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As wildfires rage, U.S. voters still divided on climate

46 Comments
By Issam AHMED

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46 Comments

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The current fires need to be seen as a dynamic made up of many elements. These include and maybe start with poor land use management, both government and private property owners. Invasive species like plants in Arizona and a beetle in California. Human stupidity, e.g. setting off fireworks, throwing lit cigarettes, not putting out campfires, etc. Arson, wack individuals, including wack political extremists. Lightning strikes. And climate change. Among others.

Trump, a famous climate-denier, has been silent on the issue.

Trump's a fossil who understand 1950's America's fossil economy. And his best political friends (see Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia, etc.) run fossil fuel states.

To Trump and the globe's fossils running the global fossil economy, 'progress' is a pejorative.

How many nations have been successful setting policies that take them back to some mythical time when some thought they were 'great'?

0 ( +6 / -6 )

Hello.....BLM, Antifa, and people running Dem cities and states.

No one burned down Fed buildings, Cities and Forest lands when the great nobel laureate was in office. .... oh wait some cities were burned down due to that hands up, don't shoot in MI.... that street dweller in MD, and the peaceful hooded "unarmed" skittles kid in FL.

Must just be a natural phenomenon.

-7 ( +5 / -12 )

Paul Bledsoe, a lecturer at the Center for Environmental Policy at American University, said it was notable that when Biden invokes the climate, he does so through the lens of economic opportunity in the form of a Green New Deal.

I feel sorry for Bledsoe's students. They have been taught that the Green New Deal is going to be a positive for jobs, when in fact it will kill jobs.

"When I think about climate change, the word I think of is 'jobs'" Biden said in July.

Says the guy who helped move U.S. jobs to China all during his nearly 50 years in government.

-6 ( +6 / -12 )

Logging as it has traditionally been done isn't going to solve the western US problems with huge fires. Logging practices are part of the problem. Loggers want only big trees to send to the sawmills. They leave the smaller trees and understory along with large amounts of dead wood that is left over logging debris. That is what's feeding the fires. In addition for a hundred years there has been a concerted effort to prevent fire in order to maximize marketable timber in the National Forests. Areas that are clear cut have no shade left, allowing many plants that formerly grew there to die while other non native species that can survive on drier unshaded ground take root. The whole ecology of the forest is upended. On top of that USFS budgets have been cut year after year leaving them unable to afford underbrush and logging debris removal. They also lack money and resources for controlled burns, which are now increasingly dangerous to do. Then you have a decade of drought that dries out the forests leaving the trees vulnerable to boring insects and disease and you can see to day what that brings. The solution lies in funding the removal of understory from the forests and thinning them out. Much of the wood removed will not be marketable. Sawmills are not equipped for small trees and would need major retooling to handle small wood. Finding a use for it will be a challenge. Disposing it will be even more challenging. There are no easy answers here. Future logging will have to be more selective instead of clear cutting and loggers must be required to remove all logging debris.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Sure, let’s let China have all the jobs involved with creating/perfecting renewable energy. Then China will also have all the technology to export. Makes perfect sense if you’re trying to keep America competitive.

As long as the Democrats don't and won't take a very aggressive line against China and blocking a lot of their access to the nation and stopping them from stealing our intellectual property America will lose its technological edge.

Yeah, it’s called a capitalist free market, if which republicans used To be champions.

No, both parties get a failing F on this one and which is why this admin is putting the screws to China and they don't like it one darn bit. You can be a Capitalist without selling the country out to an adversary that would love to see it destroyed or at the very least weakened and diminished.

I did see all the videos of Biden personally negotiating to exports jobs to China. Just check YouTube.

Uh-huh....

https://nypost.com/2020/03/12/why-china-is-rooting-for-joe-biden-to-win-2020-presidential-race/

Nowadays, Biden might call his old friend Xi a “thug” and yelp about Xinjiang and Hong Kong. But the Communist Party has long endured sanctimonious liberals. Listening to their ­harangues is a small price for a relationship that brings such prosperity and strength.

Americans are now woke to these realities. In today’s climate, a full return to the pre-Trump China consensus may not be possible, even for Biden. But the predictability of Biden would be a blessing to Beijing, as opposed to Trump or Sanders.

The two populists understand what China does. Meanwhile, just last summer, Biden said of the Chinese regime: “They’re not bad folks. … They’re not competition for us.”

Makes all sense now why they want Biden...

