been unusually destructive. The Mendocino Complex fire north of San Francisco is now officially the largest in California’s history, having burned an area about the size of Los Angeles, and it is just one of the major blazes the state has had to face since last October.
As much as the president might prefer to point fingers elsewhere, it is impossible to talk about California’s blazes without considering the role of climate change. Four of the five largest conflagrations the state has had to battle have come since 2012, and that is probably no mere coincidence. Droughts, storms and heat waves have occurred throughout history, of course, and it is hard to attribute any single event to climate change. But scientists have concluded that climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather and will continue to do so.
A 2016 study concluded that human-caused climate change is responsible for about half the additional drying that researchers have found since the 1970s, resulting in a doubling of the area forest fires have consumed since 1984. Climate change may also increase lightning strikes, which are a major source of wildfires, and generate the high winds that can drive big blazes. Meanwhile, earlier springtime melting means that the land has more time to dry out over the warmer months. Global warming will increasingly prime the environment for spectacular disasters.
So much of the U.S. Forest Service’s budget has gone to firefighting that too little has been left for care and restoration. Lawmakers should examine the many ways they can help prevent another summer like this one - or worse.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
The Political Climate in DC needs to change.
I like your plan. An added incentive would be to truck all all the debris to a central desert location and build one hell of a bonfire and have a season ending blowout party.
Blame Climate Change for this and the Russians for that.
Did Climate Change cause the Russians or did the Russians cause Climate Change? That’s the conversation we need to have.........fool.
Is that a threat?
CA. gov. Jerry Brown vetoed bipartisan fire management bill in 2016. Ca reaps what they sow thanks to their political hacks in Sacramento.
Brown has managed to divert the fawning, slobbering California media away from his actual responsibilities as California Governor, and instead has them focused on hysteria, doom, gloom, and intangibles like “climate change.”
..... Oh .... So that's how you stop wildfires .... By talking about Climate .... Heck ... That makes a lot of sense ....
... not .....
I know! Who’da thunk it!
For starters, cull the tree herd and clean-out the dry undergrowth/dead trees.
They also allowed grazing that cut down on all the undergrowth that fuels fires. Between that, dead trees, and overgrowth it’s created the perfect storm.
Being stewards of the earth does NOT mean standing around doing nothing.
WAPO = Fake News
We wont stop wildfires unless we talk forest management (i.e. thinning and harvesting of timber.)
Not maintaining adequate firebreaks is global warming.
No, it isn't.
Well that gets some really bad negligent leaders off the hook now doesn’t it?
Actually, the only climate change they need right now is some cooler weather and some rain. Question: Didn’t they have moisture last winter? And, didn’t that increase the amount of fuel in these areas that are now burning? Just asking.
Maybe if they cleaned up the brush and debris lying around, that might help. But a good fire does the same thing I guess. If they won’t clean up their trash Mother Nature will.
For a different opinion on the topic from WUWT:
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/08/04/understanding-the-climate-and-history-of-california-fires/
Too many people ( including illegals), lots of rain, trees grow bigger, forests not groomed, morons not clearing fire breaks on property and lots of wind that is normal for Calif.
How about not allowing homes to be built into the canyons where the hills are covered with manzanita (which propagates by fire).
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