Year in Review: Natural Disasters

Image courtesy of Flickr.

By Casey Roepke ’21

News Editor

The past year has brought a pandemic, political unrest and other chaotic events into the public experience. 2020 has also included record-breaking natural disasters that many say will only worsen with the ongoing impacts of climate change.

The Mount Holyoke News reported on 2020’s worst natural disasters and environmental catastrophes, from wildfires and floods to heatwaves and cyclones. Here is 2020 in review:

Australia Wildfires

In January 2020, wildfires burning through the Australian bush since late 2019 converged into one of the worst recorded fire seasons. The New York Times called it “calamitous,” citing drought, high winds and a heatwave — including Australia’s hottest day on record with average high temperatures of 107.4 degrees Fahrenheit — for the heightened impact. Tens of millions of acres burned throughout the continent, and 33 people died due to the fires, according to the Australian Parliament. 

The United Nations Association of Australia has stated that Australia is high on the list of developed countries most vulnerable to climate change. While Australia typically experiences wildfires, this season was especially destructive because climate change has already begun to increase drought and heat intensity, leading to more dangerous fire conditions. 

“I had anticipated the whole landscape to be blackened, but instead the line of the fire front snaked along, dividing the land,” Yasmin Andrews ’22 said in their January on-location coverage of the fires in the Mount Holyoke News. “We saw trees burning from the inside out, small flames peeking out of fallen leaves and dried out stream beds. Most alarmingly, the fire had come within 30 feet of the house, after leaving the nearby shearing shed a twisted pile of metal.”

California Wildfires

Residents of California and much of the Pacific Northwest also experienced record-breaking destruction from wildfires in 2020, starting in August and extending into October. In California, the August Complex wildfire was the first to burn 1 million acres in the state’s history, according to the San Francisco Chronicle, earning it the title of California’s first “gigafire.” 

Stanford University researchers estimated that exposure to air pollution from the smoke caused by the fires may have indirectly led to thousands of more deaths in California alone and link the higher risk of burning to climate change. This came in the wake of a Southern California heatwave which reached a high of 121 degrees Fahrenheit, a new record, according to The New York Times.

“You can barely see the sun,” Alexa Harbury ’24, who lives in Oregon, said to the Mount Holyoke News in September. “For the whole of last week, it was hard to tell what time of day it was, because everything just looked yellow or orange.”

Philippines Floods

In November 2020, areas in the Philippines within Cagayan province were exposed to flash floods that submerged whole villages underwater. 

The New York Times reported that rain and typhoons caused the flooding and subsequent landslides. Typhoon Goni hit the Philippines in late October with winds as high as 165 miles per hour, according to the Joint Typhoon Warning Center, which categorized it as a super typhoon. Around 70 people died as a result of the floods, and the government was compelled to deliver supplies and reinforcements to residents by air.  

Vietnam Typhoons

2020 has been Vietnam’s worst season for tropical storms in decades. The Mount Holyoke News previously reported that Typhoon Molave marked the fourth storm in an intense typhoon season that had already killed 130 people and destroyed over 300,000 homes.

Hurricanes

Hurricane Eta made landfall in Nicaragua in November as a Category 4 hurricane. With Eta, 2020 ties with 2005 for the record of having the most storms that have grown strong enough to be named, as recorded by the National Hurricane Center and the Central Pacific Hurricane Center. According to The New York Times, climate scientists have drawn a connection between global warming and more intense hurricanes.

With less than a month until the end of the year, it is hard to predict what natural disasters 2020 will bring next.

Indigenous Land Management Practices Are Essential To a Healed Environment

By Catelyn Fitgerald ’23

Staff Writer

As wildfires raging across the West Coast have become increasingly common, some states have taken stock of wildfire management practices to determine how to address the threat of major fires. Recent struggles to properly prevent and manage wildfires come as no surprise to Indigenous peoples, whose land management practices were disrupted centuries ago by colonization. 

Native Americans living in what today is California used to uphold a tedious burning regimen where small, controlled fires would be lit to encourage the growth of specific plants. One such tribe is the Karuk Tribe of California, who use knowledge of weather patterns and the local climate to determine when and where to light fires while posing minimal risk to vulnerable habitats and species. Plants that benefit from regular burning are often important elements of Indigenous life and culture. The North Fork Mono Tribe, for example, uses sumac branches as basket weaving material, and the burning of these plants encourages the growth of straight, flexible branches which are ideal for the craft. Reduced vegetation also leads to greater hunting success, as prey are able to move freely through the forest and are more visible to hunters. 

Not only do burns serve practical purposes for Indigenous life, they are also key to the preservation of healthy ecosystems. Regular fires improve soil quality and are a part of the life cycles of some plants for which fire is a key facilitator of reproduction processes such as spore distribution. Cultural burning represents an important part of Indigenous philosophy, which is that humans are a part of how an ecosystem functions and cycles. It follows that the human relationship with the environment should enhance the ecosystems that it benefits from, rather than simply extracting resources from the environment without replenishment. 