-5 ( +4 / -9 )

The U.S. has a president who, quite literally, does not care one iota about Americans suffering through the west coast fires. Because they live in "democrat states", these people will receive no attention, no concern, no help from this cruel, pitiless fool. People are dying, losing their homes and businesses, seeing their world burn up around them. He could not care less. As always, he degrades the nation, soils the office he illegitimately holds, and defiles all that this country once held dear. Those who support and defend them are traitors to all that America stands for, and I will despise them all until my last breath. As for him, may he * ****.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Easy: Because these fires are being set by arsonists not happening due to “climate change”.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Republicans and their bubble don't allow information about climate change.

3 ( +6 / -3 )

Democrats want to stop China from stealing our tech.

The Democrats had 8 years and not one time did they aggressively do anything of the sort. "8 long years."

And Trump’s supporters, along with the rest of Main Street, are paying the price via more expensive goods. Yeah, go Trump! Keep causing us normal people to pay more so your supporters can incorrectly claim that you’re effective against China.

Trump was pushing against it, canceling Huawei in the US, weeding out Chinese operatives wherever they reside, instituting tariffs, the Democrats did nothing like that. The Dems want to work side by side with China, Trump wants Americans and their job securities safeguarded first. I don't hear the Dems making American jobs top priority over China in any capacity.

When you have real evidence, get back to us.

I did and always do. But seriously, the Dems NEVER had a record for aggressively going after China and that's not an opinion.

-6 ( +3 / -9 )

Fauci says the wildfires will increase coronavirus deaths too. How convenient for the Dem political message.

how many people have been arrested so far for setting these “climate change” fires?

-9 ( +3 / -12 )

Not all but it seems most were caused by Human actions, as people were arrested.

Which makes humans the primary factor not climate.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

This is inaccurate.

Very inaccurate.

What did President Obama do in response to such outrages? Absolutely nothing. It wasn’t as though his administration didn’t know what was going on. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence in November 2015 reported that China’s hacking was costing U.S. companies $360 billion per year.

Obama was too intent on having Beijing sign on to his legacy Paris climate agreement, which was inked in 2016; he didn’t want to rock the boat. In that bogus pact, the U.S. vowed to cut back our already declining emissions, while China made no serious commitments, and in fact acted only in response to internal protests against the country’s foul air and water.

https://thehill.com/opinion/finance/380252-finally-a-president-willing-to-combat-chinese-theft

https://ustr.gov/about-us/policy-offices/press-office/fact-sheets/2015/january/fact-sheet-obama-administration’s

Step out of the bubble do you can get a dose of reality.

Please tell that to the Democrats. The lockdown is clouding their thought process.

-4 ( +3 / -7 )

Inaccurate.

Sorry, more accurate than it should be.

https://genesiustimes.com/antifa-arsonists-blame-climate-change-for-making-them-set-dozens-of-fires-on-west-coast/

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7867617/Andrew-Forrest-claims-bushfire-crisis-caused-arsonists-not-climate-change.html

So most of these fires are caused by humans, not all, but most. Shame on them! Hope they get caught and spend 30 years in prison for this!

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Strangely I don’t see any “climate change caused” wildfires in non Democrat run states.

maybe if you just “just deny climate change” it’s wildfires can’t come to your state.

Also they seem to be happening in Oregon where other fire related activities by humans been happening for months now in the streets.

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

Opinion pieces are evidence only if someone’s opinion and not if facts.

If you go by that, then you can say your opinion that Mayo is delicious is wrong because I think ketchup is better. You can turn anything into an opinion, some people have an opinion that climate change exists and others don't, there are thousands of scientists that say it's happening and some that don't. Some couples that divorce fight that one parent is worse than the other, but the children have to take sides while one parent in their personal opinion thinks they are the better one. WE all have opinions that we proclaim as fact.

This is a satirical website

So which website is a quality and reputable one? Lol

-5 ( +2 / -7 )

It’s indisputable that climate change has exacerbated these fires.

Unfortunately those working for the Republican rapid response team, maybe one of the Kremlin's troll armies, including pro-Trump 'American journalists', and others working in some capacity for one of the globe's other far right organizations that defend the 'global elite establishment' are unable to see existence with any degree of complexity beyond what they're told to think by their employers.

The global oil corporations, oil states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, etc. and their bankers are main elements of the 'establishment'. Of course they'll deny their corporation's actions contribute to climate change.

People can believe big oil's scientists, or those like NASA's. Or any others, of course.

https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Unfortunately those working for the Republican rapid response team, maybe one of the Kremlin's troll armies,

Oh, here we  go again...ROFL...

including pro-Trump 'American journalists', and others working in some capacity for one of the globe's other far right organizations that defend the 'global elite establishment' are unable to see existence with any degree of complexity beyond what they're told to think by their employers.

