https://socialistaction.org/2018/11/24/whats-the-real-cause-of-californias-wildfire-disaster/
What’s the real cause of California’s wildfire disaster?
/ 2 days ago
By PHIL HEARSE
Things are getting serious. At least 31 dead [84 dead on Nov. 24 — eds.]
and maybe 200 missing. Thousands of homes and businesses burned down.
And three raging fires, one in the north of the state and two in the
south, are still not under control [written on Nov. 12]. There are
scenes that could be the aftermath of an American or Russian bombing
raid in the Middle East – bodies littered on the ground, people burned
to death in their cars, families devastated with grief at the loss of
homes and loved ones.
Donald Trump chimed in on the line propagated by Fox News for weeks.
It’s because of bad forest management by California, a state that’s – by
American standards – liberal and anti-Trump. Fox even claimed it was
because the people running California were ‘socialists’ (!)
In the world of[ Instagram thing are even more serious – Actor Gerald
Butler and singers Miley Cyrus and Robin Thicke have had their houses
burned down. Luxury houses on the Malibu beachfront have been destroyed.
Trump’s response has been criticised by Katy Perry, Leonardo di Caprio
and Neil Young. Kim Kardashian, Lady Gaga and Kanye West have had to be
evacuated (can this disaster get any worse?).
Trump says in his brief tweets that it’s because of poor forest
management. He forgot that 60% of California forest is under federal
management. Bad forest management is not the underlying cause. Leonardo
di Caprio said it was because of climate change. That’s part of the
story, but not the whole issue.
Fires in the California forests and chaparral (shrubland) are regular
natural events. Because of global warming they are becoming more
regular, and more likely outside of the hottest times of the year.
Chaparral has a high-intensity regime. “meaning when a fire burns, it
burns everything, frequently leaving behind an ashen landscape.” (1)
According to Ben Engel: “Climate change contributes to the growing
destruction from California wildfires. Hot, dry weather conditions that
help carry fires for thousands of acres are often present nearly
year-round now. The state’s urban sprawl and encroachment into formerly
undeveloped land is the real catalyst, though, said former Sacramento
Metropolitan Fire District chief Kurt Henke.”
Mike Davis (3), one of the most articulate and insightful socialist
writers we have today, has made similar points many times, blaming what
he calls ‘real estate capitalism’. In October 2017, a year before the
current disasters, he said: “Although the explosive development of this
firestorm complex caught county and municipal officials off guard, fire
alarms had been going off for months. Two years ago [i.e., in 2015], at
the height of California’s worst drought in five hundred years, the
Valley Fire, ignited by faulty wiring in a hot tub, burned 76,000 acres
and destroyed 1350 homes in Lake, northern Sonoma, and Napa counties.
Last winter’s (2016) record precipitation, meanwhile, did not so much
bust the drought as prepare its second and more dangerous reincarnation.
The spring’s unforgettable profusion of wildflowers and verdant grasses
was punctually followed by a scorching summer that culminated in
September with pavement-melting temperatures of 41ºC in San Francisco
and 43ºC on the coast at Santa Cruz. Luxuriant green vegetation quickly
turned into parched brown fire-starter.”
“The final ingredient in this ‘perfect fire’ scenario – as in past fire
catastrophes in Northern California – was the arrival of the hot, dry
offshore winds, with gusts between 50 and 70 mph, that scourge the
California coast every year in the weeks before Halloween, sometimes
continuing into December. The Diablos are the Bay Area’s upscale version
of Southern California’s autumn mini-hurricanes, the Santa Anas. In
October 1991, they turned a small grass fire near the Caldecott Tunnel
in the Oakland Hills into an inferno that killed 25 people and destroyed
almost 4000 homes and apartments.”
