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California Wildfires: The Devastating Impact of Climate Change · How To Protect The Ocean

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  That science, that science is going to be key. Because if
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  we ignore that science and sort of put our head in the sand and think it's all about vegetation
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  management, we're not going to succeed together protecting Californians. That
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  was a clip from a number of years ago, I think it was 2020, where Donald Trump
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  was talking to a panel discussing the wildfires that we're having at that
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  point that were devastating communities within California. Sound
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  familiar? This is the problem with what's happening with
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  wildfires. Climate change is causing things that
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  we cannot control and the Santa Ana fire that's
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  happening in LA right now due to the Santa Ana winds is
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  out of control. And it's really difficult to fight, no matter how
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  much water you have, no matter how many people you have, just because of the
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  speed of the winds and how dry things are. We're gonna talk
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  today, on today's episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, about why
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  the fires happen, the blame and the myths that are going on, the
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  fact that people are in a very vulnerable position, and what we
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  can do about it. On this episode of the How to Protect the Ocean podcast, let's
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  start the show. Hey,
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  everybody, welcome back to a somber episode of the How to Protect the Ocean
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  podcast. I am your host, Andrew Lewin, and this is the podcast where you find out what's happening with
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  the ocean, how you can speak up for the ocean, and what you can do to live for a
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  better ocean by taking action. And this is an
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  episode that I don't ever want to cover. This is something that is
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  devastating to a number of people in L.A. County, and it's
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  a really difficult pill to swallow for all of us. It's
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  a perfect example, unfortunately, of the devastation that climate change
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  can cause, and we are in the thick of it. This
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  is a problem where there's really not much
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  we can do until these winds of the Santa Ana winds really
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  stops. And it's scary. It is
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  scary. Now, I would love to say that this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing.
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  but this has been predicted for quite some time. And we're gonna talk about it on today's
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  episode because I think it's something that we do need to talk about it. I've
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  done a little bit of research and I wanna talk about a few things of why this
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  happened, the blame and the myths that are going around the
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  fire, as well as, people are in a very vulnerable
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  position. They're getting hurt, they've lost their homes, they've lost their
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  childhood memories, they've lost a lot, people have lost their
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  lives. You know, it is a difficult thing. This
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  is not just a case where celebrities are losing their homes and they can buy new
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  homes. That could be true. There's a lot of people who
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  are suffering right now and a lot of the fire people that are out there doing
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  their best to put this fire out and putting themselves in danger again
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  in a vulnerable position to fires where they're just
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  trying to contain. They know they can't put out right away until
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  these winds die down. So we're going to talk about What the
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  heck happened? It goes back a couple of years. In
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  2023, there was a lot of precipitation in California. They had
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  record snowfalls up in the mountains. They had a
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  lot of water. In fact, in the spring, they had a lot of landslides, and
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  they had a lot of disasters regarding water. There was a lot of floods. LA got flooded.
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  But in that time, there was so much water that all this
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  vegetation grew, and it was quite lush for
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  quite some time, for about a year. In comes 2024, super dry in LA. Very,
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  very dry in California, drought conditions, all that vegetation just
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  dried up. That just becomes an accelerant for any
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  type of fire that could happen. It doesn't matter how it started, once
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  that starts, if you get a bad wind, see where I'm going with this,
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  if you get a bad wind, you're in trouble. And
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  that is what really happened this year, a
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  few weeks ago. The Santa Ana winds, which happen every
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  once in a while, were massive this year. They
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  were 90 mile an hour winds, and they still haven't settled
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  down. It's caused any type of ignition of
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  vegetation to go widespread. There were reports
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  of, you know, five football fields of area
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  being covered within an hour. Just think about that.
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  Think about how fast this fire can go. You've seen pictures,
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  you've seen videos of the fires. You've seen
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  what's happened before, what happened during and what happened after. People
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  had to leave just in the nick of time because they could not predict how
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  fast this fire was going to spread. There are a number of
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  different fires and you just never know. Once the winds change, you never know
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  where it's going to go. Scientists refer to this Scientists
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  refer to this action of being super
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  wet conditions to super dry conditions as a hydroclimate whiplash,
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  where essentially it happens where it gets extremely wet for one year, extremely
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  dry, and then they're intensified by global climate
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  change. So the wetness is intensified by global climate change, and the
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  dryness is intensified by global climate change. It's
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  climate change, folks. It's what people have been saying all along.
