Flavelle, C. (2020, September 20). How California Became Ground Zero for Climate Disasters. Retrieved November 15, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/20/climate/california-climate-change-fires.html 

 

In this article, Christopher Flavelle discusses California’s worst wildfires as well as mentioning our past drought and flood. The manufactured landscapes that have enabled California’s growth, building the state economy, have also left it more exposed to climate dangers. Climate scientist, Kristina Dahl says that climate change is exposing vulnerabilities in the systems we’ve engineered. Like creating reservoirs to store water and overpowering fires, etc. The intensity of the fires reflect past decisions that altered the forests and we are now paying for it. Climate change in California is more than just short- and long- term disasters, it’s also the idea that California can be whatever it wants to be, insulated by physical dangers surrounding it.

 

Climate change risks in California have increased significantly and a way to look at it is how scientist Kristina Dahl said it, “There’s sort of this sense that we can bend the world to our will”. And if you think about it, that makes sense for our current situation with the wildfires because we are not doing our best to keep our environment clean and healthy so when there is lightning it won’t cause massive fires that spread quickly. This is not related to Trump saying, “clean your floors” I mean clearing the air from emissions and just being aware of the overall health of our environment and atmosphere. And as for the systems we’ve engineered that support the state’s economy and population, they have left California vulnerable. I think that we need to reflect on past alters that have affected the forests and think of ways we can either change them as a society or raise awareness about our climate’s current state. This all relates to environmental science because it talks about how our economy is dealing with these climate dangers and how we are feeding into it as a state. This article made me reflect on how the government is dealing with climate change and how we as a society can help make beneficial change.