Underlying this is real estate capitalism, “the financial and
real-estate juggernaut that drives the suburbanisation of our
increasingly inflammable wildlands”. Moreover:
“This is the deadly conceit behind mainstream environmental politics in
California: you say fire, I say climate change, and we both ignore the
financial and real-estate juggernaut that drives the suburbanisation of
our increasingly inflammable wildlands. Land use patterns in California
have long been insane but, with negligible opposition, they reproduce
themselves like a flesh-eating virus. After the Tunnel Fire in Oakland
and the 2003 and 2007 firestorms in San Diego County, paradise was
quickly restored; in fact, the replacement homes were larger and grander
than the originals. The East Bay implemented some sensible reforms but
in rural San Diego County, the Republican majority voted down a modest
tax increase to hire more firefighters. The learning curve has a
negative slope.
“I’ve found that the easiest way to explain California fire politics to
students or visitors from the other blue coast is to take them to see
the small community of Carveacre in the rugged mountains east of San
Diego. After less than a mile, a narrow paved road splays into rutted
dirt tracks leading to thirty or forty impressive homes. The attractions
are obvious: families with broods can afford large homes as well as dirt
bikes, horses, dogs, and the occasional emu or llama. At night, stars
twinkle that haven’t been visible in San Diego, 35 miles away, for
almost a century. The vistas are magnificent and the mild winters
usually mantle the mountain chaparral with a magical coating of light snow.
But Carveacre on a hot, high fire-danger day scares the shit out of me.
A mountainside cul-de-sac at the end of a one-lane road with scattered
houses surrounded by ripe-to-burn vegetation – the ‘fuel load’ of
chaparral in California is calculated in equivalent barrels of crude oil
– the place confounds human intelligence. It’s a rustic version of death
row. Much as I would like for once to be a bearer of good news rather
than an elderly prophet of doom, Carveacre demonstrates the hopelessness
of rational planning in a society based on real-estate capitalism.
Unnecessarily, our children, and theirs, will continue to face the flames.”
Notes (1) http://www.californiachaparral.com/fire/firenature.html
(2) https://www.sacbee.com/news/state/california/fires/article221385910.html
(3) https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n21/mike-davis/el-diablo-in-wine-NOV12
Phil Hearse is a supporter of Socialist Resistance and the Fourth
International in Britain, and editor of http://www.marxsite.org, where
this article first appeared.
Share this:
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
November 24, 2018 in Uncategorized.
Related posts
The caravan that defies borders
Midterm elections: Democrats’ ‘blue wave’ falls short
The rise of right-wing violence in Trump’s America
Post navigation
← Quebec: CAQ takes power, QS is on the rise
Get Involved!
Donate to help support our work
Get email updates
Join Socialist Action
Newspaper Archives
Newspaper Archives Select Month November 2018 (13) October 2018 (10)
September 2018 (8) August 2018 (12) July 2018 (13) June 2018 (11)
May 2018 (19) April 2018 (15) March 2018 (17) February 2018 (14)
January 2018 (13) December 2017 (13) November 2017 (13) October 2017
(16) September 2017 (15) August 2017 (16) July 2017 (17) June 2017
(16) May 2017 (17) April 2017 (14) March 2017 (13) February 2017
(19) January 2017 (13) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (19) October
2016 (12) September 2016 (10) August 2016 (10) July 2016 (14) June
2016 (14) May 2016 (9) April 2016 (12) March 2016 (14) February 2016
(8) January 2016 (11) December 2015 (11) November 2015 (9) October
2015 (8) September 2015 (10) August 2015 (7) July 2015 (13) June
2015 (9) May 2015 (10) April 2015 (12) March 2015 (9) February 2015
