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In case you were wondering, climate change is the reason those California wildfires are raging through the state. How do we know this? Because AOC says so!
This is what climate change looks like.
The GOP like to mock scientific warnings about climate change as exaggeration. But just look around: it’s already starting.
We have 10 years to cut carbon emissions in half. If we don’t, scenes like this can get much worse. #GreenNewDeal https://t.co/GNvk7DYFJT
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 28, 2019
Isn’t she just so cute??
As we noted the other day, Gavin Newsom blamed climate change and corporate greed for the Kincade fire rampaging up and down the Sonoma Valley area. The problem with his finger pointing is that he wants us to ignore the decades of mismanagement by CA state agencies. He wants us to ignore the fact that the regulatory burdens imposed by the CA government, including those meant to ‘save the environment.’
“Research indicates that major wildfires now burn nearly double the area they did in 1970, and other factors such as earlier snowmelt contribute to the dry conditions that create the fires. Federal projections indicate that for some forested areas, the median area burned by fires could increase up to 600 percent from an average annual 1 degree Celsius temperature increase.”
There are a couple of reasons why wildfires burn more area than in the past.
A. Major accumulations of flammable fuels, dead brush and trees, and the regulations in place that prohibit citizens along with local/state governments from clearing that out and reducing wildfire risk.
B. The policies of letting wildfires burn instead of not putting them out immediately, issues with aging equipment, and environmentalists who bitch and moan about using eco-friendly (costly) methods to fight fires instead of just putting the damn thing out!
There are more reasons than the above, but those two are key. This case study, published in 2002, specifically lays out reasons for good fire mitigation, coordinated response, and the issues of environmental policies that actually ADD to the problems and dangers wildfires pose. As we see today, much of that case study has fallen on deaf ears.
But that hasn’t stopped Gov Newsom from pointing fingers of blame at PG&E and climate change. As for AOC, she knows zip and nada about root causes of wildfires.
Climate change didn’t arbitrarily wave its magic wand and light the fires we are seeing in California. Climate change didn’t cause that transmission line to spark the Kincade fire. Climate change may be talented, but it isn’t THAT talented!
Here's a look at where there are MANDATORY EVACUATIONS in place due to the #GettyFire … Also all Santa Monica and Malibu schools are CLOSED due to the fire. pic.twitter.com/dgwFheKoyH
— Chris Bruin (@TWCChrisBruin) October 28, 2019
You know what was in those canyons? Tons of dead brush and trees that no one was allowed to clear away because of the ‘keep the wilderness WILD!’ policies in place.
.@AOC has the Green New Deal. Other politicians have tried to enact policy to help curb global warming. Sadly, many politicians don't believe climate change is happening so these are the consequences of our choices. But I'm with you, JT, something needs to be done. https://t.co/B9NJCfG6nC
— Ryan McKinnell (@RyanMcKinnell) October 28, 2019
Again for those in the cheap seats. California has dealt with wildfires at this time of year for decades. This is not new. What IS new is that, for the last thirty years or more, the environmental policies put in place combined with state and corporate mismanagement of the power grid has contributed to the intensity and scope of the fires.
Not a single thing about that involves climate change. Nothing.
Hunny, you might want to check the stats from the NIFC …
2019 is the fourth LOWEST total YTD acreage since 2009 …https://t.co/HKU6eleZpb
This is NOT "climate change" … It's California being California and fire being fire & burning to the water …
— Seattle Six (@SeattleSix) October 28, 2019
Those pesky STATS! Please, let’s not harsh AOC’s virtue signaling narrative. Next thing you know, someone will be making fun of the cow farts portion of her Green New Deal…oh wait.
As much as AOC wants us to believe that climate change is the cause of EVERYTHING BAD IN THE WORLD!, it isn’t. Not by a long shot.
Climate change has NOTHING to do with fact that millions of people are without power and thousands have been evacuated because wildfire mitigation and idiotic policies on the government and corporate level have contributed to the severity of the fires we see today.
However, she’ll keep peddling away on her unicycle of spin in hopes that one day, her magical potion called the Green New Deal will be implemented. Will it save our planet from wildfires? Nope. Why not? Because the policies in her grand plan don’t include anything as common sensical as wildfire mitigation.
