The main purpose of this ongoing blog is to track planetary extreme, or record temperatures related to climate change. Any reports I see of ETs will be listed below the main topic of the day and are archived on each prior post. I’ll refer to extreme or temperatures as ETs (not extraterrestrials).😉
Main Topic: Blame Big Oil for L.A.’s Fiery Plight
Dear Diary. Before moving onto other climate subjects, we should play the blame game when it comes to the awful conflagrations that have enveloped and destroyed many Los Angeles neighborhoods. I wrote a few simple paragraphs yesterday explaining why current Southern California fires can be linked to climate change:
The bottom line here is that large destructive fires should not occur in January across any section of California. We can blame big oil and big coal for the plight Los Angeles is in, which have built up CO2 levels to the point where the planet is near +1.5°C above preindustrial conditions. This has been a long time coming, having started in the early 19th century when coal began to be burned in earnest to power trains, heat homes, and stoke the fires of newly built factories. Big oil started to ramp up atmospheric CO2 levels substantially after the internal combustion engine automobile was invented around the turn of the 20th century.
Starting in the late 20th century the human race knew better. Climate science was settled around the year 1980 when average global temperatures started to shoot up to where they are today. Fossil fuel interests have tried to muddy scientific waters to delay action against them ever since that date.
So, get out there and protest as vociferously as possible against big oil. Here is more from Common Dreams:
https://www.commondreams.org/news/climate-los-angeles-fires
A home is engulfed in flames during the Eaton fire in the Altadena area of Los Angeles County, California on January 8, 2025. (Photo: Josh Edelson/AFP via Getty Images)
As Apocalyptic Fires Torch LA, Climate Campaigners Say ‘Big Oil Did This’
“The fires in Los Angeles aren’t just a tragedy, they’re a crime.”
Jan 09, 2025
As massive wildfires continued ripping through Los Angeles on Thursday, leaving utter devastation in their wake, climate campaigners said blame for the infernos ultimately lies with the mega-profitable oil and gas giants that have spent decades knowingly fueling the crisis that made the emergency in southern California possible.
“Los Angeles is burning. Entire neighborhoods have been wiped off the map. We are devastatingly unprepared for the climate that fossil fuel greed is creating,” the youth-led Sunrise Movementwrote on social media as several mostly uncontained fires wreaked havoc, supercharged by roaring winds and abnormally dry conditions.
“Oil and gas CEOs know they’re responsible for these disasters,” the group added. “But still, they choose to fight investments in renewable energy, spread propaganda, and bribe politicians into supporting $757 BILLION in fossil fuel subsidies.”
With appalling speed, the Los Angeles fires have so far scorched tens of thousands of acres, destroyed thousands of homes, and killed at least five people—a death toll that’s expected to rise.
“It’s like Armageddon,” said one resident, a sentiment echoed by a CNN reporter in Los Angeles.
“Everyone keeps saying ‘apocalyptic,'” said CNN’s Leigh Waldman. “But that doesn’t begin to cover it.”
The Palisades fire, the largest of five blazes currently ravaging Los Angeles County, has already been deemed the most destructive in LA history.
Early estimates indicate the total economic damage of the Los Angeles fires could exceed $50 billion.
With a Thursday social media post featuring footage of the raging fires and damage in Los Angeles, Warren Gunnels, staff director for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), wrote: “They say the Green New Deal is expensive. Compared to what?”
Ben Jealous, executive director of the Sierra Club, said in a statement Wednesday that “these fires have taken lives and destroyed homes, livelihoods, and landscapes.”
“We are holding those affected by this disaster close in our hearts and appreciate the first responders who are bravely working to contain the fires. It is essential that federal and state authorities continue to provide these communities with all the resources and support they need to recover and heal,” said Jealous. “Barely a week into the new year, and fire season is here. This is not normal.”
“Time and again, we are witnessing fossil fuel-driven climate change heighten extreme weather, making wildfires increasingly common and increasingly destructive,” he continued. “We cannot be passive. We cannot elevate misinformation about what is needed to confront the worsening crisis. Leaders must take the action necessary to fund and support the home-hardening efforts that make our communities resilient.”
People watch smoke and flames from the Palisades Fire on January 7, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo: Tiffany Rose/Getty Images)
The Los Angeles fires come as states and localities across the United States are suing oil and gas companies for climate damages as extreme weather becomes increasingly frequent and destructive on a warming planet.
According to the Center for Climate Integrity, more than one in four Americans currently live in a community taking legal action against Big Oil, “underscoring the rapidly growing wave of calls to hold the oil and gas industry accountable for its decades-long climate deception and the harms it has caused.”
Aaron Regunberg, an attorney who is helping build a legal case against the fossil fuel industry, wrote Wednesday that the Los Angeles crisis “didn’t just happen.”
“A recent study found that nearly all of the observed increase in wildfire-burned area in California over the past half-century is attributable to anthropogenic climate change,” Regunberg, senior policy counsel with Public Citizen’s Climate Program, wrote on social media. “This devastation is the direct result of Big Oil’s conduct.”
Jamie Henn, director of Fossil Free Media, offered a similar assessment, writing that “the fires in Los Angeles aren’t just a tragedy, they’re a crime.”
“This is exactly the sort of disaster that Exxon’s own scientists predicted more than 50 years ago, but they spent billions to keep us hooked on fossil fuels,” Henn added. “It’s time to make polluters pay.”
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams.
Many more notes about the Southern California fires:
Here are more “ETs” recorded from around the planet the last couple of days, their consequences, and some extreme temperature outlooks, as well as any extreme precipitation reports:
Here is some brand new 2024 climatology. More reports are archived on prior January 2025 posts:
Here is More Climate News from Thursday:
(As usual, this will be a fluid post in which more information gets added during the day as it crosses my radar, crediting all who have put it on-line. Items will be archived on this site for posterity. In most instances click on the pictures of each tweet to see each article. The most noteworthy items will be listed first.)