While the LA Fires are Devastating, The Emotion I'm Experiencing is Rage

And Here's Why.....

The devastation caused by the Los Angeles fires (and frankly, all the recent wildfires that have impacted both Canada and the US—the wildfire equivalents of Hurricane Katrina), is heartbreaking—not just for those who have already lost homes or businesses, but for all the evacuees, their concerned families and friends, and the first responders, whose courage astounds.

As much as I—someone who has experienced the trauma of wildfires and evacuation firsthand—can relate to emotions expressed by those impacted by the LA fires—their grief and fear—I have to confess that the predominant emotion I’m feeling is not sadness, but rage.

What you should know about me is that I’m not a particular fan of anger—or let me rephrase that. I’m not a fan of the way in which anger has become normalized as the “go to” response for nearly everything, including the petty inconsequential annoyances that don’t amount to much more than inconvenience. We’ve all seen those in action: The red-faced airline customer well on his way to a stroke, screaming at the United service rep over the fact that winter storms have cancelled his flight. When you watch people violate the bounds of civilized propriety in these kinds of ways, not only is it never a good look, but it also tends to inspire any normal person to want to keep their own anger in check.

But when used judiciously—for the issues that truly matter—there are times when anything other than an expression of righteous anger doesn’t seem to fit. And here’s something I’ve only recently realized, when you don’t have a constructive outlet for the expression of anger, when you let it slowly brew under the surface, the groundswell of your unexpressed emotions can threaten both your well-being and health.

My anger has been percolating since the November election. And no, not because my “team” didn’t win, but because of what that reprehensible “victory” represented—a deep betrayal, and an erosion of tenets I hold dear. Principles I thought this country and my fellow Americans stood for, traits I was proud of—dignity, civility, and a willingness to uphold constitutional law above all else. Not to mention the ways in which I believe the leaders of this country—especially within its highest office—have a duty to behave. So yes, this is something so much more than simple disappointment over my team not bringing home the gold, it represents a corrosive disintegration—a systematic betrayal of the principles I embrace and endeavor to uphold, not only as an American, but as a human walking this earth.

But…in the spirit of “When they go low, we go high,” for the most part, I’ve kept those feelings—including my anger—under careful lock and key. But recently, that’s becoming much more difficult to do. And if you don’t think that claims of making Canada the 51^st state, or MAGA Republicans responding to those sorts of ridiculous statements by saying, “The President has big dreams for this country, and to not support them is unpatriotic,” is bat-shit, Hitler-in-the-bunker-level crazy, than please, do yourself a favor and don’t read on.

But that’s not where my rage is coming from. For the most part, I’ve been able to console myself through the belief that no one is really going to vote to invade Canada, that in four more years, saner minds will prevail. And generally speaking, unless we manage to crazy our way into nuclear war, most of what has or will be done, can be undone.

But let me tell you what can’t be undone. And that is the havoc we have wreaked on our environment, and if Trump has his way in walking back regulatory protections, will continue to wreak. And if you have any doubts about climate change—if you still want to challenge the science (how that is even possible, or the kind of intellectual mind-scrambling that level of denial requires, escapes my comprehension) than just look at the California fires—and not just LA, but the Santa Rosa and Santa Barbara fires, too. And if you’re still not convinced, pick up a copy of John Vaillant’s brilliant, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World. Because while a reduction in the price of eggs or gas might have appealed to you, the unwinding of environmental protections that “he who should never be named” is suggesting; your children, grandchildren and their progeny, will be cursing your short-term thinking for centuries to come.

Having lived through a series of California fires myself, I thought I understood the nature of fire, but until I read Vaillant’s book, I truly had no idea why “modern fires” are so devastating and why they’re bound to get worse.

Since most people won’t be drawn to reading Fire Weather (admittedly, it is both dense and intense), I have excerpted some key points at the bottom of this post. But the main point is that increased global temperatures, reduced humidity, create perfect conditions for fires to rage, rage, rage. And because the nature of the “modern fire” is so different, they’re becoming nearly impossible to fight.

In case you don’t read the book or make it to the facts I offer at the bottom of this post, here’s one point to consider: At its peak, the energy released in the Chisholm fire in Alberta, Canada was calculated to be that of seventeen one-megaton hydrogen bombs, or about four Hiroshima bombs per minute.

While these stats are horrifying, what the most tragic thing I learned from reading Vaillant’s book was that before Reagan politicized climate change, (along with his cronies the Koch brothers—Reagan’s equivalent of Elon Musk) even the scientists at Exxon (Exxon!) were warning both people within their organizations and outside legislators, that if we didn’t soon do something about greenhouse gases and global warming, we were at risk of creating a situation that could not be reversed.

So…yes…while of course my heart breaks for those impacted by the California fires, and while I’m simultaneously heartened by all those good souls who are wondering what they can do to help—I know that ultimately nothing will help—not in any lasting way. The fires will happen again and again. The devastation will continue and will only get worse, unless we are willing to embrace the science and work for change.

With the devastating California fires in full view, I’m finding myself consumed by a similarly incendiary rage—a rage that is directed at a man, as well as his legion of enablers, who want to deny science, who are experts in fear-mongering and propaganda, who regularly capitalize on people’s basest instincts, and who I believe collectively pose a “clear and present danger” to our society, our country, and our planet.

As I mentioned above, unexpressed anger—emotions that are swallowed—can impact one’s health—and I truly needed to get all of that off my chest.

Diana

Excerpts from John Vaillant’s Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World

“Part of the issue today with fighting fires is that the scope of fires that exist today have never been seen before, in part because of changing climate but also because of the materials we now use in household goods which are exceedingly flammable. (A byproduct of becoming a petroleum-based society—in other words, a fire-based society—has been the superheating of the atmosphere.)

Fires create a self-perpetuating system with hurricane force winds and glass melting temperatures.

Things inside houses become like bombs that can travel thousands of feet

Winds of even 25 miles per hour, can cast embers hundreds of miles. Pilots flying over large wildfires have reported charred tree branches bouncing off their windshields at 20,000 feet.

The idea that our atmosphere could be changed by us is not something we have ever, in our history, had to consider seriously until a single lifetime ago, which is about as long as we have had to seriously consider the automobile.

When atmospheric conditions are right, wildfires can create their own weather—monstrous fire-induced thunderstorms called pyrocumulonimbus clouds (“pyro” from the Ancient Greek word pyr meaning fire and “cumulonimbus” indicating cloud type), or pyroCb for short. The notorious Australian bushfire season of 2002-2003 saw something that had never happened before-a fireball tornado.

In the McMurray fire in Canada, a 8000 pound shipping container was ripped to pieces and hurled hundreds of yards across the landscape.

As early as the 1960s and 1970s, scientists at Exxon and Shell were writing internal memos about climate change and greenhouse effects.

Headline on the front page of the NYT in August of 1981, and the headline was in all-caps: STUDY FINDS WARMING TREND THAT COULD RAISE SEA LEVELS.”

Note: Yesterday I was horrified to read on Yannick Bisson (the Canadian actor and star of The Murdoch Mysteries) report on Social Media that he’s heard many people say, “who cares about those California fires—they’re all rich.” Not only do I (similar to Bisson) find those kinds of comments offensive, but preternaturally shortsighted as they ignore the working class people (who are far from wealthy) who have lost their businesses—and their livelihoods.