THREAD:

Seeing a lot fo misinformation being spread rn so I want to explain some things as simply as possible re: wildfires along the west coast of north america

Yes, we know for a fact that climate change is causing the planet to warm. Thru processes I'm not going to get into rn, this leads to ocean temps and ocean acidity which changes weather patterns, their severity, and which way & where they move.

tl;dr - some areas are getting much, much less rain than they used to and some are getting much, much more.

The west coast is getting much, much less precipitation than it used to. This makes the forests and vegetation extremely dry and thus very easy to catch fire.

Additonally, warmer winters have led to a massive increase in pine beetle populations, who kill millions of acres of forest and leave dead, dry lumber that will easily catch flame and burn far and fast.

so that's how climate change directly leads to the increase in wildfire incidence and intensity on the west coast.

now let's talk about the other major cause: poor land management.

Indigenous peoples of the west coast knew (and know) that using controlled fires to keep excess fuel (i.e. dead leaves, dead vegetation, dead moss, etc.) from accumulating can prevent inevitable wildfires from becoming too large and out of control.

In the 19th century onward, settler governments (such as the US forest service, USNPS, DOI, etc.) forcibly banned Indigenous peoples from practicing controlled burning which had kept the west resilient to forest fires for thousands of years.

#LandBack and a return to Indigenous land stewardship will make a huge difference in controlling these fires and reducing their intensity to help allow more to survive as well as allow conditions for new growth to thrive.

I have seen people claiming these fires are caused by one or the other of these issues, but it's important that you all understand it is BOTH. There is a reason these massive fires are affecting the west specifically...

Neither lightning nor gender reveal fireworks nor arson can start massive forest fires in vegetation that is too moist. Those things are just the last straw, literally the "spark," not the cause.

this was something i wrote on my instagram story, and I figured I'd type it up and share it here too. Hope I was able to explain things clearly and thanks for reading.

@threadreaderapp unroll