News of the world
environment | |
|
NEWSLETTER | AUGUST
18, 2023 | |
| |
Age of Fire
“Hawaiians
know to prepare well in advance for hurricanes
but not for simultaneous wildfires,” the state’s
lieutenant governor, Sylvia Luke, said a day
after multiple fires swept across the island of
Maui. The fires left thousands homeless and
killed at least 111 people in the historic town
of Lāhainā. Hundreds are still missing as I
write this, and officials expect the death toll
to rise. The disaster has earned the grim
distinction as the deadliest wildfire in the
United States in more than a century, surpassing
California’s 2018 Camp Fire, which killed 85
people.
That wildfires this
destructive can occur on a tropical island chain
known for its lush green hills, its rainforests,
has taken most of us, including many islanders,
by surprise. It shouldn’t
have.
Hawai‘i, I’m learning, is not
only no stranger to wildfire, but has also been
witnessing more frequent and intense grass and
shrubland fires. According to the nonprofit
Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, over
the past century the state’s average area burned
per year has increased a whopping 400
percent. This dramatic increase
of fire in an ecosystem that’s not adapted to
burning is a result of multiple factors: vast
swaths of untended former sugarcane and
pineapple plantations that have been overrun
with nonnative, fire-prone grasses; declining
rainfall; more frequent
droughts.
Wildfire specialists have
warned about Hawai‘i’s growing vulnerability for
years. Maui County had known that Lāhainā was at
high fire risk since at least 2018. As the Honolulu Civil
Beat reports, the county’s 2020
hazard mitigation plan says that West Maui had a
90 percent chance of annual wildfires. The fires
broke out during a National Weather Service
warning of “red flag” conditions. Yet, neither
Hawaiian officials nor the public were ready for
what came down the line.
The
tragedy unfolding in Maui is sadly similar to
how weather-related disasters are playing out
across our warming plant. As journalist John
Valliant points out, it’s not just that
our cities and towns are built for a different
era, it’s our mindset. We can’t wrap our minds
around the fact that things are not as before,
that our world has been radically altered by
capitalism and our appetite for fossil
fuels.
These are trying times. And
we must act. Indeed, many are, including youth
climate activists across the United States who
are suing state and federal governments for
violating their environmental rights. And the
good news is, they are winning. As Managing
Editor Zoe Loftus-Farren writes in our Autumn print
issue, the recent landmark court ruling in favor
of young activists who sued Montana for
contributing to the climate crisis could be a
game changer in the fight for climate action.
(The decision was announced on Monday, just days
before we sent the issue of to the printer. We
decided to publish the article on our website
right away.)
The Pyrocene, the age
of fire, is upon us. This is clear. But we can
learn to live within it. And to keep working for
a better world.
Maureen
Nandini Mitra
Editor, Earth
Island Journal
PS:
This is a version of my Letter from the
Editor published in our upcoming Autumn 2023
print issue. Get a quick breakdown of
articles in the issue below.
Photo by
Eric
Tessmer | |
| The latest print edition
of Earth Island Journal will be
arriving in mailboxes and hitting newsstands in
early September.
| |
In this issue you will
find:
- A
feature that looks at the roots and workings of
the illegal collection and trade
of succulents, especially cacti, which are
phenomenally popular worldwide among plant
enthusiasts, and seeks to understand why ardent
lovers of these plants engage in their illicit
trade.
- Suriname,
one of South America's most obscure countries,
has become a new hub for transnational criminal
networks trafficking jaguar parts and “glue” to
Asia. In keeping with the theme of our all-too
human desire to possess, this on-the-ground
feature highlights the threats jaguars face in
Suriname and elsewhere.
- A
look at anti-trans and anti-climate policies in
Florida, as Governor Ron DeSantis prepares to
run for president. The feature, which delves
into how power, authority, colonization, purity
and supremacy all interact with people and the
natural world, shows how the two positions are
linked.
- A
narrative feature that explores what freedom
means for the hundreds of feral cattle who roam
Chirikof, one of many remote, uninhabited
islands within the Alaska Maritime National
Wildlife Refuge. Depending on whom you ask, the
cattle are everything from unwelcome invasive
megafauna to rightful heirs of a place they’ve
inhabited since the late 1800s.
- A
timely article about Montana youth’s legal
victory against their government over climate
change, and how it shows that making access to a
clean environment a fundamental,
constitutionally guaranteed right could be a
game changer in the fight for climate action.
Plus:
- A conversation with
scientist and climate communications expert
Susanne Moser that touches upon the importance
of tending to ourselves during crisis
and the need for meaningful community
engagement.
- An essay by Kahea
Pacheco, a climate and Indigenous rights
advocate and co-director of Earth Island's Women's Earth Alliance, about
how holding a Seven Generations perspective is
both a challenge and a gift.
| |
Not a
subscriber yet?
You can
get 4 issues of our award-winning print magazine
delivered for $20 ($25 for international
addresses) by clicking this secure
link. | |
Did a thoughtful
friend forward you our newsletter? Keep up with
the latest from Earth Island Journal!
| | | | |
Copyright ©
2023 Earth Island Journal, All rights
reserved.
You are receiving this email
because you opted in via our
website.
Our mailing address
is:
| | |
Sent: Saturday,
August 19, 2023 3:44 AM
Subject: Autumn
2023: Age of Fire
| |
