January 24 2025
Over the past several weeks, hundreds of thousands of Californians have been impacted by the Southern California wildfires. Many members of the Sierra Club community, including staff, volunteers, and Chapter leaders lost their homes or were forced to evacuate. Our heart goes out to all of you, and if there is any way Sierra Club California can help support you, please don’t hesitate to reach out.
Many of us are still unable to return to our homes or neighborhoods, are currently under evacuation notice, or dealing with the acute effects of the toxic smoke produced by the wildfires. If you’re based in California, odds are you were either personally affected by this disaster or know someone who was.
Our entire state will be reckoning with the long term effects of the wildfires for years to come. As we grieve and move forward, we must recognize that this “new normal” of increasingly severe weather events is anything but. Climate change has directly contributed to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events like California’s wildfires.
Our state’s addiction to polluting fossil fuels is an undeniable factor in the scale of this disaster. California will continue to experience longer and more destructive wildfire seasons, lower air quality, the eradication of sensitive, biodiverse ecosystems, and many other consequences as a result of our state’s unchecked burning of fossil fuels. It has only become more important to push for an end to oil and gas drilling across the state, and prioritize ways to protect our communities and ecosystems from health and ecological impacts.
Unfortunately, President Trump’s administration is already trying to exploit the destruction of the wildfires to push their anti-environmental agenda. Billionaires like Elon Musk are also promoting misinformation about the root causes of the wildfires. This isn’t a partisan fight between Democrats and Republicans - it’s a battle for the future of our state’s environment and public health. Sierra Club California isn’t going to surrender to polluting special interests, and we know you aren’t either.
What we are going to do is fight tooth and nail to protect the hard-won environmental progress we’ve made so far. As California heals and rebuilds, we’re going to work to ensure that any attempts to use these wildfires to roll back environmental protections are met with swift and robust resistance. Enabling the destruction of our environment is what put us in this situation in the first place. In order to minimize and prevent future disasters like these wildfires, we need to be even bolder and louder in our calls to protect our state’s environment.
Sierra Club California can’t do it alone – at the local, state, and federal level, we’re going to need your support. At the National level, Sierra Club has already endorsed the Community Protection and Wildfire Resilience Act, which will protect Californian communities from future wildfires by implementing science-based methods for wildfire mitigation damage. We’ll also be supporting other local home hardening efforts. Our policy staff is closely monitoring the statewide legislation that’ll be introduced in the coming weeks and months, and you’ll hear from us soon on how you can help oppose the anti-environmental policies that led to, or will rise as a result of, these wildfires.
In the short term, we want to point you towards resources and support for those impacted by the wildfires:
- Organizations assisting with disaster relief
- Opportunities to volunteer and donate clothes/other items
- Information on home wildfire protection
The Sierra Club community is a diverse array of passionate environmental advocates who are all committed to addressing the causes and harms of this tragedy. The next few months will be crucial in fighting for pro-environmental policy, and there’s no group more capable of meeting this moment than you. Thank you for your continued support.
Sincerely,

Michael Blenner
Communications and Digital Manager
Sierra Club California is the Sacramento-based legislative and regulatory advocacy arm of the 13 California chapters of the Sierra Club.