California Inferno: The Planet is Burning

19-01-2025: At last count, 24 people have been confirmed to have lost their lives[1] in the worst wildfires to ever strike California, or the United States of America itself. The four wildfires, which began on January 7, continue to threaten residences and buildings surrounding Los Angeles. Burnt out houses and other structures may have to be searched in the coming weeks for human remains. Cal Fire was reporting that some 12 300 structures have been destroyed, and over 40 000 acres (approx. 16 000 hectares) have been burnt to a crisp.[2] The Palisades, Eaton, Hurst and Auto fires are still burning, which cover an area larger than Manhattan. The Santa Ana winds, some up to 100 miles per hour, are fanning the flames, leaving firefighters to “fight a fire in a hurricane”. Gridlock on the roads out of Pacific Palisades quickly formed, as people attempted to flee in their cars. Many did not get far before having to abandon their vehicles and flee on foot. Scenes of catastrophe are everywhere.[3]

Cuts to essential services

So far, more than 150 000 people have been forced to flee their homes.[4] The rebuilding of parts of Los Angeles, if the fires can be brought under control, will need to be of an enormous scale. Many people have simply lost all their possessions. As it stands, the total damage and economic loss attributed to the LA wildfires is estimated to be between $135 and $150 billion.[5] Firefighting efforts have been hampered by the relentless capitalist cutbacks to public spending, which working people have become accustomed to over the last 35 years. In June 2024, seven months before the current wildfires broke out, California Governor Gavin Newsom slashed the state’s firefighting efforts by $101 million (to a total of $2.6 billion).[6] Outgoing US President Joe Biden has been slammed for appearing to ignore the crisis in California, while focusing on securing an additional $500 million of weapons and military aid to Nazified battalions in Ukraine for NATO’s proxy war on Russia. Incredibly, the Biden Administration has provided 16 Ukrainian fire departments with special gear and rescue tools.[7]

Some conservatives are blaming the woke agenda and DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) hiring policies for the seeming inability of emergency services to adequately respond. While LA does have the first female and gay fire chief, this can scarcely be blamed for such a disaster.[8] Aging water infrastructure and a continual expansion of urban sprawl into fire-prone areas are also factors. Another is the ownership of a significant portion of California’s water resources by Stewart and Lynda Resnick, who own the ironically named Wonderful Company, which produces pistachios, pomegranate juice, mandarins and flowers. These agribusinesses consume 150 billion gallons of water annually, while urban water systems in California face shortages. To highlight further Western governments’ priorities of war over essential needs, the Resnicks lobby hard for increased tensions with Iran to maintain embargos on Iranian pistachios and donate millions annually to the Israeli Defence Force. They also own Fiji Water, which imports bottled water from the South Pacific. It is not for no reason that some have referred to the Resnicks as “capitalists on steroids”.[9]

Climate collapse

While woke identity politics and associated measures can be counterproductive, and while the repeated defunding of public services is a serious problem in itself – the brontosaurus in the room is not being widely discussed. The worst wildfires in history, following on from repeated floods, droughts, hurricanes, cyclones and typhoons increasing in number and intensity over recent years should finally end any debate over whether climate change is real. Greenhouse gas emissions, released into the atmosphere since the industrial revolution, is altering the climate into something which is potentially a danger to life on planet earth. Prior to the LA wildfires, California had been without significant rain for 8 months, and the drought is continuing.[10] The ten warmest years on record have all occurred since 1998.[11] What is more, 2024 was the warmest year since 1850, and was the first calendar year that average global temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels. In addition, global atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration is today at 421 parts per million (ppm), up from 340 ppm in 1979, and 280 ppm prior to industrialisation.[12]

There are different forms of climate denial. Some are climate denialists as they do not wish to accept anything they see as a woke issue. Some are climate denialists because they object to large landmasses being taken up with wind and solar farms. Some billionaires are climate denialists as they can see the conclusions that working people must draw from an approaching cataclysm is a no holes barred revolution. Many politicians rhetorically accept climate change, but do nothing about it, or approve some forms of renewable energy while approving new coal mines. The woke left is correct to warn of the danger of climate tipping points but fall for the impractical notion of “100% renewable energy”. Meanwhile the problems of a collapsing climate and many other forms of basic pollution (such as plastics in the oceans, desertification, land clearing) expand still further.

Capitalism – private ownership of the means of production being used to produce profits for a tiny handful of billionaires – is incompatible with a livable environment. Capitalism must treat the external environment as an external factor in the production process. Long ago, Karl Marx wrote about capitalism robbing the soil and the worker. What this translates to is the fact that the exploitation of the natural environment cannot be separated from the exploitation of the labour power of the working class. The two go hand in hand and can only begin to be overcome through the revolutionary socialisation of the means of production. Then, the contradiction of the private appropriation of the social labour of billions of working people can begin to the resolved through public ownership of the major means of production. Combined with democratic control over energy, productive land, infrastructure, transport and banking – rational decisions can begin to be made about a transition to low and zero emissions technology and repairing some of the environmental damage incurred through centuries of neglect. Only socialism has a chance of salvaging civilisation.

Workers League

www.redfireonline.com

E: workersleague@protonmail.com

[1] www.apnews.com/article/los-angeles-wildfires-southern-california-c5826e0ab8db965cb2814132ff54ee6f (15-01-2025)

[2] www.fire.ca.gov/incidents (15-01-2025)

[3] www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/la-fire-pictures-and-videos (15-01-2025)

[4] www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/california-wildfires-live-updates-la-fires-2025-palisades-los-angeles-weather-santa-ana-winds-101736640088332.html (15-01-2025)

[5] www.investopedia.com/los-angeles-wildfires-loss-estimate-now-up-to-usd150b-as-death-toll-rises-8772312 (15-01-2025)

[6] nypost.com/2025/01/13/us-news/gavin-newsom-cut-fire-budget-while-pouring-billions-into-climate-change-critics/ (15-01-2025)

[7] www.rt.com/news/610645-woke-fire-response-california/ (15-01-2025)

[8] www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/us/did-woke-politics-hamper-rescue-efforts-during-california-wildfires/articleshow/117081131.cms (15-01-2025)

[9] www.thecanary.co/global/world-analysis/2025/01/13/the-resnicks-la-california/ (15-01-2025)

[10] www.abc7news.com/post/southern-california-now-severe-drought-wildfires-rage-8-months-rain-report/15783463/ (15-01-2025)

[11] www.climate.nasa.gov/explore/ask-nasa-climate/2224/the-10-warmest-years-not-exactly-forever-ago/ (15-01-2025)