California Up in Flames

Southern California is going up in flames right now. At first, I didn't think much of this, considering that Southern California always seems to be going up in flames due to the harsh Santa Ana winds. However, after watching the "60 Minutes" episode from this past Sunday in regards to the recent fires ravaging our country, I've come to realize that these insane fires, which they are now calling "megafires," are a direct result of climate change occurring.

It's hard to see the connection at first. It doesn't seem likely that these massive fires could be result of the rising temperatures, especially since it's only risen about 1 degree over here in the Western United States over the past few decades. And since our forest service now practices controlled burning and removes a lot of the dead fuel in forest undergrowth, you would think we wouldn't be having problems with out-of-control fires. What is happening, though, is that the fire season has been extended by 78 days over the past 15 to 20 years due to the slight increase in temperature. The snowpacks on mountains are melting earlier in the year, giving trees a longer window of exposure to the elements. The extra two months without snow are causing trees to dry up towards the end of the season, making them more susceptible to fire. That is why you're now seeing fires traveling all the way up mountain sides, something that wasn't common in the past.

As I type this, about 1 million Californians have been displaced from their homes and are evacuating to San Diego and the surrounding areas. The UN predicts that this is something we'll be seeing more of by mid-century, where 45 million or so people will be displaced due to rising temperatures. As these fires occur, our ecosystems are starting to change. The Southwest has lost over 2 million acres of forests due to recent fires, and many of these forests will never return. This is the unfortunate reality of what awaits us in the future, and it only stresses the importance of taking action now to help lessen our impact on the environment.