On Sunday, thousands of emergency workers in California were unable to control a rapidly growing wildfire at Yosemite National Park. President Joe Biden was still considering whether to declare a national emergency to address the immediate threat of extreme weather. Campaigners believe this is necessary to provide a foundation for a sustainable future.
Called the Oak Fire, the California fire was still burning as of Sunday afternoon. It had tripled in size since its beginning on Friday. The fire has now burned more than 14,000 acres, making it California’s largestWildfires of the season
“Explosive fire behavior is challenging firefighters,” Cal Fire said in a statement Saturday, characterizing the blaze as “extreme with frequent runs, spot fires, and group torching.” Gov. Saturday’s declaration of emergency by Gavin Newsom for Mariposa County was made as authorities urged thousands to evacuate from the area of the fire.
Climate scientists have warned for decades that extreme heat, drought, and other conditions resulting from planetary warming could make wildfires more common and intense. The United Nations report published earlier this year raised the specter of an ever-worsening “global wildfire crisis” if governments across the globe — particularly the rich nations most responsible for carbon emissions — don’t radically alter their energy policies and phase out fossil fuel use.
California is not the only one that is currently experiencing devastating wildfires. Reuters reported Sunday that “Greek firefighters battled wildfires on the island of Lesbos for a second day on Sunday as well as new fires in the western Peloponnese and in northern Greece, evacuating nearby settlements as a heatwave set in.”
“Temperatures hit 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit) in parts of Greece on Sunday as a heatwave that has hit other parts of Europe spread east and was expected to last for most of the coming week,” the outlet noted. “In the north of the country, a wildfire continued to ravage a pristine forest near Dadia, a natural habitat for black vultures, burning for a fourth day as authorities struggled to contain its destruction.”
As Europe experiences a heatwave, firefighters across Europe are fighting wildfires.
France has evacuated thousands of people, with fires also spreading to Spain, Croatia, and Greece.
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— Sky News (@SkyNews) July 19, 2022
Amid what experts have described as mounting real-time evidence of the dangers of climate inaction, Biden is still in the process of deciding whether to declare a national climate emergency, a step that would free up key federal authorities and resources to accelerate the country’s renewable energy transition.
Biden gave a speech last week in front of a Massachusetts shuttered coal plant. pledged actionProtecting U.S. communities in the face of scorching heat, and other climate-related impacts. The president also pledged to increase offshore wind development.
But while he said climate change represents “a clear and present danger,” Biden did not use his speech to declare a climate emergency, sparking backlash from environmentalists who have been pushing him to do soSince last year.
“The world’s burning up from California to Croatia, and right now Biden’s fighting fire with the trickle from a garden hose,” lamentedJean Su, director at the Center for Biological Diversity of the Energy Justice Program. “Saying we’re in a climate emergency and declaring one under the law are totally different things. Declaring a climate emergency will unleash the full force of Biden’s executive powers to combat climate chaos and signal the climate leadership we so desperately need.”
In interviewWith the BBC on Sunday, U.S. climate envoy John Kerry said that Biden is weighing a climate emergency declaration as Congress — obstructed by a fossil fuel industry ally in the Senate — fails to act and as the U.S. Supreme Court takes aim at the federal government’s regulatory capacity.
Faceting growing pressure from progressive lawmakers and climate organizations, Biden said last week that he’s “running the traps on the authority that I do have” and “will make a decision on [the emergency declaration] soon.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), one of nine senators who implored Biden to issue the declaration last week, said Sunday that the move would “unlock powerful tools to help safeguard our planet and make our economy stronger.”
“Climate change is the biggest existential threat facing our planet,” Warren added. “That’s why I joined my colleagues in urging the president to declare the climate crisis the national emergency that it is.”
