THERE IS A CLAIM IN SOCIAL MEDIA THAT THE CALIFORNIA WILDFIRES WERE SET ON PURPOSE BY THE GOVT. THE MEDIA HAS BEEN QUICK TO REFUTE THE CHARGE AS A RIGHT WING CONSPIRACY. HERE IS AN EXAMPLE MEDIA REPORT.

Reuters: Social media users have been sharing content online that claims the wildfires in California are caused by powerful lasers. The claims include four photographs of explosions and fires from unrelated events

HERE WE NOTE THAT THE GOVERNMENT’S RESPONSIBILITY IN THE FIRES DOES NOT REQUIRE A CONSPIRACY TO WILFULLY SET THE FIRES BUT ONLY THE FAILURE OR PERHAPS THE REFUSAL TO CARRY OUR THE NEEDED CONTROL BURNS THAT ARE KNOWN TO PREVENT WILDFIRES. IT SHOULD BE NOTED IN THIS REGARD THAT THE CLIMATE SCIENCE POSITION ON CONTROL BURNS IS THAT THEIR CARBON EMISSIONS MAKE CONTROL BURNS A BAD THING IN THE CLIMATE CHANGE ERA.

THIS FOREST MANAGEMENT ISSUE IS PRESENTED IN A RELATED POST WITH DATA FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. LINK: https://tambonthongchai.com/2020/09/15/privately-owned-forests-in-california/

40% OF CALIFORNIA’S FORESTLAND IS OWNED BY FAMILIES, NATIVE AMERICAN TRIBES, AND THE TIMBER BUSINESS. TIMBER COMPANIES OWN 5 MILLION ACRES OF FOREST IN CALIFORNIA. FAMILIES AND INDIVIDUALS OWN ABOUT 9 MILLION ACRES. THAT COMPARES WITH 19 MILLION ACRES OF FORESTS MANAGED BY THE GOVERNMENT. THUS, ROUGHLY SPEAKING, 60% OF THE FORESTS IN CALIFORNIA ARE STATE MANAGED AND 40% ARE OWNED AND MANAGED BY CORPORATIONS OR FAMILIES. THESE DATA ARE PROVIDED BY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA AGRICULTURE AND NATURAL RESOURCES. THEY CAN BE REACHED AT UCANR.EDU

IN THE WILDFIRE DEVASTATION OF 2020 IN CALIFORNIA, 3.5 MILLION ACRES WERE BURNED REPRESENTING ABOUT 10% OF ALL FOREST LANDS AND 18% OF GOVERNMENT MANAGED FOREST LANDS. ALL OF THESE FIRES OCCURRED ON GOVERNMENT MANAGED FORESTS. THUS, IN SUMMARY, IN THE 2020 FOREST FIRE DEVASTATION IN CALIFORNIA THAT HAS BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO CLIMATE CHANGE, 18% OF GOVERNMENT MANAGED FORESTS WERE BURNED AND EXACTLY ZERO PERCENT OF PRIVATELY OWNED FORESTS WERE BURNED.

THESE DATA DO NOT IMPLY THAT THE FIRES WERE A NATURAL DISASTER AND A CREATION OF CLIMATE CHANGE BUT THAT THEY WERE A MAN MADE DISASTER AND A CREATION OF EITHER THE FAILURE OR THE REFUSAL TO CARRY OUT CONTROL BURNS AND THE FOREST MANAGEMENT NEEDED TO PREVENT FOREST FIRES.

THIS MEANS THAT THE GOVERNMENT IS TO BLAME WHETHER OR NOT THEY LIT THE FIRES WITH LASERS. THE COMPLICITY OF CLIMATE SCIENCE IN THEIR OPPOSITION TO THE CO2 EMISSIONS OF CONTROL BURNS MUST ALSO BE ACKNOWLEDGED.