Wildfires burning up Los Angeles are just the latest example of a planet in crisis | Opinion

Our planet in new, dangerous era

As Los Angeles burned for days on end, scientists made an announcement that 2024 was the hottest year on record.

With temperatures rising around the globe, scientists are warning that the world has entered a dangerous new era of chaotic floods, storms and fires made worse by human-caused climate change.

The firestorms ravaging our country’s second-largest city are just the latest of extreme weather that is growing more furious as well as more unpredictable. Wildfires are highly unusual in Southern California in January, which is supposed to be the rainy season. The same is true for cyclones in Appalachia, where Hurricanes Helene and Milton tore through mountain communities in October.

“We’re in a new era now,” said former Vice President Al Gore, who has warned of the threats of global warming for decades. “These climate related extreme events are increasing, both in frequency and intensity, quite rapidly.”

The question remains; when are we going to stop killing our planet from burning fossil fuels to power our homes, cars and industries?

Ron Sadler, Fresno

Climate action is possible

It’s impossible to avoid news of devastation from the wildfires in Southern California. The stories feel personal, even though I no longer live in the Southland.

I’ve lived in Kingsburg since 1981. But the past decade has been striking for frequency and severity of fire. It’s shocking that I know so many people who have fled fire and even lost homes in Santa Rosa, Paradise, Lake County and Auberry.

The warming climate makes these fires more frequent and severe. Hotter temperatures dry out vegetation, worsening a drought and extending “fire season.” Tinder-dry plant fuels, low humidity, and strong winds combine with terrible effect.

Climate change is happening worldwide. Whether hurricanes, floods, fires, summer heat, sea level rise, these events affect us all: It’s not if, it is when we will be affected. What to do:

Get prepared. Check out the Red Cross or FEMA for information.

Help out if you are able. There are many trustworthy groups providing support both here and abroad.

Join a climate advocacy group. I’ve recently joined Citizens’ Climate Lobby: (citizensclimatelobby.org). CCL is a nonpartisan group dedicated to finding common ground on climate solutions.

So, despite all, our actions can make a difference.

Linda Sward, Fresno

LA wildfires, Gaza bombing

White people are losing their exclusive neighborhoods, and some of those neighborhoods are being erased. Historic Black neighborhoods are also being erased by this once-in-a generation urban and forest wildfire. It will be interesting to see what kinds of neighborhoods will replace these fire devastated communities, once these areas start to rebuild.

If people are permitted to rebuild in these areas again, will they again be white elite areas, or will they become more culturally and economically diverse?

Another view is that this is what the Palestinians are experiencing after an Israeli bombing raid wipes out poor and elite neighborhoods in Gaza. Their homes and neighborhoods are also gone in an instant.

From a dialectical point of view, one neighborhood is wiped out by man’s violent invasion into natural spaces with urban sprawl, and a historic wildfire in these spaces creates this human suffering. The other neighborhood is wiped out by man’s violent invasion into another’s historical, political and cultural spaces because of a generational war based on religious interpretations of a theological text.

Hopefully , the cathartic effect of these fires and bombings will create an answer for urban sprawl and the dismantling of a violent, nonproductive and nonpeace-loving ideology.

Homer Gee Greene Jr., Fresno

Democrats are a party of liars

It is truly sad that the Democrat Party has become the party of liars. The Democrats have sabotaged the United States with their open borders, soft on crime, and covering up on the demented outgoing President Joe Biden.

Behind the scenes are Obama, Schumer, Schiff, and Pelosi. All of whom have enlisted the support of Hollywood socialists, innocent and undereducated fellow Democrats, George Soros, and the puppet Joe Biden, who continues to aid in the destruction of our country by signing into law bills and executive orders that he doesn’t even understand.

Biden and his cohorts have become the ultimate threat to our democratic previous way of life. The threat continues, but the truth will come out because the truth will prevail in God’s hands.

Mike Der Manouel Sr., Fresno