Giant 400-year-old tingle tree accidentally destroyed by authorities https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-13/prescribed-burn-destroys-400yo-tingle-tree-wa/104800148 #EnvironmentalImpact #ClimateChange #Conservation #Bushfires #Fires #Trees

Commentary: #Fires, #Hurricanes, #ExtremeWeather: The Media Misses the #ClimateLink

#Protesting the #FossilFuelIndustry and their political allies can help fix the narrative, and turn disasters into opportunities for #ClimateAction

by Margaret Klein Salamon, January 12, 2025

"Who is to blame for the #LosAngelesFires? For the destruction of #Asheville? The devastation of #Acapulco? If you listen to the mainstream media, you would get the impression that no one is truly responsible. These are framed as tragic but random events– acts of nature without clear cause or accountability. Even if articles do mention climate change, which they tend to bury toward the end, they won’t tell you the people and companies who caused these disasters in order to enrich themselves. And if you listen to right-wingers, you will get the mistaken impression that DEI, arson, and the Democratic Party caused these disasters.

"But here’s the truth: These mega-disasters are caused by the climate emergency, which has been caused by fossil fuels. The fossil fuel industry has raked in obscene #profits for decades, while knowingly bringing down apocalypse onto the rest of us.

"We have the power to change the narrative. Imagine this: As fires rage through the city, a group of climate activists non-violently occupy the California State House in Sacramento. Or LA City Hall. Or Marathon Oil’s refinery in Los Angeles County. They would demand that fossil fuel companies pay for the damage they’re causing, and face criminal prosecution for the harm that they have inflicted.
Such a protest would be covered on front pages across the globe, shifting the narrative from passive victimhood to active accountability. This is an opportunity that the climate movement has yet to fully seize.

"The climate emergency is accelerating, and so is the frequency and scale of disasters. When these disasters occur, the eyes of the country and sometimes the world focus on the crisis and its fallout. This should be a tremendous learning opportunity for the public about the dangers of the climate emergency, but the media obscures the true cause of these events. While truthful headlines would report along the lines of, “The Climate Emergency Strikes Again,” the media continues to largely report these disasters as anomalous weather events.

"Activists have a unique role to play in these moments. By connecting fossil fuels to the damage we’re seeing — floods, fires, hurricanes — they can elevate the conversation and force the public to reckon with the reality of the climate emergency. Activists can also call for proactive policies: investments in renewable energy, phasing out fossil fuels, and sustainable rebuilding efforts. The “Make Polluters Pay” demand, which New York State just passed after facing pressure from the New York climate movement, offers a compelling framework for justice in the wake of climate disasters. With millions or even billions of dollars in damage, justice demands that the culprits — fossil fuel companies who have knowingly warmed the atmosphere for decades — foot the bill.

"Disasters are opportunities to shape long-term policy change. Disasters create a unique moment when the public and politicians are more open to new ideas and transformative policy changes. Naomi Klein argued for the unique political opportunities that disasters open up in her 2007 book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Activists can use this moment to demand not only immediate relief but also policies that challenge the fossil fuel industry’s grip on power.

"Climate Emergency Fund is dedicated to supporting the nonviolent disruptive activists who are pushing these important conversations forward, through raising money and making grants. We saw an example of how climate protest can determine the narrative around climate disaster by accident — we supported a protest of Burning Man. The protest wasn’t terribly successful until Burning Man flooded and became a mud pit. Stories about the disaster, which were quite widespread, harkened back to or were even framed around the protest. This made the coverage more climate-focused and more politically activating.

"In moments of crisis, we must demand that climate change be treated not just as an afterthought, but as the root cause of the disaster. It’s time to stop focusing exclusively on short-term relief and rebuilding the status-quo and start building towards a fossil-free, climate-resilient future.

"So when disaster strikes — as it will more and more in the coming years, first, make sure you and your loved ones are safe. Second, see if there is anyone in your immediate vicinity who needs your help. And third, join, or plan, a protest that shifts the narrative. Let’s make it clear: These are not random catastrophes — they are the consequences of the fossil-fueled climate emergency. And we can and must hold the culprits accountable."

Original article:
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/los-angeles-fires-climate-media-1235232654/

Archived version:
https://archive.ph/AGdIa
#BigOilAndGas #ClimateCrisis #ClimateCatastrophe #ExxonKnew #BigOilKnew #ChevronKnew #ClimateActivism #ClimateProtest #SmallScaleRuptures

Orange dementia man says what?

