-Aadi Shiv Malhotra (’21)

Wildfires in California have each year grown more dangerous and bigger. Firefighters have become more worried each passing year, as a higher number, of large and dangerous fires are starting to occur earlier in the year; something that is blamed on climate change. California naturally has a dry summer, and with rising global temperatures, it shows that the wildfires are going to rise in number.

In 2017, after there were a recording amount of wildfires in California, California Governor Jerry Brown said that the several fires were the ‘new normal’ for the state and said that the years of drought and rising temperatures from climate change contributed to the worsening season. An atmospheric science professor at the Penn State University agrees with the sentiment that climate change is contributing to the levels of these events. He has concluded with a great degree of confidence that ‘climate change is making these events more intense’.

Sacramento had faced hotter temperatures for months before the Carr fire, and these high temperatures contributed to its rapid spreading. There is undeniable evidence that climate change is a big issue, and evidence will continue to mount that climate change is harmful to the Earth. While our president may not feel that climate change is a big issue, I feel that if we all as a community believe that climate change is harmful, and make our voices heard, more and more people will take notice; and at that point the people who are in a position to enact change, will have to recognize the problem that we face and take action against it.