TO
end of December 2017 The United States recorded heavy snowfall and very low and dangerous temperatures. The authorities asked citizens to protect the most vulnerable population, since hypothermia and frostbite could affect 500,000 people who called the streets their home. But President Donald Trump called not to be alarmist and offered the formula to combat the polar frost: a little global warming
. Although he acknowledged that New Year’s Eve will be the coldest on record, we could use a little of that old global warming that our country, but not others, was going to pay trillions of dollars to protect us from. Bundle up!
His mockery of climate change, which he describes as a farce that the Chinese created to harm American industries
received the response from the academic world: Trump ignored the difference between weather and climate. The first refers to atmospheric conditions during a short period, such as the polar wave that hit the US this month. While climate is a broader overview of weather patterns.
Whoever today assumes the presidency of his country again, equally ignores the causes that cause the largest fires in the state of California. He turned all his criticism towards the local authorities. He described them as inept and unprepared to prevent and effectively fight the fire in Los Angeles. Denigrating, lying, is the way he usually does to gain followers. But even recognizing flaws in the state protection system, there are other factors that count in the enormous tragedy that affects hundreds of thousands of citizens and their property.
It is worth remembering that in mid-September 2020, the denier Trump, then president of the United States, hurriedly visited California to find out as much as possible
of the fires that in those days devastated thousands of hectares on the west coast of that state and left 30 dead.
With the scientific knowledge that he usually displays, Trump assured that these fires were not due to climate change, to global warming, but to poor forest management. And he was convinced that science did not know what is happening
ignoring warnings from the academic community about global warming and its effects on the climate.
And for the umpteenth time, Trump expressed his belief that the climate will start to cool
and you just have to wait a little for it to happen. Then, as he has done now with the great disaster in California, he maintained that everything that was happening was due to poor forest management
to trees like matches
which die and dry up there.” Not only in California, but in Oregon and Washington, also affected by fire in 2020.
But the governors of those three states reiterated that, although the causes of the fires are varied, the fundamental one is the hardening of climatic conditions due to global warming. Gavin Newsom, governor of California, reiterated to the climate denier par excellence during said visit that: The heat is getting more intense and the dryness is getting more acute
. And then he explained clearly why the fires are more serious than ever. He asked him to respect the opinion of specialists, that climate change was real and generates tragedies like those they experienced those days due to the fire. Trump responded dryly: Of course
.
The recent fires in Los Angeles will cause a lot of talk. But I want to add a rarely mentioned cause: the anarchic and unplanned way in which thousands of people occupied extensive areas of forests, pastures and various plant species. They have verified the power of a hurricane-force wind that fuels the fire, which quickly destroys everything in its path.
There are more than 150,000 people affected in their homes or places where they worked. The fatalities were 25, and 26 were missing. These fires are the most costly in US history, with losses exceeding 300 billion dollars.
