Climate Change

“you gotta clean your forests”

Written by SK Ashby

Trump doesn't take responsibility for virtually anything so he has repeatedly blamed state governments for failing to properly manage forests that burn in massive wildfires.

Although the federal government controls most forest land, states actually spend more money managing the land they control than the federal government does according to a review of publicly available data.

Even though California controls less land, for example, the state actively manages more acres under their control.

From Reuters:

“You gotta clean your floors, you gotta clean your forests... I’ve been telling them this now for three years... they don’t listen to us,” Trump said at a rally last month.

In fact, the bulk of California’s forest management falls under federal jurisdiction, with the U.S. Forest Service owning 57% of California’s 33 million acres of forests. Yet, for the fiscal year 2020, the agency spent $151 million treating 235,000 acres with practices like controlled burns meant to reduce wildfire risks, according to figures provided by the service.

By contrast, California’s government spent $200 million on forest management work, and oversaw treatment of 393,282 acres of state-run and privately-held land, according to figures provided by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

So California is, in fact, 'cleaning their forests,' whateverthefuck that means. At least more so than the Trump regime is.

Snark aside, this is not a problem that can be tackled with the usual tactics or emaciated budgets. The climate itself is changing and what may have worked in the past is no longer enough if it ever was. We need a comprehensive, whole-government approach to fighting climate change and responsibly managing lands to the best of our ability.

The GOP's idea of managing the land is selling it to the highest bidder so it can be mined or logged and you should not vote for them if you want the youngest members of your family to have a habitable planet when they're your age.

Personally, I'm only 36, but I've been increasingly thinking beyond myself to my youngest niece. She will live long enough to see massive migration from the south to the north and the collapse of entire countries and ecosystems. Her generation will likely curse those that came before and they'll be right. We've known since at least the 1970s, if not before, that we were warming the planet.