1/ For those who aren't well versed in forest/brush fires, I thought I'd make a quick thread about the idiocy of Trump's raking comments and dispel some other misunderstandings.
2/ First, it should be obvious, but nobody is or should be raking the fucking forest. Good luck with that. Have you checked out the size of California alone?
3/ Finland, which is far wetter and colder, has an entirely different climate and much smaller population, far too small to rake there ether. Anyway, here are Finns trolling Trump: sfgate.com/california-wil…
4/ Yes, forest management is a problem. Mostly by NOT letting natural fires occur for the last 100 years, letting too much fuel accumulate. Oh and by the way, most forests in California are federally managed or privately owned. So that's on Trump now.
5/ But, in addition to not letting fires burn normally for far too long, we have climate change, and its accompanying drought, bark beetle infestations, adding a lot more dead trees. Also climate change can increase wind issues.
6/ Unreported, as Twitter discovers that California uses inmates to help dig firelines (which, not good) is that these fires were deprived of federal fire fighters because they were furloughed PER OLD SCHEDULES OF WHEN FIRE SEASON IS.
7/ Let that sink it: The forests are sicker and drier, and yet TRUMP'S ADMINISTRATION stuck to old rules about when firefighters are needed. Rake that, asshole.
8/ Also, the #woosleyfires have little to do with forests. These are BRUSH FIRES. Brush in California is largely chaparral, which evolved TO BE FLAMMABLE b/c that's how its seed are released and regenerated.
9/ Whether it is in forests, a la Paradise, or Brush, a la Woosley, or a mix, like Napa fires, another problem is that we are sprawling into areas that are highly flammable, hard to evacuate, despite that, are not building safer communities.
10/ As with all things climate related, we need to build smarter and denser. We should not (re)build in floodplanes, in tinder and wind filled canyons. WHICH BRINGS ME to CALIFORNIA NIMBYS.
11/ There is NOTHING worse than "green" people and, WORSE, "green" groups that claim to want to preserve forests and wildspace and yet fight denser, transit heavy cities. You people will kill us all.
12/ Every forest fire releases a hellacious amount of carbon into the atmosphere, setting into motion an unstoppable dynamic. We should be taking far more aggressive mitigation, zoning, economic reprioritization than anything currently being discussed in the MSM.
13/ This issue combine some of America's worst flaws: scientific illiteracy, media illiteracy, personal and corporate shortsightedness. "The planet" will be fine. Life will evolve. But humanity and anything like what we've known for last five millennia is at grave risk.
14/ Also I truly believe that the (reportorial) media has its loci in two East Coast cities is a huge part of the problem.
