California Governor Jerry Brown has been accused of “noble cause corruption” by climate change scientists for attempting to connect the latest string of wildfires in the state to climate change.
“It’s a new normal,” the governor said at a press conference in August about the fires that have arisen around California this wildfire season. “California is burning,” adding, “The fires are changing, the way this fire performed; it’s not the way it usually has been. Going in lots of different directions, moving fast, even without direction.”
California has seen one of its most active and deadly years on record vis-a-vis wildfires. The last fire started on September 27, in Monterey, just south of San Jose. In 2015, California has seen 46,005 acres burned as of September 12 (the number of fires, however, is actually down from recent years). Seven people have died in the latest flare-up of fires in September.
The governor attempted to connect the situation with climate change by saying that the drought, which started in the fall of 2011, has escalated the situation, along with an increase in carbon.
“This is a wakeup call. We have to start coming to our senses,” the governor said at a press conference in early August. “This is not a game of politics. We need to limit our carbon pollution. These are real lives and real people. This problem cannot be solved year by year.”
“That is the nature of politics, but the science really has to matter.”
climate change scientist Roger Pielke
Though the governor maintained that his remarks were not intended to be political, University of Colorado climate change scientist Roger Pielke accused the governor of participating in “noble cause corruption” by propping up a favorite cause of the left and Democrats even though the facts might not be on their side.
“That is the nature of politics, but the science really has to matter,” said Pielke.
“There is insufficient data,” U.S Forest Service ecologist Matt Jolly said, referring to the connection between climate change and the fires.
While Brown is using tragedy and pseudo-science to push his political agenda, experts are trying to come to evidence-based conclusions and offer some solutions.
Richard Halsey, of the Chaparral institute, a nonprofit organization in San Diego which studies the ecosystem in California, has proposed a series of changes in response to the wildfires. They include, 1) understanding fire risk, 2) controlling development, and 3) making existing homes safer with fire-rated roofs and ember-resistant vents.