New York Must Heed Climate Warnings After Devastating California Fires
Opinion Advocates for ideas and draws conclusions based on the author/producer’s interpretation of facts and data.
The world watched with horror this past week as thousands of Californians lost their homes and livelihoods to apocalyptic fire storms. Here in New York, we should take this as yet another sign that we need climate action now.
Los Angeles has seen barely a drop of rain since May, making the fires easy to start and hard to contain. This should remind New Yorkers of the drought we experienced this fall. These aren’t coincidences, they are direct byproducts of heat-trapping emissions produced by extracting and burning coal, oil and gas.
According to a peer-reviewed study published in May 2023 by the Union of Concerned Scientists, “19.8 million acres of burned forest land in the Western U.S. and southwestern Canada can be attributed to emissions traced to the world’s 88 largest fossil fuel producers.” In addition, emissions from these companies “contributed to nearly half of the increase in drought and fire danger conditions across the region since 1901.”
This study and others like it offer elected officials a scientific basis for holding fossil fuel companies accountable. The centerpiece of Gov. Hochul’s climate policy in the coming year must be a robust cap and invest program that aggressively limits emissions and prices carbon effectively. The billions of dollars in proceeds from this program will fund an equitable renewable energy transition over the coming years.
The best time for meaningful climate action was before the fires; the second-best time is now.
Bridget McFadden
Sleepy Hollow
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