Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Climate Change and fires

[tmalbright (tmalbright]

Katie;

 

I guess we disagree about some things.  Thank you for correcting me - not
only has California done a poor job with lands management - so has the
Federal Government.  Yes true.

We now know that Smokie the Bear of the late 50s+ was wrong - you should not
put out all forest fires - some is needed as nature is designed.

 

I don't understand how any of this is political in some people's mind.  I
saw the post about fire damage and because I have actual practical
experience on this topic as it relates to land management -  I offered some
insight.

 

It sounds like lots of people are already hip to the importance of this and
have taken precautions - that's awesome!.

 

Actual experience:  recently I came to visit "wine country" with family and
friends - we stayed in a nice BnB in an upscale neighborhood on the hills.
Beautiful place - but it quickly made me nervous.  The entire neighborhood
had a high canopy of trees - all waiting to explode if a fire every got
loose.

 

People need to manage their landscaping for safety.  The government seems
not to do a good job about this so individuals need to do it themselves -
organize and volunteer to work as a community to fix stuff -  That's all I'm
saying.

 

Be safe everyone.  The people from Texas are routing for you and want the
best for you.

 

Ty

 

 

From: Kathryn McCamant <kmccamant [at] cohousing-solutions.com> 
Sent: Saturday, January 25, 2025 12:49 PM
To: cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org
Cc: tmalbright [at] verizon.net
Subject: Climate Change and fires

 

As a Californian, I disagree that our state government has failed us (see Ty
Albrights previous post). We have made huge strides in both addressing the
impacts of climate change and how we work with fire, which has always been a
natural phenomenon in the west but which is having much higher impact as
climate change creates more extreme weather events. 

 

Yes, Santa Ana winds have existed here for centuries, if not millennium. But
the January 2025 Santa Ana Winds were record breaking and on top of a nine
month drought. 

 

Almost all of the forestland in California is owned and managed by the
federal government, NOT the state of California. 

 

I have no doubt that California will continue to learn much from these
tragic fires and incorporate that learning into how we deal with climate
change in the future. I am very very concerned that the Trump administration
is quickly destroying our country's already behind-the-eight-ball efforts to
work with climate change. If you don't believe in it, you certainly are not
going to help your society plan for the inevitable. I am very concerned
about what the Trump Administration will do with regard to "managing" the
federal lands across the West. 

 

In my community, in my rural country, citizens have made huge efforts over
the last 5 years to reduce fuels around homes, thin forest for better long
term health, introduce proscribed burning, and continually research what
works and how best to address our changing weather. We are not waiting for
the government, but the scale that this work is needed can only happen with
government support. I am so very glad I live in a state that recognizes
climate change and is doing what it can to plan for that reality. 

 

Katie 

Kathryn McCamant , President

CoHousing Solutions

 <http://www.cohousing-solutions.com> www.cohousing-solutions.com

916.798.4755