Thesis: Continuing climate change has caused the continual widespread burning in California, which poses the question: How do we learn to live in a burning world? If we can’t learn, we must work to fix changing climates.

Background: Climate change has not only been noticed by world leaders and citizens of the world, but it has been recognized by many as a growing issue. Seen recently in the continuous wildfires in California, many researchers believe that the rates of wildfires seen within the last three years will only continue to rise with climate change. Climate change has also influenced the changing winds in California, influencing the wildfires to burn longer, and to spread faster. Worse, researchers fear, the changing winds will cause this season of burning to extend from fall into winter. Many believe that controlled fires are part of the solution, which help ecosystems flourish and heal by killing off overgrowth and unnecessary brush, and decrease the number of unwanted wildfires. Practices like this are used in the South, in states such as Georgia and Florida. Forest overgrowth and drought conditions are among the main causes of wildfires across the country.

Sources:

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/24/climate/california-wildfires-climate-change.html

With 600 wildfires in the last three days, researchers are worrying that climate change is influencing California’s wildfires. Between changing winds and rising temperatures that cause more drought-like conditions, climate change is looked to as the main culprit for the rising wildfire rates in the last three years. Following this information, posed by researchers is the question: “How to live in an ecosystem that is primed to burn?”

• https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/28/climate/santa-ana-winds.html?searchResultPosition=7

This article centers in on the effects of climate change on California’s Santa Ana winds. These winds are a regular occurrence in the fall, and they help to regulate the wildfire season. Researchers believe that as the climate warms, these winds will become less frequent, which will remove wildfire regulation and even shift wildfire season from fall into winter.

Sources I Haven’t Found Yet:

I’d like to find quotes from Greta Thunberg, one of the most well-known climate activists in the world.

I’d also like to find more information about wildfires in other parts of the country and if/how they’ve been affected by climate change.

Counterarguments I need to Refute:

Critics of my standpoint may not believe in climate change, and will claim that my argument is pointless because if climate change doesn’t exist, nothing can be influenced by climate change. Thus, I’ll need many quotes and sources supporting climate change to refute critics’ arguments.