In other words and to put it simply, you guys really don't have a substantial argument to support your claims. If the world is getting warmer, why are we having colder and harsher winters? Either we will boil over or the next Ice Age is coming, so which is it?

The global oil corporations, oil states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Russia, etc. and their bankers are main elements of the 'establishment'. Of course they'll deny their corporation's actions contribute to climate change.

Ok, so in other words, we should replace our cars and engines that depend and need oil as well as plastics and literally almost everything we use with what? Carrot juice? We can make iphones with carrot pulp? For all the nonsense liberals spew on this mind numbing issue, they never have a long term solution on how we can move forward and how all of this will replace what we have in record time.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

It's clear those paid to support the 'global elite establishment' are unwilling and probably unable to have a discussion on climate change when they limit issues to one extreme or its polar opposite. An example would be using carrot juice to power cars. Personally I can't imagine any time this century when oil and gas will NOT be burned to power vehicles.

0 ( +4 / -4 )

With this kneejerk claim of climate change, the government of California is now firmly on the anti-science side. Bad forest management, removal of underground water and population growth have nothing to do with it.... it must be climate change..... kindergarten logic.

0 ( +7 / -7 )

 Biden said of the Chinese regime: “They’re not bad folks. … They’re not competition for us.”

How about including the rest of the speech in which those phrases were taken from?

"China is going to eat our lunch? Come on, man," Biden said. "They can’t even figure out how to deal with the fact that they have this great division between the China Sea and the mountains in the east, I mean in the west. They can’t figure out how they’re going to deal with the corruption that exists within the system. I mean, you know, they’re not bad folks, folks. But guess what? They’re not competition for us."

How about being truthful for a change?

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Oaky. This doesn’t change the facts that this article doesn’t mention anything about the cause of the wildfires or that the causes haven’t yet been determined, so I’m not certain what your point is.

The point being made is that the unprecedented intensity and rapid growth of these fires, greater than we have ever experienced before, is driven by climate change. When a suburb of LA that is less than 15 miles from the Pacific Ocean has a daytime temperature of 50 degrees C, 121 F, and the night time temperature in the Santa Monica Mountains, which borders the ocean remains above 38 C or 100 F this is unprecedented heat, the hottest temperatures ever recorded in LA County history, and consider that norther LA County is the Mojave Desert. It was hotter in LA than the high desert. Even way up in the San Gabriel Mountains night time temps stayed above 33 C, 90 F. Fires do not die down at night in such high temperatures.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

You literally just demonstrated why opinion pieces are not evidence in critical discourse.

But it's ok when liberals do it? Odd....

I’m the streets of cities nowhere near where any of the fires are,

Oh yes, there are. I sure hope Barr goes after these thugs with a heavy vengeance.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

looking at the current map of wildfires out west, its incredible to see climate change stops at the Canadian border.

Arson and poor forest management which don't do regular controlled burns. Period.

-2 ( +3 / -5 )

The problem is that a certain type of political agenda minded people try to sell 'climate change' as a real thing (as if it is set science) when in fact tens of thousands of highly educated researchers and scientists speak out against this false prophecy.

Read the article before commenting.

https://www.heartland.org/news-opinion/news/30000-scientists-sign-petition-on-global-warming

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Even the liberals back in the 90's knew global warming was a scam.

The Global Warming Petition Project, also known as the Oregon Petition, is a petition urging the United States government to reject the global warming Kyoto Protocol of 1997 and similar policies. Some consider it to be a political petition designed for disinforming and confusing the public about the scientific results and the consensus of climate change research.

-3 ( +2 / -5 )

P.Smith

Science works by consensus, and the consensus is that climate change is real.

Has anybody ever doubted that climate change is real? This issue is if climate change is man-made and that the planetary can be controlled by virtue-signalling politicians in a few countries like a thermostate.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

It's not a set science but some will intentionally try to pass it off as such. Too bad.

Trying to blame this solely on human activity is frivolous.

70's, 80's it was global cooling.

80's, 90's global warming with acid rain.

Now, climate change.

What people forget is that earth is going to do what earth does because we know for a fact that there have been cooling and warming periods throughout earth's history.

Taxing what nature does makes no sense.

-4 ( +2 / -6 )

Are Americans conducting scorched earth policy before they move inland? So that the Chinese will get nothing when they occupy the west cost in the near future

-2 ( +2 / -4 )

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