Trump's Climate Denial Makes Storms and Wildfires Worse

Against the backdrop of an eerie post-apocalyptic sky Trump fiddles on Twitter as California burns. As one of the worst humanitarian crises in modern American history unfolds Trump hands out paper towels in Puerto Rico declaring, "let them eat cake". 
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Trump and the GOP's climate denial stands out in stark relief against the backdrop of increasingly fierce wildfires and severe weather.

Evidence Linking Wildfires and Climate Change

A hotter world is also a drier world. Less precipitation in the form of rain and snow. Warmer temperatures also contribute to earlier snowmelt and more evaporation. Climate change also augurs infect infestations that kill trees and provide more fuel for wildfires. Increasingly severe storms also contribute to more lightening and this is yet another wildfire risk factor associated with climate change. Here is a brief primer reviewing some of the evidence linking wildfires to climate change.

Wildfires have always occurred in nature but human activities have caused the Earth to warm and this is increasing the number and intensity of fires. The world has warmed by an average of one degree Celsius since pre-industrial times, however, in some forests the temperature has increased by 1.5 degrees Celsius.

California Fires are Part of a Global Phenomenon

The devastating fires in California are but the most dramatic example of a phenomenon that has ravaged many parts of the world in 2017.  At least 30 people have been killed by the fires in northern California and thousands are missing. Tens of thousands of others have either lost their homes or been forced to flee. Propelled by strong winds fires have destroyed almost 200,000 acres of land in California including ranches and businesses. Sonoma County and Mendocino County have been hit particularly hard and Redwood Valley has been reduced to ashes.

Global Fire Map (May 1 - 10, 2014)

Here is a NASA map that show wild fires around the world for the first 10 days of May based on satellite data. Scientists indicate that climate change is increasing heat and drought thereby worsening wildfires. We are losing forests at an alarming rate, it is estimated that we have already lost half of the world's forests. Forests are known to provide a wealth of benefits including habit for a number of life forms, carbon sequestration, oxygen production and precipitation.