California's Ongoing Climate Crisis
Written By: Hannah Saraf, Outreach Team Member
The Context:
One year ago, the outreach team at the Tomorrow Project wrote two blogs on the climate emergencies occurring in California. Last summer, there was a severe drought and an extreme wildfire season that wreaked havoc on average Californians. However, the summer that just ended seems to be giving the summer of 2020 a run for its money. According to The Sacramento Bee, through data collected by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), California experienced its hottest summer on record. This is after the United Nations’ report on climate change which further demonstrated the unavoidable nature of the temperature increase that is expected by 2040. This heat also resulted in conditions that intensified droughts, as the heat melted snowpack, thereby limiting Californian’s access to water by an estimated 800,000 acre-feet of water. The fires over the past summer have also been increasingly destructive, with the Dixie Fire scorching almost a million acres and the Caldor Fire torching a little under a quarter of a million acres.
What can we do?
However, there are collective actions that we can take to help prevent California’s wildfires. Governor Gavin Newsom’s proposal from 2020 to ban the sale of all new emission-producing cars by 2035 would decrease the large percentage of greenhouse gas emissions that vehicles make. According to statistics compiled by the governor’s office, around 40% of greenhouse gas emissions in the state come from transportation, which is a massive quantity of emissions. When it comes to preventing wildfires, it seems as though forest management could help significantly reduce the intensity of any uncontrolled blazes that light up. The infrastructure bill that is being passed by Congress has over three billion dollars set aside for forest management and wildfire fighting.
What can YOU do?
Luckily, there are even more actions that you can do as an individual to make a difference. To take action, there are lots of steps that you can take to help out. Try living individually in a more sustainable fashion and encourage those you know to join you. If you’re a student that wants to get involved in educating others about climate change, join the Tomorrow Project National team, Ventura chapter, Sacramento chapter, or start a chapter of your own in your school! If you’re an adult passionate about helping students fight the climate crisis, donate to the Tomorrow Project to aid us in guiding younger students through experiential education about the environment, sustainability, and the climate crisis.
Sources:
https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/lake-tahoe-caldor-wildfire-environment
https://www.sacbee.com/news/weather-news/article254138258.html
https://calmatters.org/newsletters/whatmatters/2021/08/california-climate-change-report/
https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ghg-inventory-data
https://calmatters.org/environment/2020/09/california-ban-gasoline-powered-cars-in-2035/
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