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  And this is the problem that we have. These
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  abrupt climate variations contribute to the increased vegetation growth during
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  wet periods and followed by the drying of that vegetation during droughts,
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  creating an abundant fuel for wildfires. This
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  pattern has been observed in California, exacerbating the frequency and intensity
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  of wildfires. This has been happening for a long time, but it's getting worse and
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  worse. And once you get those bad winds, those Sandana winds, you get what
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  we have right now, an absolute disaster, $250 billion
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  worth of damage, 250 billion with a B. It's
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  the cost of climate change. Unfortunately, it's putting
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  people at risk. It doesn't matter where you are in your
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  1% or a 99%, it doesn't matter. It's coming for us. And
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  if you're put in vulnerable positions, if you live in an area that
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  is vulnerable to wildfires or drought or flooding, eventually
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  it's gonna catch up. And if we continue to ignore climate change,
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  these are the things that are gonna happen. We saw it out in Hawaii,
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  in Maui, and now we're seeing it here in California. And it's devastating. It's
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  absolutely devastating. I feel so bad for the people who had to
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  go through that. I have friends who lost their childhood homes
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  and their childhood friends have lost their homes. Parents
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  just barely getting out, 11 dead so far. It's
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  absolutely devastating. And we continue to have people like the
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  next president that's coming in in a couple of weeks to talk that, hey, it's
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  gonna get cooler in a couple of years. This is what he said in 2020. It's gonna
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  get cooler in a couple of years. You just watch. We've had record heat
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  every single year, including last year in 2024. And there
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  are arguments all the time. I always see it. It's, you know, it's, It's
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  it's wet. So why is it the things now? Everything's not warming. It's
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  wet outside. We're getting rain. We're getting all this stuff. It's not snowing
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  or it's snowed too much. How's this global warming? It's
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  always the same thing. People believe in conspiracy theories. You
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  know, it's government trying to control people. It's climate change.
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  The scientists have been saying it for years for decades. And
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  we continue to just ignore the people in charge that we elect to
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  be in charge, continue to ignore the signs, continue to
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  ignore what people are going through. It's like they don't even care.
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  All they care about is the money that they're paid to get in to
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  power. And it's really interesting because when you see these disasters happen,
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  the blame game starts to show up and all the myths start to
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  show up. you know, the blame first going on the fire department, which why
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  are you blaming the fire department when the fire department is the one
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  that is out there trying to stop
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  these fires from happening, which is virtually impossible. And you have like, you know,
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  the chief firefighter. was a woman criticized because she
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  came out one time and said, yes, there will be, you know, the fire department will
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  be focusing on making a diverse, equitable and inclusive workplace.
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  That's all that she that's all she said one time. And now it's like, oh, well, it's because she's
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  not hiring white men, that this is the problem that
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  we're in. They can't put out the fire. That's not the case. That was debunked. And
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  that's not the case. It does not matter how many firefighters we
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  have. It does not matter how much water is available. The fact that these
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  winds are picking up the fire in such dry conditions due to climate change,
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  we're in trouble. That's why these fires are happening. And it is insane.
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  People are even saying there's not enough water in, you know, the
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  hydrants are like drying up. The chief came out
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  and said, hey, you know, we have the right amount of water. It's
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  just, there's not enough. They have a million gallon tanks of water waiting.
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  to be used in the hydrants. It's just not enough. It's very difficult to predict this
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  extent of fire, the intensity, the speed
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  at which this fire is going. It is almost impossible to stop.
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  And they just have to wait till the fires die down. And then unfortunately, people
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  are in a vulnerable position because of climate change. This is what
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  we've been saying. This is why scientists are so frustrated. There's
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  data that comes out. We tell the people, the people who are making money because that
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  are causing climate change say, you know what? We want to continue to make money. So
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  we're just going to pay off the decision makers and we're going to start putting
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  out misinformation out there. And we're going to say, Hey, you know what? Let's,
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  let's not worry about climate change. It's not even real. Don't even worry about all this stuff.
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  The scientists are saying they're just elitist. They just want to control you. It's
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  not, it's nothing. It's insane. It's insane to even think. that
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  we're at a position like this. I find it funny that the next
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  president is blaming the governor for saying, hey, there's not
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  enough water because you diverted some water for smelt,
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  which is a conservation project way north of
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  where the fires are. And then there's also a situation
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  where, well, they got rid of a dam. And they could use the
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  water from the dam for an indigenous reconciliation project. And
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  that's the reason. That's not the reason. It's the decades of
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  federal government ignoring climate change and not doing
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  anything about it. And to be honest, anybody who has
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  been in power, whether it be Democrats or Republicans, who
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  have been the president over the last like three, four
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  decades are responsible because they did not move at
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  all, or they did not move fast enough to help climate change. Or
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  they reversed all the actions that were done in climate change, AKA Donald
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  Trump, getting out of the Paris Accord. We continue to
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  fall within these traps. It's continuous. We try and
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  blame all of these people, blame the mayor for cutting the
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  budget of the fire department, which they never really did. It was debunked.
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  And here we are, we have people who are living in areas that
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  are vulnerable to fire. They are spending millions on
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  their homes and they are losing out because the
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  insurance companies are getting out of dodge. They're getting out of California
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  because it's so difficult. Their insurance claims canceled.
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  or their insurance canceled, or they're not renewed because they live in
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  a fire hazard. If you want to know about climate change and where the most vulnerable
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  spots are, you watch where insurance companies will not cover
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  certain disasters. They're starting to get out of Florida because of hurricanes, and
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  the Southeast because of hurricanes, and they're getting out of California and other places because
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  of fire. Because they can't, they don't have the reserves, they don't have the
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  money to cover the amount of money that's required
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  to cover all these disasters. They're not built for that. So
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  they get out of there. They know way ahead of time. And whether they
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  may not renew your insurance for that coverage, or
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  they don't offer it to you at all anymore on new houses or new bills.
