Policy Memo
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Policy Issue
Wildfires are a regular occurrence in California and other western states because of the Santa Ana Winds. Ten of the largest wildfires ever recorded in California have taken place since year two thousand, and six of the worst have occurred in the year two thousand and twenty. Massive, fast-spreading wildfires are devastating parts of Oregon and Washington. Numerous lives have been lost, and property damages total in the billions of dollars. The western states have continued to witness an ever-expanding fire season, which is coupled with related to residential development in fire-prone areas.
Numerous scientific and environmental organizations have warned that frequent and severe dangers will undoubtedly continue well into the future unless the federal government takes action to curb climate change. The governors of California, Oregon, and Washington have maintained that climate change is the primary reason for these devasting fires and have urged the federal government to undertake action to mitigate the impact of these fires on the western states. In doing so, the governors have enlisted the assistance of environmental groups and organizations throughout the western United States and requesting they Congress to deal with this critically important issue.
Firstly, the most common cause of wildfires varies throughout the world especially in the United States, some known sources of wildfires can be said to be lightning strikes and to human activities such as machinery sparks, cast-away cigarette butts and many more examples. However, climate change has become an upcoming threat that has continuously contributed in favourably in the creation of bigger and more powerful fires across the American West over the past few years till to date affecting millions and destroying people’s property as well as disrupting wildlife. This has been proven correct through science in the study of climate change. Increasing heat, changing rain and snow patterns, shifts in plant seasons, and other climate-related changes have really increased the likelihood that fires will start more often and burn more strongly and widely than they have in the past making this a curious issue that people are currently facing.
Such climate change is caused by humans who have fueled in the increase in influencing the climate and tampering with the earth’s temperature by burning fossil fuels, cutting down rainforests and practising livestock farming. This aids in adding large amounts of greenhouse gases to those naturally occurring in the atmosphere, increasing the greenhouse effect and global warming. However, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions from human activities in the United States is from burning fossil fuels for electricity, heat, and transportation and through this causes major effects on the weather patterns and thus causes climate change.
The second discussion is how the federal government or lack of action by the government contributed to the worsening of the wildfire problem. One of the government policies that has not been looked upon is such as many Americans are moving into wildfire-prone areas outside of cities as they are risking their lives knowingly, and some communities often move to resist restrictions on development. Another policy is that of a federal policy to aggressively extinguish wildfires rather than letting some burn at low levels, and that approach has now been seen as unwise, has left forests with plenty of fuel for especially more fires to eventually occur. This has also been seen in our current time when global warming is creating a hotter and drier environment, that aids in the fueling of more wildfires in the United States.
Another additional reason for the cause of why wildfires are becoming more frequent due to lack of federal action is that more Americans are moving to areas outside of cities near forests. These areas are known as the wildland-urban interface. Some people move to these wildland-urban areas since housing costs are lower in those areas in the sense that materials for building houses in the forests are readily available thus human activities cause major destructions of forests thus ending to wildfires. Policymakers are unable to stop all growth. However, experts said that the government could impose tougher restrictions in the coming future development plans to ensure that communities are better protected against wildfire when it arrives.
Last but not least is the lack of federal action when it comes to the regulation in the main root cause of global warming, that ends causing climate change, is human behaviour. The main way to reduce is this is to reduce fossil fuel use, which pumps warm gases into the atmosphere causing global warming leading to different climatic changes. But some steps can reduce the spread of wildfire damage even as countries work to cut gas emissions.
The third and final discussion is on what actions can be undertaken to lessen the disproportionate impact of climate change on communities of colour and communities of lower-income citizens making this my main policy advocacy memo. The first action that can help reduce wildfires in the United States is by making a fire funding fix count that is instead of spending more in putting wildfires which at times the forest service has less money for wildfire prevention, it is recommended to restore the forests by removing dead plants or trees and help sustain the survival of seedlings, and this requires more constant and careful management.
The second action is aiding in research to find the best options that are the federal government should help fund studies that provide helpful information—however, the need of a more understanding about how to manage forests. Additionally, the research could help study the best ways to predict high-risk areas for wildfire and understand how climate change is shifting. A third action is turning forest byproducts into revenue that is by reducing the risk of creating new fires by removing vegetation that can help fuel fires. Those plants can be turned to renewable sources such as paper and furniture. Removing dead plants for sale could generate millions of dollars in vital funding for restoring the forest. This will create new revenue and jobs, which will help improve ecological health. Lastly, an additional action that can be used is building a bedrock on environmental policies, and bedrock policies provide a critical catcher for ecosystems at risk; this includes forests as well. With climate change the issue that has made wildfires worse, the need is greater than ever for more funding.
In conclusion, wildfires have caused major effects on climate change which has caused different weather patterns as well as caused damage to millions of people’s properties and loss of lives, especially in America. However, this can be reduced by formulating and putting in place strict policies that will help cab start of wildfires.