The Eco-Stalins Spread Hysteria Like Wildfire

Southern California is weird and not just because I live in it. You see, we have long, dry summers but, for some reason, stuff still grows here. I find that odd because I grew up in the Sonoran Desert where nothing but air conditioning bills grew during the long, dry periods. In California, it never rains but trees and weeds abound.

When these long, dry summers are over we're treated to sustained high winds that are, strangely enough, named after St. Ann. But in Spanish. Which doesn't have much to do with the wildfires. Climate change may or may not have more to do with the fires here than St. Ann but the Eco-Stalins in the media are reporting it as fact.

While most of us saw tragedy unfolding as we watched news about the wildfires, some in the media saw an opportunity to pimp global warming hysteria. Hotter Planet=More Fires. Seems like a sensible equation, right? That's the route NBC went with it's reporting. They jumped right over the fact that some of these blazes were the result of arson and one was started by some guys welding around some dry brush. Global warming/global welding, they're kind of the same, aren't they?

Anderson Cooper, the weather girl at CNN, was a bit more shameless. He hosted a new special called "Planet In Peril" and practically wet himself in his excitement to use the fires as promo.

“At the top of the next hour, as I said, the big picture. These fires are really a piece of it. Fire, drought, global warming, climate change, deforestation, it is all connected, tonight, 9:00 p.m. Eastern…‘Planet in Peril’ starts in just 30 minutes.”

Thankfully, all one had to do was listen to the responsible opposing viewpoints that both networks presented...oh, wait...there weren't any.

What the pieces dealt with were more predictions and speculation being reported as fact.

What we know for sure is this. California has had problems with wildfires for a very long time. Even before Al Gore. The real equation is: Sun+High Winds+Dry Vegetation=Oops!

After everything burns we get treated to mudslides because there is nothing holding the hills together. In days past this wasn’t as big a problem. Why? No global warming, right? Wrong. It’s because people didn’t used to live in these places.

You see, the very combination that creates the wildfire environment, i.e. lots of sun and little rain, also makes everyone want to move to Southern California. The areas affected by the current disaster have around 20 million people living in them. If this portion of California broke off it would be the third most populous state in America. A far more logical conclusion would be that a rapidly expanding population would constantly increase the chance of accidental fires. Many of these fires were caused by downed power lines. Guess what? There aren't any descriptions of endless miles of power lines in the histories left by the Spanish. They sort of showed up recently.

Another problem is that Californians absolutely love to show off status by building homes in places that they shouldn't. You never hear of a low-income family's home sliding down a hill during a rainstorm here. "Hey look, honey: it's a dry, wind swept cliff with all kinds of dehydrated brush surrounding it but look at that ocean view!"

It's just like the increase in hurricane damage in coastal regions. The hurricanes didn't used to have that much to damage. Now more people can afford to build houses by the beach. The hurricanes touch down in the same places and the fires burn through the same areas. The only thing that's measurably changed is what gets in their way now.

This isn't a lesson so much about Climate Change as it is about arrogance. Modern, secular society likes to think it can scientifically control everything. We have no sense of awe (or God) any more and keep giving the finger to nature. Nature, it would seem, has an arrogant streak of her own and likes to send out not-so-subtle reminders about where the real power is.

Almost sounds like I was describing the Clinton marriage at the end there, doesn't it?