L.A. Fires: Recovery & Rebuilding
Living With Wildfire
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Intensifying fire danger in California's high mountains — regions once considered too wet to burn — is bad news for humans and treacherous for the environment.
When storms like atmospheric rivers hit wildfire burn scars, which arise from climate change-influenced drought, the resulting mudflows can be deadly.
Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) laid off thousands of contractors and employees across multiple trades over the last month — even though the utility is already far behind on work orders for line maintenance, which is essential for wildfire prevention and management.
Recent wildfires in Sequoia National Park have highlighted the need for leadership from local tribes, like the Tule River Tribe of California, to be involved in firefighting efforts to protect delicate ecology and significant historic and cultural sites.
In the past two years, nearly 20 percent of the iconic trees have been destroyed by wildfire.
The black mustard plant is said to have been introduced by Spanish missionaries who planted trails of yellow flowers along El Camino Real. Thriving along the coast, the plant crowds out native species as it takes over the landscape.
Wildfires loom all over, but the rural counties with poor and elderly residents face the greatest threats.
The word "solastalgia" aims to capture the loss and grief tied to climate change. But these emotions are experienced differently across cultures. While new language like solastalgia can be useful, Indigenous scholars and a psychologist describe how it also may miss the nuances of Indigenous peoples' experiences.
Ecopoetry can be a place for documenting and memorializing all that is lost to climate change. It can also be a place to process emotions tied to loss and catastrophe. Four poets read and comment on their poems about wildfire and coral bleaching.
An environmental journalist writes about the poems that help her process wildfire and climate change. At a time when so much is being lost, ecopoetry can bear witness, sift through the ruins, reveal the cause of the crisis and restore the spirit.
Thousands of fire lookout towers were built throughout the U.S. in the first half of the 20th century. Today, while satellite and infra-red devices lessen the need for lookouts, they still have a place in the fire monitoring system.
An incarcerated firefighter found strength and purpose through a fire training program in Malibu. For many incarcerated people, fire camp offers a critical opportunity at a difficult time, yet California still has a long way to go towards supporting the inmate firefighters it relies on so heavily for its fire programs.