Cultural burning was a key part of the relationship between Indigenous peoples and their environment until colonizers arrived and brought with them an impression of fire as an evil entity and a regimen of fire suppression methods. In 1850, cultural burns were criminalized. When controlled burns no longer occurred at the same rate that they once had, flammable plant matter built up throughout forests in the West, causing fires to have the potential to grow quickly and cause extreme damage. Climate change adds to the favorable conditions for large fires as it worsens droughts and causes weather patterns that facilitate the spread of fires. Today, the use of fire suppression remains predominant in land management, but techniques used to fight wildfires, such as the digging of firelines or aerial dispersal of fire retardant, can pollute water resources and permanently alter physical environments. 

As wildfires have grown more intense in recent years, government officials have begun to listen to Indigenous leaders and give tribes increased authority and space to engage in controlled burning. California has recently set a goal to reduce excess vegetation in 500,000 acres of forest, and several tribes are partnering with the U.S. Forest Service and land managers to achieve this through controlled burning. However, there are still barriers to cultural burning practices, as the necessary permits for burning may still be denied on the basis of air quality and liability concerns. Controlled burning also poses greater risks than it did when it was a common practice centuries ago, due to the buildup of plant matter during the practice’s cessation, which makes even small burns potentially harder to control.

Similar efforts by Indigenous peoples to increase cultural burning are gaining traction in Australia. Australia’s 2019-2020 bushfire season began earlier and was more destructive than it had been in past years. By early 2020, 46 million acres had burned, and an estimated three billion animals were killed or displaced during the span of the fires, many of which were endangered species. Indigenous communities were also affected by the fires, facing the loss of homes, community buildings and extensive damage to local ecosystems. 

The history of Indigenous land management in Australia is similar to that of the U.S. Burning  was commonplace among Indigenous people for thousands of years until it was slowly eradicated following Australia’s colonization in 1788. 

While controlled burning is practiced in Australia today, contemporary methods are considered to be ineffective and Indigenous leaders are urging the government to allow them to restore their burning practices and engage in full-time land management. Recently, the New South Wales government formally accepted a recommendation to increase the use of cultural burns in fire prevention and published a report explaining its benefits. 

As climate change is making extreme weather and natural disasters a reality around the world, national governments are beginning to listen to the urging of Indigenous leaders to incorporate cultural burns and other traditional practices into land management. A healed environment necessitates a reciprocal relationship between humans and the environment, and restoring land management practices is just one step towards the acknowledgment that resources must be cared for rather than exploited. Indigenous land management demands that we ask ourselves what we can do to support the plants, animals and ecosystems that support us.

California Wildfires Suggest a Future of Climate Migration

by Catelyn Fitgerald ’23

Staff Writer

As climate change increasingly disrupts the environment as we know it, people across the world have had to flee to safer land. This process, referred to as climate migration, occurs when people must leave their homes as a result of rising sea levels, extreme weather events, droughts and other climate change effects. In California, the hundreds of thousands of residents evacuated to escape wildfires are indicative of a more permanent migration that may need to occur in the near future. It is estimated that up to 13 million people in the United States could be driven from their homes by the end of the century due to climate change. 

Coastal communities are at the highest risk of displacement, and some state and local governments are preparing to evacuate residents of these areas before it is too late. One of these regions is New York City, which is investing $10 billion into adaptation measures such as building seawalls and constructing sand dunes to extend lower Manhattan into the East River. Not only do at-risk towns and cities need to prepare for the impact of climate change, but “safe zones,” regions that are less vulnerable to climate change, must be identified and prepared for incoming migrants.

This is not the first time the U.S. has seen a significant population movement due to climate-induced events. In the 1930s, prairies in the United States experienced a period of severe dust storms known as the Dust Bowl. This event caused a mass exodus of refugees from southern states to the West Coast, all of whom had to look for work after the storms left them economically devastated. The difference between the Dust Bowl and climate migration is that the events driving current and future movements of people are not isolated — they will only worsen as the effects of climate change accumulate.

However, not everyone in the U.S. has the option to migrate to avoid future climate disasters. As fires rage though the West Coast, farm workers continue to labor in evacuation zones amid unsafe air conditions. A large portion of these workers are non-English speaking migrants, and a lack of emergency information in other languages makes it difficult for them to know the status of fires and evacuation orders in their areas. Even in evacuation zones or areas with unsafe working conditions, many farm workers are given the option to continue working, leaving them with an impossible choice between paying their bills and staying safe. 