Journeyman fire fighter and pyrotechnic genius Donny Trump reckons he could put out the LA fires in a couple of hours, by... just putting them out.

"They just can't put out the fires. What's wrong with them?"

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-13/trump-blasts-la-officials-as-fires-continue-to-burn/104809264

#Trump #LA #Fires

Nice! “We are going to position Cybertrucks with Starlinks and free WiFi in a grid pattern in the areas that most need it in the greater LA/Malibu area.”— Elon Musk #press #fires

Experiences of people without housing in the #California #fires:
1. https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2025/01/los-angeles-fires-unhoused-homelessness-crisis
2. https://www.marketplace.org/2025/01/10/los-angeles-wildfires-homeless-residents

#DRR #DisasterRiskReduction #DisasterRiskManagement #homeless #homelessness
#LAFires #CaliforniaFires #LAWildfires #CaliforniaWildfires

Experiences of people with disabilities in the #California #fires:
1. https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/former-child-star-motivational-speaker-rory-sykes-dead-la-wildfires-1236107110
2. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/10/fleeing-california-wildfires-los-angeles
3. https://fortune.com/2025/01/09/wildfire-survivors-couldnt-get-uber-911-saved-by-strangers

#PeopleWithDisabilities #pwd #pwds #DRR #DisasterRiskReduction #DisasterRiskManagement #didrr
#LAFires #CaliforniaFires #LAWildfires #CaliforniaWildfires

Scale of destruction:
The combined area burned by the California fires is larger than each of the city limits of San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Boston or Miami.

Palisades Fire: 11% Contained
Eaton Fire: 15% Contained
Kenneth: 90% contained;
Hurst: 76% contained
Lidia: 100% contained.
https://shorturl.at/XXAvJ
#press #fires

Mexico sends firefighters to California to help with raging blazes. Thank you, Mexico!🇲🇽

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/mexico-sends-firefighters-california-help-with-raging-blazes-2025-01-11/ #press #fires

“While Trump is trolling Canada they are literally picking up water from the ocean to help put out the fires in the Palisades.

Thank you Canada. 💙🇨🇦”—r/t Call to activism.
#press #fires

How Watch Duty’s wildfire tracking app became a crucial lifeline for LA

https://www.theverge.com/2025/1/11/24340913/watch-duty-wildfire-tracking-app-los-angeles-nonprofit

KEWL🌀NEWS

#FIRES #LA #TRACKING #WATCHDUTY #PRESS

ESSENTIAL
prison slave labor engage

#13thAmmendment #Prisons #SlaveLabor #USA #Fires #LAFires #California

Ugh. Winds have changed direction and the flames 🔥 now appear to be pushing towards Brentwood (the community on the left.) #press #fires

Canada is helping California fight the devastating wildfires! Several provinces AND agencies are providing support. Quebec has sent two of its CL-415 water bombers, pilots & their crews to assist in the firefighting efforts. Ontario and Alberta have announced plans to deploy resources, including water bombers and firefighters as well.

It's heartwarming, THANK YOU, CANADA. 🇨🇦

#Canada #lafires #calfire #usa #fires #potus

It's horrific how disabled people are dying due to being left behind in the wildfires, where firefighters aren't letting relatives or friends go in to save them (or even going themselves to save them).

Our society deems our lives as expendable and not worthy of life. It's ableist and horrifying, and I hate it.

So reach out to your disabled friends. Ask how you can help them with safety plans for such situations, and then follow-thru.

Stop leaving us to die.

#disability #Ableism #Fires

The Los Angeles fires have devastated the historically Black neighborhood of Altadena. This was perhaps the first middle-class Black neighborhood in California, as it was a rare area not subject to redlining. Many whose homes were destroyed lived in homes passed down for generations 💔

https://www.yahoo.com/news/historic-black-neighborhood-altadena-reduced-120210471.html

#fires #lafires #history

People with disabilities are so often not considered or only minimally so in almost everything that happens in society.
Natural disasters amplify that.
A terrifying recounting here by a man who fled the fires in his wheelchair on the street, as wheelchair-accessible cars couldn’t get to him and the sidewalks were inaccessible.
Most of us will be disabled at some point in life, even if only temporarily due to an illness or surgery.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/10/fleeing-california-wildfires-los-angeles
#disabilities #fires #LAFires

#fire #fires #lafire #lafires #lafires2025
#Climate #ClimateChange #climatechange2025 #California #CaliforniaWildFire
The Great Fire
Friends,
The following is the best account I’ve read of the fire that’s consuming Los Angeles. It’s from Steve Schmidt’s substack, The Warning. (steveschmidt.substack.com.

