Essential California

September 15, 2020

Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Tuesday, Sept. 15, and I’m writing from Los Angeles. “It will start getting cooler, you just watch,” President Trump said during a briefing Monday with California and federal officials, shortly after Air Force One flew through wildfire smoke to land at McClellan Airfield just outside Sacramento. [Read the story: “In California, Trump continues to deny climate change is real: ‘It will start getting cooler’” in the Los Angeles Times] The president of the United States once again ignored the scientific consensus on climate change during his brief visit to California, echoing the same willful denial seen in his repeated assertions that the coronavirus would “go away” on its own. (Nearly 200,000 Americans have died since the president first made that assertion, and devastating fires turbocharged by climate change continue to rage across the West Coast.) As my colleagues write, Trump deflected questions about whether climate change was a driving force behind California’s historic wildfires this year during Monday’s briefing, saying instead that major fires can be attributed to what he described as a failure to properly manage the state’s forests, including the need to cut more fire breaks. [Read the story: “Trump’s antagonistic relationship with California overshadows his visit to check on wildfires” in the Los Angeles Times] Is forest management a part of California’s fire problem? Absolutely, and during his remarks Monday, Gov. Gavin Newsom acknowledged that state and federal officials have fallen short in the area. But just as scientists had predicted for decades, climate change has made things much, much worse, fueling California’s record-breaking wildfires, heat and smog. Newsom also recently noted that the federal government owns a little more than half of California’s 33 million acres of forestland, compared with the 3% owned by the state. [See also: “Is climate change worsening California fires, or is it poor forest management? Both, experts say” in the San Francisco Chronicle] The death toll from California’s wildfires has swelled to 24, as authorities continued to search for people still missing. Major fires continue to burn across the state, with firefighters toiling to keep multiple blazes from reaching populated communities. [See also: A map of where fires are burning in California from the Los Angeles Times] Two California cities — Los Angeles and San Francisco — currently rank among the 10 most polluted places in the world, as smoke from the fires continues to choke our skies. “It’s a boxed-in feeling,” North Hollywood artist Carole J. McCoy told my colleague Hayley Smith. “Not being able to go outside, because I have asthma and allergies, takes away the one thing that was a sense of freedom and peace.” More on the air quality issues: How to read and understand air quality numbers and maps. Here’s what all those numbers and colors actually mean. Los Angeles Times Your questions about air quality answered, including what you need to know about masks and running your air conditioner. Los Angeles Times