(11) January 2015 (10) December 2014 (12) November 2014 (11) October
2014 (9) September 2014 (6) August 2014 (10) July 2014 (11) June
2014 (10) May 2014 (11) April 2014 (10) March 2014 (9) February
2014 (11) January 2014 (11) December 2013 (10) November 2013 (11)
October 2013 (17) September 2013 (13) August 2013 (10) July 2013
(11) June 2013 (15) May 2013 (14) April 2013 (14) March 2013 (12)
February 2013 (10) January 2013 (17) December 2012 (7) November 2012
(8) October 2012 (19) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (27) July 2012
(18) June 2012 (3) May 2012 (19) April 2012 (14) March 2012 (17)
February 2012 (19) January 2012 (17) December 2011 (3) November 2011
(33) October 2011 (14) September 2011 (13) August 2011 (34) July
2011 (24) June 2011 (19) May 2011 (19) April 2011 (15) March 2011
(15) February 2011 (15) January 2011 (15) December 2010 (17) November
2010 (1) October 2010 (6) September 2010 (3) August 2010 (8) July
2010 (7) June 2010 (2) May 2010 (9) April 2010 (3) March 2010 (8)
February 2010 (3) January 2010 (9) December 2009 (6) November 2009
(5) October 2009 (16) September 2009 (3) August 2009 (2) July 2009
(5) June 2009 (2) May 2009 (7) April 2009 (6) March 2009 (16)
February 2009 (9) January 2009 (10) December 2008 (11) November 2008
(8) October 2008 (16) September 2008 (14) August 2008 (18) July 2008
(12) June 2008 (3) May 2008 (2) April 2008 (3) March 2008 (14)
February 2008 (11) January 2008 (11) December 2007 (8) November 2007
(1) July 2007 (1) June 2007 (1) April 2007 (1) March 2007 (1)
February 2007 (3) December 2006 (11) November 2006 (11) October 2006
(13) September 2006 (15) August 2006 (11) July 2006 (18) June 2006
(7) May 2006 (14) April 2006 (6) March 2006 (14) February 2006 (5)
January 2006 (2) December 2005 (9) November 2005 (8) October 2005
(13) September 2005 (12) August 2005 (9) July 2005 (16) June 2005
(16) May 2005 (16) April 2005 (12) March 2005 (14) February 2005
(19) January 2005 (15) December 2004 (14) November 2002 (17) October
2002 (19) September 2002 (22) August 2002 (21) July 2002 (15) May
2002 (21) April 2002 (21) February 2002 (15) January 2002 (15)
December 2001 (17) October 2001 (24) September 2001 (18) July 2001
(19) June 2001 (18) October 2000 (17) September 2000 (21) August 2000
(19) July 2000 (16) June 2000 (26) May 2000 (21) April 2000 (22)
March 2000 (28) February 2000 (18) January 2000 (20) December 1999
(20) November 1999 (26) October 1999 (25) September 1999 (18) August
1999 (40) July 1999 (38) June 1999 (24) May 1999 (27) April 1999
(25) March 1999 (26) February 1999 (29) January 1999 (24) July 1998
(12)
Search
View socialistactionusa’s profile on Facebook
View SocialistActUS’s profile on Twitter
View SocialistActionCT’s profile on YouTube
Subscribe to Our Newspaper
Upcoming Events
No upcoming events
Category Cloud
Actions & Protest Africa Anti-War Arts & Culture Black Liberation Canada
Caribbean Civil Liberties Cuba East Asia Economy Education & Schools
Elections Environment Europe Immigration Indigenous Rights International
Labor Latin America Latino Civil Liberties Marxist Theory & History
Middle East Palestine Police & FBI Prisons South Asia Trump / U.S.
Government Uncategorized Women's Liberation
View Calendar
Blog at WordPress.com.
Follow
--
_________________________________________________________________
Isaac Asimov
“Don't you believe in flying saucers, they ask me? Don't you believe in
telepathy? — in ancient astronauts? — in the Bermuda triangle? — in life after
death?
No, I reply. No, no, no, no, and again no.
One person recently, goaded into desperation by the litany of unrelieved negation, burst
out "Don't you believe in anything?"
Yes", I said. "I believe in evidence. I believe in observation, measurement,
and reasoning, confirmed by independent observers. I'll believe anything, no matter how
wild and ridiculous, if there is evidence for it. The wilder and more ridiculous
something is, however, the firmer and more solid the evidence will have to be.”
― Isaac Asimov
