Member-only story
Remove Financial Incentives to Fight Climate Change
Each day the Los Angeles fires remind us of the dangers of Climate Change. Two blazes the Palisades Fire and the Eaton Fire burned 12,000 structures between 7 and 14 January 2025, ABC News estimates.
Around 15,000 firefighters are battling flames across 45 square miles of Los Angeles County. Those fires have killed around 24 people. The fires drove 88,000 people from their homes with mandatory evacuation orders. Another 84,000 residents were under evacuation warnings on 14 January 2025.
Scientists blame Climate Change for these fires. To explain, global warming creates high temperatures, drought, and low humidity. Notably, Downtown Los Angeles had not seen participation since 5 May 2024 when it received 0.13 inches of rain, The Los Angeles Times notes. Consequently, LA entered its rainy season with no rain.
Hence, Climate Change made Los Angeles a tinderbox that fuels fires. All they needed was the strong offshore Santa Ana Winds to fan the flames. One result of Climate Change is that there is no longer a fire season in Southern California, Instead, “you can have a fire any month of the year,” UCLA geography professor Glen MacDonald tells The Atlantic.
One reason Los Angeles is so dry is that Southern California is experiencing its hottest summer in 130 years, Earth.org notes. The…
