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Fires
The first great urban climate apocalypse is happening now
This morning they held a public funeral service in DC for Jimmy Carter, our most human president. He was the first president I voted for as a young man and I was a fan, especially after the chaos of Nixon and Vietnam. But he had the misfortune to get elected during the worst energy crisis ever.
It’s hard to comprehend that time if you didn’t live through it. 15% mortgages, high inflation, and high gas prices if you could even get it. And all of us driving around in gas guzzling boats, spoiled by gas that was practically free by today’s standards.
Which is why Carter became our first leader to openly acknowledge that geo-political and climate issues around fossil fuels were going to be a serious problem. He put solar panels on the White House, which he was ridiculed for by the Republican establishment. His successor Ronald Reagan had them removed.
Jimmy Carter was also our last president to focus on climate issues. Which, given the constant terrible news stemming from weather disasters, is almost incomprehensible.
Los Angeles, the City of Angels, is burning. Seasonal Santa Ana winds and drought have combined to turn the fires into monstrous blowtorches swallowing houses and commercial buildings in minutes. Those winds, normally peaking at 50–60 mph, are now gusting over 100 miles per hour, accelerating the fires to points we have not seen before.
After two days the fires are largely uncontained.
Hydrants are drying up as ancient water management systems designed for dealing with house fires can’t sustain the flows needed to fight these kinds of infernos. The winds were so high the first 24 hours that firefighting aircraft could not fly, adding to the explosive growth.
This morning I spoke to a close friend who grew up in Southern California, who now lives in Santa Barbara which is just outside the current fire zone but dangerously close. She has many relatives in and around LA and many have had to evacuate.
As is the norm, our politicians outside of the disaster zone are notably silent. Excepting Donald Trump who claims, with no evidence, that the fires are CA Governor Gavin Newsom’s fault because he blocked the…
