Happy New Year—not.
The frontlines of the climate crisis are being obscured by denial and disinformation.
Thus far, 2025 has brought political turmoil in Canada, a bizarre cast of characters to the fore in US politics, and massive and unprecedented wildfires in Los Angeles significantly worsened or likely caused by climate change.
You wouldn't know that from social media, though. In what is clearly a coordinated campaign, online commentators and bots are systematically blaming the mayor, insurance companies, arsonists, and anyone they can think of in a seeming effort to distract from the real issue—climate change.
There is no real doubt that the magnitude, timing and impact of Los Angeles' wildfires is caused by climate change. The magnitude is incredible: Los Angeles is over 1,200 square miles and the county over 12,000. One look at the map below comparing the affected area to New York City shows how huge and significant the fires are. No city has the capacity to cope with and recover from such extreme weather events—like New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, significant outside assistance is needed to combat the fires, hence the Canadian efforts to share resources like water bombers.
I've written some detailed thoughts about this.
This is part of a pattern. For years those aligned with fossil fuel interests have been spreading disinformation, falsehoods and outright lies about climate change. One particularly pernicious one is that efforts to combat climate change are driven by a rich elite and hurt the poor. As we see in Los Angeles, its possible to craft a Climate Action Plan that includes lower income communities in the planning process and address the concerns they raise—like affordability and jobs—in its actions.
Most importantly, while a lack of climate action hurts everyone, lower income people are normally hurt the most. And as for the "middle class"—many don't have or will not be able to get future home insurance. Where does that leave leave the biggest investment they will make in their lives when a wildfire comes? Desperate.
A timely article today showed the truth in all of this—that our climate disasters are increasingly driven by the actions of the rich, who used their fair share of the world's carbon budget by January 10. In fact, the richest are causing the problem - leaving everyone else to suffer.
Is there any hope? Yes. But that's a topic we will turn to in our next newsletter.
📚 What are we reading
: I’m finally reading Butter by Asako Yuzuki. If you’re looking for an inspiration to treasure food in 2025, this one’s a good one.
: The Tender Bar by JR Moehringer. The author is the only child of a single mother who sought male companionship from a young age at the local waterhole in the 1980's in Manhasset New York. As an only child of a single mum, who spent a lot of time in the USA in the 1980's, the book really spoke to me. Beautifully written. Clear and evocative from the ghost writer of Prince Harry's Spare.
: White Teeth, Zadie Smith’s 2000 debut novel. Much like her other books I’ve encountered, it follows the (North West) London life and everyday struggles of first- and second-generation immigrants. Hits close to home.