Capitol Voice November 2018

There are events that stick in a person’s mind forever. You know exactly where you were when the event happened, no matter how far away.

 

I know exactly where I was and what happened when I learned that John F. Kennedy was shot even though I was only 6 years old at the time. I remember exactly when I first heard about the Twin Towers falling on September 11, 2001. 

 

The latest wildfires have become events like that. I remember where I was when I heard that the Thomas fire broke out and whipped through Ventura County last year. I remember where I was about two weeks ago when I heard that Paradise had been evacuated.

 

These fires have risen to that level of remembrance because they have hit so close to home. I used to live in Ventura and know the places that burned. I knew when I heard on the radio early one morning that Paradise had been evacuated that I needed to call one of my staff to alert her. She had been born and raised in Paradise and her family still lived there.

 

When I talk to people around the state, I know that others are like me: It seems we all know someone affected by the Camp fire in Paradise or the Woolsey fire burning in Southern California as I write this. We all seem to know someone impacted by wildfires in the last 24 months, either directly or by a degree or two of separation.

 

The governor has called the wildfires the “new abnormal”. Just minutes ago, I heard a climate scientist say that nobody alive today will ever see a stable climate system again in their lives. We are having a hard time preparing and knowing how to respond to the changes.

 

On the second day of the Camp fire, my staffer told me the hospital she was born in, the schools she attended, the house she grew up in had all been destroyed. Her family was safe, but she said, “I feel like a climate refugee in my own state.”

 

The fires are heartbreaking. They are a reminder that we need to do more to address climate change. But we also need to start thinking more methodically about policies to address the impacts of climate change. Sometimes this is referred to as adaptation policy.

 

On a personal level, after the Thomas fire, I made sure I had go-bags at home packed and ready, stashed in a closet near the front door. Recently, a staffer in Sierra Club’s national office in Oakland mentioned that he had spent part of a Saturday changing water in jugs at home that he keeps ready for evacuation. I suspect he packed his go-bag and started saving water to prepare for earthquakes. But now, with wind-driven fires whipping through town centers, go-bags are about more than earthquakes.

 

We can still do much to address climate change. We need to stay on track to cut combustion for fueling electricity and cars and trucks Indeed, we need to accelerate those efforts. The costs of not speeding toward a carbon- and methane-free energy and transportation system are too great, as we’ve seen with the fires.

 

But elected officials, regulators, scientists and the general public are also going to have to identify the best ways to protect people and places from the impacts of the climate change that is already happening. This discussion cannot and must not be driven or impeded by industries that want to capitalize on misfortune or deny their role in creating the misfortune.

 

Governor-elect Gavin Newsom has seen a lot in the days after his election that should drive home what a weighty responsibility he will have when he is inaugurated in January. Addressing climate change, how we accelerate efforts to cut pollution and how we adapt to the changes already before us, must by necessity be high on his list of priorities.

 

One more thing, a heartfelt thank you to all our supporters and members who have responded to our recent email asking for donations that will be directed to key community groups to assist people displaced and harmed by the fires. Within just a few days, donations amounted to nearly $50,000. Your generosity is wonderful.