“….The scale of the conflagration is biblical. These epochal fires will join Chicago and San Francisco atop an infamous registry of American destruction….”

https://open.substack.com/pub/robertreich/p/the-great-fire?r=ymxmu&utm_medium=ios

Yikes! State to probe why PACIFIC PALISADES RESERVOIR WAS EMPTY when firestorm exploded. It had been closed since last Feb for repairs to its cover, leaving a 117-million-gallon storage complex empty. Numerous fire hydrants in the Palisades went dry during the fires. Newsom called of it "deeply troubling."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/pacific-palisades-reservoir-offline-empty-163924460.html #press #fires

#disaster #disasters #fire #fires #lafires #lafire #ClimateChange #Climate

Given the natural disasters , LA fires for example, worldwide this is a good idea.

https://www.ready.gov/kit

#fires#fire #lafire #lafires

#fires #la #lafires #lafires2025 #lafires

No, #LosAngeles didn’t refuse to fill #waterreservoirs prior to #fires

#Firefighters were experiencing water shortages from hydrants because L.A.'s tanks couldn't be refilled as fast as #water was being used.

https://www.kgw.com/article/news/verify/extreme-weather-verify/palisades-los-angeles-fire-hydrants-water-fact-check/536-87045971-aacb-4319-9b39-8d999675eae1

The wildfires have killed at least 10, burned > 10,000 structures & consumed >35K acres or some 53 square miles. Forecasters estimate the damages and economic losses now at $135 -$150 billion.

The Palisades fire 🔥 is just 6% contained & the Eaton fire 0%, but the Hollywood fire is fully contained.

Dear Chef Jose Andres has set up a food truck nearby. "Everybody needs support and love in these moments, wealthy or not, poor or not.
🙏🔥🙏
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/hollywood-hills-burn-la-engulfed-by-the-big-one-2025-01-09/ #press #fires

I see the fires in LA as the burning of the old world. #Hollywood is the single most recognizable cultural thing of the 20th century, and along with everything else in the last few years, it's going down in flames.

Very sorry for the people who are losing their homes, but the amount of homelessness in LA tells me that others lost their home years earlier already, and no one batted an eye.

#civilization #humanity #la #lafires #losangeles #fires #fire #culture #climatechange #movies #environment

Drone footage of the assault on L.A.
“This is the worst that I’ve ever seen. And it’s going on and on and on.”

“One day you’re swimming in the pool and the next day it’s all gone,” said actor James Woods

#press #fires

🔥 Predictions of the economic devastation of the fires—in terms of damage to homes, the film & TV industry, etc—are climbing. Damages are now estimated to be $57 billion.

The blazes are already the most destructive in LA history, burning >27K acres. https://shorturl.at/eCpb9 #press #fires

I have been trying to keep up with what's going on in Los Angeles County. It's absolutely wild to me that this kind of severe fire event is happening in January. That never happened when I was growing up. The scenes I am seeing in my feeds are heartbreaking.

Aloha from Maui.

#wildfires #losangeles #wx #SantaAnaWinds #fires #disasters #California

Israel struggles to deter escalating attacks from Houthis https://www.byteseu.com/617945/ #2024MideastWars #DanielHagari #DannyCitrinowicz #EyalPinko #Fires #GeneralNews #Hamas #Hezbollah #houthis #IbrahimSosa #Israel #IsraelGovernment #MiddleEast #WarAndUnrest #WorldNews #Yemen

Israeli troops remove staff, patients from northern Gaza hospital, officials say https://www.byteseu.com/599558/ #AccessToHealthCare #assault #Children #Fires #GazaStrip #GeneralNews #Hamas #Israel #IsraelGovernment #IsraelHamasWar #MiddleEast #MilitaryAndDefense #MuhammadAlSous #NadavShoshani #NursingCare #StephanieTremblay #WarAndUnrest #WorldNews

another day in paradise i guess 👀😬 #straya #fires #floods

At least 36 people killed in Hawaii's Lahaina fire, Maui County reports https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-10/at-least-36-people-have-died-in-hawaii-lahaina-fire/102715658 #Hawaii #fires #climate