Welcome Instapundit Readers!
Feature Photo Credit: Donkeyhotey via Flickr, cropped and modified
Scott says: AOC is dumber than a bag of hair, and NOTHING she says is based in reality. The same goes for most everyone commenting on McKIbbens page…
That being said Nina, when you state:
A. Major accumulations of flammable fuels, dead brush and trees, and the regulations in place that prohibit citizens along with local/state governments from clearing that out and reducing wildfire risk.
B. The policies of letting wildfires burn instead of not putting them out immediately, issues with aging equipment, and environmentalists who bitch and moan about using eco-friendly (costly) methods to fight fires instead of just putting the damn thing out!
They are actually to some extent contradictory. One of the major reasons that there are such accumulations of fuel is the decades long policy of complete suppression. Wildfire is a natural part of forest life, and does the work of clearing out he dead and underbrush. The problem is that after all that time, the fireload is so extreme that just returning to a policy of “let it burn” (which should have been allowed all along) now becomes dangerous, because the forests are NOT in their natural state. (this is one point where I agree with that clown McKIbben, though not for the reasons he thinks, we have wrought this, through listening to so-called “environmentalists” like him that encourage such policies.
What needs to happen, though the green weenies will never allow it, until we all learn to ignore them, is active thinning, through logging, lean-up, and prescribed burns, until the status of our forests is close to their natural state, and then going with a “let it burn” policy, unless structures are directly threatened. The NFPA’s Firewise program offers a clear blueprint for how homeowners can protect their properties (if the left will allow them). Add to this the ability to clear hazards from around power lines, as well as upgrading grids for reliability and safety, and we just might get there.
Sorry for the long rant, but as a long time firefighter, who actually fights such fires, and has many friends currently deployed to some of these, it’s an issue I am very familiar with, and passionate about. In this situation, as with most anything, the best route is to ignore / do the opposite of what the left demands..
Cameron says: How about throwing some lefties on the fires until the rest of them get the hint?
Nina Bookout says: Thanks Scott!!
The beetle kill is a prime example. The forests are tinderboxes because the Forest Service for YEARS wouldn’t allow folks to come in and log those trees… and as such, contributed to the unchecked spread of the disease.
And, unfortunately, some of the prescribed burns get out of control now because of the years of fuel build up and they can’t keep a lid on the tinderbox.
Jim says: I read this article, and especially the informed comments from Scott, with interest as I live in southern Australia where bushfires are a serious issue due to the hot and dry climate combined with the nature of eucalyptus trees. Before white people came aborigines regularly used fire to clear forests. Early colonists described forests as open, not choked with underbrush [‘kindling] as many are now as the practice of controlled [cool] burns stopped and is restricted further by urban green idealists.
This article may be of interest: http://joannenova.com.au/2019/10/california-maybe-prescribed-burns-once-every-500-years-are-not-enough/
With summer approaching I am well into clearing up deadfalls and other combustible materials around my small farm for fear of the bush fires to come.
Jim
Scott says: Nah, you’d never get the smell out of your clothes / hair…
LW says: AOC: “We have 10 years to cut carbon emissions in half.”
And if America vanished off the face of the Earth tomorrow, leaving open ocean in our place, that would get you less than a third of the way to that goal, as we produce only 15% of CO2 emissions. if she were serious rather than virtue-signalling, she’d be demanding changes from China not us.
GWB says: It’s a cult. And Climate Change is their Great Enemy.
Faith is all that’s needed.
Marc says: According to the best research in the field, the extent of California wildfires in pre-modern times, meaning going back 300, 400, 500 years plus, averaged 40 times more acreage burned each year than the most recent decades.
Sam L. says: “We have 10 years to cut carbon emissions in half. If we don’t, scenes like this can get much worse.” Burning the forests ain’t the way to do it, bunkie.
[…] Victory Girls: AOC Says Climate Change Is Only Reason Why California Has Wildfires […]
[…] it during the hottest days of a California summer. You know, when the forests are likely to burn because of Climate Change, of […]
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