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  They know exactly what's happening. And they just get out. And then we're
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  stuck with the bill. The people are stuck with the bill. And look, I
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  get it. We see celebrities on TV because it's
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  in LA, it's in Hollywood. And people are like, oh, well, you
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  know, these celebrities, they make millions, tens of millions, hundreds of
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  millions of dollars. Why should we care? They're going to be able to buy a nice house. Yes.
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  I mean, obviously it sucks to lose a house. You
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  lose pictures. I can't even imagine. It is devastating. But
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  yes, many of them, of the celebrities, probably either have homes somewhere
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  else or they can afford to pay for another home. They
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  lose all their, their memories. They lose all of, you
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  know, any kind of memorabilia that they have, any type of
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  ancestry things that they have, which is awful for
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  anybody. It doesn't matter how rich you are, how poor you are. It's awful. But
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  yes, they could probably move and buy another house. And although
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  it affect their income, they'd still be able to have a house. It's
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  the people who can't afford to move. That's where it becomes really devastating. They
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  have no homes. They can't afford, they have to move out of the
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  state, because it's really expensive to live, and they have no place to go. Nobody's
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  gonna buy their house. Why would you buy in a place that is so
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  vulnerable to wildfires that took out entire neighborhoods? Not
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  just one, entire neighborhoods. Not to mention all the air
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  quality hazards that are out there for people for years
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  to come. It is brutal the way people continue to
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  get treated Yet we listen to politicians who
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  deny climate change, who want to drill baby drill, and
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  these things continue to happen. It's awful. Now what can we do
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  about it? The first thing is put decision makers in place that
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  agree that climate change is happening and we need to do something about it, like three decades
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  ago. That's what we need to do. Put people into place who
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  are capable of understanding the complexities of climate change and
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  what need to happen. It's really it. That's all you have to do is
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  use your vote. Climate change, back when Obama
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  was president, the Navy said that climate change was the biggest
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  threat to the United States, to the world, to the planet. Yet
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  all of a sudden we've forgotten that. No, no, they're just blowing up
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  promotion. It wasn't even a big topic in the US presidential
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  election. It won't be a big topic in
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  the next election for Canada, other than taking the carbon tax away,
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  which is a measure to combat climate change. It's
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  unreal. Yet we continue to just fall into these traps.
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  This disaster will happen. We'll follow it for a few months. We'll
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  forget about it, just like we did to Hawaii. And then we'll continue with
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  our way. And then we'll continue to vote people in who don't do anything about
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  climate change when they're in power. We do it to ourselves. And
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  I'm frustrated. I'm so sick of it. We just continue to do it to
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  ourselves. And until we realize that climate
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  change is affecting all aspects of our life, including the economy, we're
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  going to run out of money. We can't always pay for these natural disasters. $250 billion.
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  We have to, we have to change something. Things have to change. And
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  if we keep ignoring it, we're going to keep having these happen. And there's going to
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  be areas in the United States, as well as around the world where we
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  cannot live because it's too unsafe for people to
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  live. And that's going to continue that, that area is going to continue to
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  grow. And we're going to continue to have problems as
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  people are trying to figure out where they can live and where they can't. So it's
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  a, it's a, an awakener, although we've, we've had these problems before,
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  but people need to like, as people are, are, you
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  know, donating money to the red cross and donating money to people to
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  help them survive, maybe they should realize like, maybe I should donate
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  to campaigns of politicians who are actually going to do something about climate change.
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  Cause those are the ones we need. The scientists are all, they're pretty much on board.
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  They're like climate change is happening, but the decision makers refuse to do
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  anything about it or do anything about fast enough. Like there's even criticism with
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  the Biden administration that they're not working fast enough, including and
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  with the Trudeau government as well. We just aren't
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  doing it fast enough because we don't want to pay for it, but we're going to
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  have to pay for it in one way or another. And it could be with our homes. It could be
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  with our lives. It could be with just our
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  countries and it's not discriminating against any country. It's
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  going after everything. So it's a rude awakening. I hate to start off the week like
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  this, but something I thought I had to cover. I feel so, so bad
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  for the people who are, who have been devastated by these fires. And
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  I'll put links now where people can donate to help people out
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  in these fires as they continue to burn. And hopefully people can
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  recover and find a way to live on, but it's going to forever change
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  them. That's it for today's episode. If you have any comments or anywhere that people
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  can donate, please let me know. You can hit me up on Instagram at
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  how to protect the ocean. You can also and I hope everyone is safe out
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  there, especially our fans and our audience in the L.A. region.
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  And I just I hope that everybody is just able
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  to recover and get to a safe spot. Thank you very much for listening to this episode of
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  the How to Protect the Ocean podcast. I'm your host, Angelo, and have a good day. I'll