As global wave of wildfires grows, Donald Trump's delusions are getting out of hand – Ian Johnston
Donald Trump has noticed wildfires are getting worse but his bizarre explanation could lead to unjustified tariffs on Canada
I once went to Athens in November for the ‘original’ marathon. It was like a Scottish summer, in the low 20s and sunny. I feared sunburn and heat exhaustion on the run, but in the end it was the hills that did for me.
In stark contrast to the mud, damp and blustery winds of autumn at home, it was dry, dusty, and the still air was filled with the sound of buzzing insects. The vegetation, such as it was, was like tinder, the grass crunched beneath my feet, while the not unpleasant smell of rotting bitter oranges from the trees that line the streets created a lasting olfactory memory. It was obvious that Greece had a very different climate.
Now, a decade on from my unsuccessful attempt to crack the five-hour barrier following an injury-interrupted attempt to get fit, the grass in parts of Scotland is more than capable of producing its own crunch. And when vegetation becomes ‘tinder dry’, the risk of fire is obviously greater.
‘Extremely scary’
Greece has had some terrible wildfires, far worse than in Scotland. But the drying out of the landscape as the world steadily warms is particularly bad news for places that could once count on their climate remaining reasonably temperate all year round, as the fuel load available to burn will be far greater than in places where the flora has long adapted to cope with hot, dry conditions.
Worse still is that climate change in Scotland and elsewhere in western Europe is bringing warmer and drier summers, but also milder and wetter winters that are good for plant growth and bad for increasing that fuel load.
Commenting on new research showing how climate change had made extreme wildfires in south-western Europe more likely, Dr Clair Barnes, of the Centre for Environmental Policy at Imperial College London, said: “What we’re seeing in France and Spain isn’t just bad luck, it is a clear sign of the escalating impacts of anthropogenic warming. A wet winter, followed by this intensely dry summer and a succession of heatwaves, has left forests loaded with dry fuel, and relentless heat... has created the conditions for sparks to take hold and become massive, dangerous wildfires.
“... with another heatwave looming, these findings are extremely scary. These aren’t fires burning in remote areas, they are happening in close proximity to where people live. Every fraction of a degree of [global] warming pushes us into unknown territory, and these fires show exactly what that risk looks like.”
Last month, after a wildfire swept through 30 gardens and damaged properties, with one home gutted, in the London suburb of Walthamstow, mayor Sadiq Khan issued guidance to “create a firebreak around your home, keep grass cut short, clear garden waste, cut back trees and shrubs, position sheds away from buildings” – the sort of warning I would never have thought to hear in the UK. We in Scotland can expect something similar in the not-too-distant future.
America’s wildfire war
Wildfire reports in the US read like accounts of battles in an ongoing war. On August 2, the National Interagency Fire Centre reported: “Initial attack activity yesterday was moderate, with 257 new fires reported. Firefighters are working to suppress and contain 99 large fires across the country, including 18 new large incidents since yesterday. A total of 27,934 firefighters and support personnel are engaged in nationwide fire activity, including 576 crews, 1,715 engines, and 212 helicopters.”
So far this year, more than 5.1 million acres – an area about a quarter the size of Scotland – have been burned by wildfires in the US, compared to the annual average over the past decade of 3.7 million. “If local officials issue an evacuation order, leave immediately and follow designated routes, delaying evacuation can place both the public and first responders at greater risk,” the Fire Centre advised.
In other words, the enemy is at the gates. However, despite the evidence all around him, Donald Trump maintains his delusional stance that the increasing problems being caused by wildfires are a consequence, not of global warming, but of countries failing to spend sufficient time “raking and cleaning” their forests. In 2018, he claimed they did this in Finland, prompting Finns to post spoof pictures on social media of them giving the woods a good vacuuming.
The Emperor’s New Clothes
But if that could be treated as a joke, Trump is now threatening to impose serious penalties on Canada over wildfire smoke drifting into the US. “This is Willful Negligence, and becoming a yearly occurrence, costing the United States Billions of Dollars, which cost of this pollution must of necessity be added to the TARIFFS Canada is currently paying... We are holding Canada responsible for the fact that they are not properly maintaining their Forests, and Brush therein...” he ranted on social media in his usual, semi-literate manner.
At least Trump has noticed wildfires are increasing. However his insistence that climate change is a hoax forces him to look elsewhere for an explanation, even to the point where he has to spout transparent nonsense.
The fact that some people choose to believe him over the world’s scientific community – whose predictions have been consistently borne out by the passage of time – once again demonstrates the wisdom of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. In that famous parable, it eventually takes a child to point out that the Emperor is not dressed in the finest clothes, as light as a spider’s web, which only stupid people cannot see, but is, in fact, wearing nothing at all.
The intellectual nakedness of Trump, and his fellow travellers in this country, should be plain for all to see. Heaven help us if we don’t.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.