Tag: climate change

“My former neighborhood feels like a cemetery”

Fear of fire did not prepare Paradise residents
by Leslie Layton | Posted December 15, 2018

My childhood home is a pool of ashes contained by a cement foundation. The air in this once-Edenesque place smells almost acrid. The barn my father built from oak planks is a pile of rubble, with trickling aluminum melted into place on the ground.

At some point during the Nov. 8 Camp Fire that destroyed my hometown of Paradise, Calif., the white aluminum streams were trickling downhill as if headed toward the creek. No longer. There are almost no signs of movement on this still Sunday, Dec. 9. My former neighborhood feels like a cemetery.

I’m one of the fortunate in Butte County, unscathed in most ways by a fire that killed 86 people and displaced thousands. I haven’t lived in Paradise in many years, but for more than two decades, I’ve been within 12 miles of my childhood address that has names – Eden Road, for example — that have mythological dimensions. read more

Camp Fire was a “climate disaster”

Tiny temperatures changes mask dramatic changes underway that call for action
by Leslie Layton | Posted November 29, 2018

photo by Leslie Layton
Chico State Professor Mark Stemen

2.3 degrees Fahrenheit. That’s how much – or how little, depending on your viewpoint – that the daily average temperature increased in recent years in the Paradise area.

That little temperature increase is what it took to create the environment for a deadly fire that would stun Butte County with its heat and swiftness, demolish almost 18,800 structures, kill 88 people and change the lives of almost every area resident.

Sure, there were other factors that contributed to the devastating character of what is now considered California’s deadliest fire. There was, for example, an increase in the number of sweltering days in recent years, reflecting our longer summers and shorter winters. Warmer nights, too, helped parch vegetation, making the Camp Fire unusually hot and explosive. read more

Camp Fire changed lives: a survivor’s story

"This is what being a climate change refugee feels like..."
by Allan Stellar | Posted November 27, 2018

photo by Andrew Meyer

Allan Stellar with Angel

That awful, awful day.

On that awful day, when Paradise was engulfed in flames, I hugged my yellow lab Angel goodbye. I woke up early, 5 a.m., and decided to leave for work without our normal early morning hike. I lived in the foothills, at 2,000 feet, some 37 miles from Chico where I had work to do as a home health RN.

I had lived in this off-grid solar house for a decade, enjoying the yip yap of coyotes in the country and sleeping on the deck under the stars on hot summer nights. Angel watched me dress that morning with an eerie gaze. It was as if she knew something was going to happen. As I left, I promised I would be back in the afternoon to take her for a hike. read more

Mechoopda design to become part of S.F. street mural

Butte County contingent prepares for global action on climate change
by Leslie Layton | Posted August 28, 2018

photo by Karen Laslo

Ali Meders-Knight shows her painting next to the Mechoopda basket (lower right) that provided inspiration.

When Ali Meders-Knight was asked to provide mural art for the local contingent at the upcoming San Francisco march for climate action, she thought of the basket designs used by her Mechoopda ancestors.

She thought about historical descriptions of the Northern Sacramento Valley, when birds and butterflies were so numerous they sometimes blocked any view of the sky.

And before that day was out, she had a painting that will be used as a template for a mural panel at San Francisco Civic Center.

Some 60 Chico-area residents are expected at the Sept. 8 RISE for Climate, Jobs & Justice march in San Francisco that has been promoted as a major action to demand an end to fossil-fuel reliance and more governmental and private-sector support for renewable energy development. read more

Protesters gather outside congressman’s pricey fundraising event

by ChicoSol staff | Posted July 31, 2018

photo by Karen Laslo

Wes Owens, Raeanne Flores-Owens and Micha Lehner were among those protesting the conservative District 1 congressman.

Chico’s Raeanne Flores-Owens protested with about 19 other people Monday, saying that while Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Richvale) was raising money for his re-election campaign, much of the Northern Sacramento Valley was burning. “We are covered in smoke, it’s hazy, our children can’t play outside,” she said of the Carr Fire’s impact.

The 110,000-acre Carr Fire has been identified as the most destructive fire in Shasta County’s history, and the weather system the fire is generating has been linked to climate change. Air quality in the northern valley today ranges from “unhealthy for sensitive groups” to “hazardous,” according to KRCR news. read more

Carr Fire driven by changes in climate

Chico can prepare for extreme weather events that will be more common
by Leslie Layton | Posted July 28, 2018

photo courtesy of CSUC’s Jason Halley
Associate Professor Mark Stemen

The Shasta County Carr Fire, with its towering, tornado-like flames tearing into the city of Redding, is the kind of summer fire that could cease to be an anomaly as climate change reshapes the Northern California environment, said Mark Stemen, a professor in the Chico State Geography and Planning Department.

It’s also the kind of fire that this city must work to prevent, said Stemen in a telephone interview Friday. “A fire like this could absolutely happen in Chico if the winds were strong and blowing down the canyon,” Stemen added in an email to ChicoSol.

“One of the things that climate change has done is extended the fire season and created these inferno flames,” Stemen said. “The Carr Fire is a climate-change enhanced fire because of the extreme heat and the extreme winds.” read more