Flame Wars
The LA fires are a devastating way to start a new year and a sad preview of what we can expect going forward. This is true in terms of climate change charged disasters. And it’s true when it comes to the hateful, borderline sociopathic misinformation-fueled flame wars that will accompany these disasters (and just about every other major event). As we encounter politically charged responses to the LA tragedy, led by Trump and Musk, we have to find some way to remember that the only way to fight indecency is to be even more decent yourself. And I’ll admit, this is as much a note to self as a public pronouncement. I wake up pissed and get more angry after looking at my phone and increasingly furious as I open news tabs on my laptop. But for these trolls, hate and divisiveness are the equivalent of LA’s dry conditions and Santa Ana winds. It is the fuel for their fiery, destructive tendencies. Trump isn’t going to put out the LA fires by throwing water on Gavin Newsom and you’re not going to feel better or achieve anything of value by tossing a lit match into Trump’s social media inferno. It’s hard to resist, of course. It’s psychologically easier to play politics and cast blame than it is to actually feel the anguish associated with witnessing the kind of loss we’re seeing in LA. But we owe it to our fellow citizens in harm’s way to feel their pain. We also owe it to our own humanity. And sanity. This week’s LA tragedy is about the victims who have lost their lives and the thousands who have lost everything else.
+ Let’s reserve some of our brain space to people doing good, like the firefighters, the neighbors supporting each other, and a non-profit powering an app focused on people’s safety during these disasters. ‘Right thing at all costs’: Bay Area app thrives amid Palisades, Eaton Fires. For a deeper dive into this app, Watch Duty, check out Wired’s piece: ‘All Hands on Deck’: How Watch Duty Keeps Up With the California Wildfires.
+ If you’re looking to support some folks doing good work, you might consider donating to the Wildfire Recovery Fund. Also, my friends Annie and Eric of 3 Fish Studios are coming through as usual by supporting the fire relief efforts in California. They’re selling a couple of prints in tribute to dedicated firefighters and first responders. One hundred percent of proceeds goes to the cause.
+ “I am utterly devastated by the Los Angeles wildfires, shaking with rage and grief. The Altadena community near Pasadena, where the Eaton fire has damaged or destroyed at least 5,000 structures, was my home for 14 years. I moved my family away two years ago because, as California’s climate kept growing drier, hotter and more fiery, I feared that our neighborhood would burn. But even I didn’t think fires of this scale and severity would raze it and other large areas of the city this soon … One lesson climate change teaches us again and again is that bad things can happen ahead of schedule.” NYT (Gift Article): As a Climate Scientist, I Knew It Was Time to Leave Los Angeles.
+ “Municipal water systems are designed for firefighters to tap into multiple hydrants at once, allowing them to maintain a steady flow of water for crews who may be trying to protect a large structure or a handful of homes. But these systems can buckle when wildfires, such as those fueled by the dry brush that surrounds Los Angeles’s hillside communities, rage through entire neighborhoods.” NYT (Gift Article): How Los Angeles Firefighters Ran Out of Water.
+ “If these firefighters couldn’t quickly get this fire contained, likely no one could. This week’s series of fires is testing the upper limits of the profession’s capacity to fight wind-driven fires under dry conditions.” The Atlantic (Gift Article):The Unfightable Fire.
+ The latest from CNN and LA Times. And photos from BBC and Reuters. And, The Moment the Eaton Fire Ignited.
+ On a personal note, my son’s classes at UCLA were canceled this week due to the smoke from the fires. It’s remarkable how common this is for his cohort. Growing up in NorCal, he’s missed endless days of school because of fires, smoke, floods, power-cutoffs, and of course, the pandemic. Last night, my son returned to the Bay Area from UCLA to escape the fires. There have been two earthquakes here since he arrived.