In a Washington town, farmworkers were forced to evacuate unexpectedly, and many had to sleep outside in a city park until they could be placed in emergency housing. While most of these workers were soon placed in alternative company-provided housing, the COVID-19 pandemic caused difficulties in housing the workers safely. Without home insurance, workers whose housing was burned or damaged by the wildfires were left financially devastated. This serves as an example of what the future of climate migration may look like for those who cannot afford to leave their work or travel to find new housing. Efforts must be made to plan for the safe evacuation of low-income and undocumented people from at-risk areas.

“A Blowtorch Over Our State”: Climate Change’s Connection To West Coast Wildfires

Photo by by Anya Gerasimova '21 in Salem, Oregon

by Siona Ahuja ’24

Staff Writer

Apocalyptically orange skies in California, Oregon and Washington mark a full month of forest fires raging across most of the West Coast. Beginning on Aug. 17, the “August Complex” fire is one of the largest and most destructive blazes of the 20th century. More than 3 million acres have burned in California alone, as opposed to the estimated 300,000 which burn in the average annual fire season. In addition, experts say the fire season is yet to reach peak season activity. Ireland Clare Kennedy ’21, a resident of Oakland, California, said she has witnessed many wildfires over the years, but has “never seen one this bad.”

Exacerbation of the fires has been attributed to the intense heat wave that struck California in early September, with temperatures reaching 113 F (45 C). The flora of America’s western states are extremely dry during this period, making them susceptible to large fires. Generally, dry lightning storms or even small triggers like discarded cigarettes can turn thousands of trees into ash. This year, a gender reveal party gone disastrously wrong is said to be the major cause. 

In the El Dorado Ranch Park, a couple decided to reveal the sex of their baby using a pyrotechnic device (a smoke bomb rocketing blue or pink smoke). Unknown to them, the wild grass was very flammable, and this mishap led to the blaze of 10,000 acres and more than 20,000 people being evacuated from their residences.

Typically, the fire season in California and neighboring states occurs between July and November, when the winds are hot and dry. Wildfires are a natural part of forests as light fires (“light” being the key word) are beneficial to growth because the ashen remains provide high nutrients to the soil, thus yielding high quality crops. Light fires also aid in the growth of more fire resistant trees. Plants are not harmed in the process of light fires, as their roots remain viable for new plants to sprout in the winter.

Using this logic, Indigenous tribes practiced “cultural burning” in the pre-20th century era. “What we’re doing here is restoring life,” said Ron Goode, tribal chairman of the North Fork Mono, in an interview with NPR. However, beginning in the early 1900s, this practice of fighting fire with fire was banned by the government. Instead, the policy of fire suppression, in which chemical agents were used to extinguish the fires, was adopted. It caused forests to miss their fire cycles; trees grew densely; and the shrubs formed thick undergrowth and ultimately led to vast blazes.

The ancestral practice is slowly resurfacing as fires are getting increasingly uncontrollable. Tribal chiefs are partnering with state governments to carefully burn trees and minimize the risk of extensive wildfires. In Northern California, the Karuk and Yurok tribes are joining the Forest Service to oversee land with traditional values and wildfire management, two goals that work hand in hand.

COVID-19 has presented unique challenges which have been further exacerbated by the spreading wildfires. Among the worst struck by the pandemic are farmers, who have suffered an economic blow since March. In the past year, agriculture has set a record rate of bankruptcies and mental health crises. The fires have sent many crops blazing, and low visibility from fire-caused air pollution has made working on farms almost impossible. The unhealthy air quality caused by the smoke and ash also puts sensitive groups at risk for contracting the virus and compounds the symptoms of those who have tested positive. Moreover, those who are being evacuated to escape the blazes are compelled to go to crowded sites, where social distancing is impossible.

Massive levels of smoke and billowy ash have forced people to seek refuge in their houses just as they were beginning to navigate the outdoors after months of quarantining. Being cooped up has adversely impacted the mental health of many. 

“You can barely see the sun,” said Alexa Harbury ’24, who lives in Tigard, Oregon. “For the whole of last week it was hard to tell what time of day it was, because everything just looked yellow or orange. It messed up my sleep schedule because I couldn’t feel when I needed to get up in the morning. Plus, it’s been stressful. We know people who are in evacuation areas and are keeping a close eye on any fire related news.”

Climate change has been declared as the primary factor that is fueling such disasters. Scientists and policymakers have revealed that an average global increase of 1 C is likely to raise the burning area by 600 percent. The governor of Washington, Jay Inslee, describes climate change as a “blowtorch over our state.”

By emitting millions of tons of greenhouse gases, industries around the world are contributing to the warming of the planet. Estimates from the World Meteorological Organization predict that a global temperature rise of 1.5 C will cause extreme changes in weather such as floods, storms and heat waves which inevitably cause more deaths. The oddities have already begun, ranging from the Australian bushfires that lasted seven months to green-colored snow in Antarctica caused by algae blooms. Scientists indicate that these are just mere forewarnings of what is about to come in the next decade. Should we not contribute to climate reform, there will be irreparable damage caused to an already unstable Earth, they warned.