Editorials, Opinion “The choices we make today will determine how much temperatures increase this century, how long and damaging wildfire seasons become, and how prepared communities are for the growing risks of wildfires.”
That was the warning the Union of Concerned Scientists gave in 2013, when they reported temperatures in the Western United States were “increasing much faster” — about twice as fast — as the planet as a whole, said “climate change is driving up temperatures and increasing wildfire risk,” and predicted wildfires would continue to burn more land in Western U.S. states as warmer temperatures and less rainfall turned once majestic trees into tinder.
That same year, then-President Barack Obama said combating climate change was a top priority for his second term. Stymied by a Republican-controlled Congress unwilling to pass necessary changes, Obama started using his executive powers to help reduce our country’s contributions to climate change, putting strict restrictions on polluting power plants in an attempt to severely reduce climate change-causing emissions. The following year, he brokered a deal to cut emissions with Brazil, China, India and Mexico. In 2015, Obama signed a historic agreement known as the Paris Climate Agreement, which included the buy-in of nearly 200 countries around the world.
“Today, the American people can be proud — because this historic agreement is a tribute to American leadership,” Obama said the day he signed the Paris agreement. “Over the past seven years, we’ve transformed the United States into the global leader in fighting climate change. … Now, skeptics said these actions would kill jobs. Instead, we’ve seen the longest streak of private-sector job creation in our history. We’ve driven our economic output to all-time highs while driving our carbon pollution down to its lowest level in nearly two decades.”
Hope was high in 2015 that we could lick this thing. That perhaps our grandchildren wouldn’t have to live in a world where wildfires ravaged the world’s most beautiful wild places seven out of 12 months each year and where we wouldn’t have to question if we’d let a critical moment pass us by without even blinking.
