Carolyn Whetzel, Bureau of National Affairs California corespondent, and Christy George, Oregon Public Broadcasting producer, offer different angles journalists can pursue when covering natural disasters like the wildfires and their aftermath. Both Whetzel and George are board members of the
Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ).
How can environmental journalists dig deeper and reveal information that isn't being covered in the daily coverage of the fires?
Carolyn Whetzel: There are many environmental links, and many local reporters already are pursuing the issues (especially the
Los Angeles Times & the
San Diego Union-Tribune): Santa Ana winds; climate change (more and larger acreage wildfires); drought (bone-dry conditions); forest management issues, new home developments vs. older developments -- homes in the newer developments; built to deter fire, are withstanding the firestorms better; what comes after the fire?; and building codes in urban/wildland interface areas; air quality impacts of the fires. Also, California is already short on water supplies ... what impact will the fires have on the state's water supply? What is the impact of fire closest to the Mexican border having on low-income border communities? What is the chemical composition of the fire retardants and its impacts on soil, water, animals, and humans? California's natural environment and wildfires?
Christy George: I'd start with how climate change, drought and sprawl affect forests' vulnerability to fire.
The Bush administration-appointed head of the U.S. Forest Service, Gail Kimbell, was in Portland Wednesday and
linked the California fires to climate change.
No credible scientist would say these fires were
caused by climate change, just as no credible scientist would say Hurricane Katrina was caused by climate change. You just can't link single events to climate change -- it's too hard to prove. What credible scientists do say is that with climate change, climate models predict we're likely to see more and more events like these.
California has been experiencing a drought for the past year, which extends the fire season.
Forests have adapted to a certain predictable amount of water. When there's more water, there are more trees, but if droughts increase as a result of climate change, there won't be enough water to support all the trees in forests today. So they'll dry out and become fuel for fires and targets for insect infestations, which will also weaken them when there's a fire. A good explainer could walk through all that in forests beyond California. Great source:
Ronald Neilson,
U.S. Forest Service expert in Corvallis, Ore., and Oregon State University faculty member.
This drought extends to many other parts of the country, especially the Southeast and the mountain West. If your state is one of them, how is the drought affecting you?
The drought also affects water. We all know Southern California is built on a desert, but this brings it home. San Diego itself is chronically short of water -- even recycling its toilet water for drinking. (It's actually perfectly healthy.)
The city has tried to curb its sprawl. How well is that working?
Will San Diego do another contentious deal with farmers in the Imperial Valley who currently save water in order to get it to San Diego for its fast-growing population to drink?
The fires are also a good moment to look at the concept of "carrying capacity" -- what size of population an area can sustain (i.e. what natural resources exist). Wherever sprawl is excessive, you find cities (and countries and maybe even the whole planet) have exceeded their carrying capacity. A similar concept is the "ecological footprint." The U.S. has a very big footprint, because our natural resource use and per capita fossil fuel emissions are far above any other country. Great primer:
Here's a seminal article from 1995 by independent journalist and author Bill McKibben, in
The Atlantic magazine.
What makes this story different or unusual from stories of other fires?Carolyn Whetzel: Just the mere scope of the fires ... there are currently 18 fires raging in Southern California. ... This is a huge drain on local, state, and federal fire fighting and rescue resources. Also, the timing ... this disaster comes as the state is implementing legislation aimed at curbing emissions linked to climate change and is pressing for national climate change policies. Studies have linked warmer temps and droughts that come with climate change with increases in the number and size of wildfires, particularly in the West.
Christy George: The scope is incredible. A million people displaced, more than 700 square miles burned, more than 1,800 homes lost. Given the scope, it's amazing how few deaths (eight as of Thursday afternoon) there have been compared to other, smaller forest fires. Why? Is it related to the behavior of the Santa Ana winds? Something different firefighters are doing? Pure luck?
What are some ideas for follow-up stories that environmental journalists can pursue?Carolyn Whetzel: Are the cities, counties, state revising building codes/policies to make homes in these urban/wildland interface areas? Do existing and/or new policies reflect the latest science? Are prescribed burns needed to control/promote natural vegetation? What impact did the fires have on threatened or endangered plants, animals, etc.? How much can these fires be blamed on climate change vs. urban sprawl?
Christy George: My OPB-TV show,
"Forecast Cloudy," looks at what climate change "adaptation" means in terms of forest fires. Climate change will alter the way forest managers function. Most of the forest management plans were developed during a cooler, wetter time, but in a warmer world -- which likely will vary between being wetter and drier -- procedures based on those old assumptions won't work. How many firefighters do you need during the dry years? And what do you do with them in the wet years? And is your state thinking about climate change adaptation?
The fires are so reminiscent of Katrina in its impact on San Diego that there are obvious spin-offs dealing with the politics of environmental issues. Compare the income differences. New Orleans' poorest residents, who had no cars to evacuate in, bore the brunt of the flooding when the levees failed -- a variant of what's termed "environmental justice," where polluting industries or waste is sited in lower income, often minority neighborhoods. By contrast, southern Californians tend to be more affluent and have the cars they need to escape.
Compare Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco, D-La., to Gov. Arnold Schwartzenegger, R-Calif. Is the Republican seemingly managing the response better than the Democrat? Did he just learn the lessons of Louisiana? Or are his policies greener?
There are also many business/financial angles to come. What companies burned? Will the real estate industry quickly rebuild all those expensive homes? Or will people decide enough is enough and not rebuild? Will the insurance industry pay up or offer just 50 cents on the dollar?
How will the federal government react? Will people get subsidies to rebuild? At SEJ's 2003 conference in New Orleans, Bill Clinton's Federal Emergency Management Agency director, Jamie Lee Witt, recounted how he had the federal government buy up some of the land along the Mississippi River that was flooded in the early '90s. A few years later, there was another Mississippi River flood year, and far fewer people were affected.
Then there's energy. San Diego almost lost its power Wednesday. What shape is the grid in? Would a more "distributed power" system be safer? Should the U.S. invest heavily in renewables, like solar, wind, geothermal, tide and wave power, etc.? .... Is nuclear truly "cleaner" and cheaper, as proponents argue? Would it be financially feasible without the federal Price-Anderson Act that immunizes nuke plants from liability in the case of accidents? Are there national security risks to nuclear power, especially if we "recycle" nuclear waste in breeder reactors? What are the national security implications of continuing to burn oil and gas from the Middle East? Should the federal government cut subsidies to fossil fuels like oil, gas and coal? And if so, should power plant and mine owners be compensated and and workers retrained?
Finally, what actions are on the table to curb climate change emissions? Congress held hearings on this last spring, and Al Gore, among others, advocated for a cap and trade system, carbon taxes and many other options.
[ What are some story angles journalists should pursue in response to the California fires and their aftermath? ]
Thanks to Carolyn and Christy for the context and ideas,...
