Gov. Brown Says Fires Will Make the Worst Climate Skeptics Into Believers

Jerry Brown says the deadly California wildfires will convert all climate change skeptics into climate change believers within five years.

Brown is the Democratic California Governor and he said Sunday morning that he believes the science surrounding the deadly wildfires will become so evident that skeptics will no longer be able to avoid the truth of the devastating impacts of climate change.

“The last five years, the fires have never been this bad. This fire in Malibu is the worst they’ve ever seen. This fire in- in Paradise and Northern California was the worst in the history of California,” Brown said on “Face the Nation” on CBS.

“So yeah, you can mull the science, but I’ll tell you every year it’s going to get clearer and clearer so that I think in less than five years, even the worst skeptics are going to be believers,” he added.

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Brown said he talked about the scientific evidence during his visit with President Trump on Saturday. He said there is plenty of documentation that climate change has worsened wildfires in California over the last 15 years. He also said that he didn’t discuss the issue in great detail because he wants and need cooperation from the federal government in several different areas.

“We need the money, we need federal help and we need a collaborative and cooperative spirit and we’re getting that,” Brown said. “But I did say that we’re going to look at all the elements that are causing these fires over time and we’re going to work in a way to let science be our guide and the president in no way negated that.”

“So I decided to go for an opening and I think over the next months and years you’ll see the science becoming crystal clear and even the folks in Washington that are now more in the denialist camp are going to come around,” Brown added.

The Los Angeles Times reported that 76 people have died from the Camp Fire raging in Northern California, making it the deadliest in the state‘s history. An additional 1,276 people are missing.

In recent weeks there have been several fires in different parts of the state have burned thousands of buildings and devastated hundreds of thousands of acres of land.

President Trump visited California on Saturday, touring fire-ravaged areas and meeting with victims of the fires. It was the president’s second trip to California since he took office.

Trump received widespread criticism last week when he blamed poor forest management for making the fire worse, an opinion which he has repeated several times since then. He initially threatened to cut off federal funding to the state because of poor fire “management.”

Since then he has backtracked somewhat and is being more cooperative. He signed an emergency declaration and appeared in public with Brown and governor-elect Gavin Newsom.

In a “Fox News Sunday” interview Trump acknowledged that climate change may contribute “a little bit” to the fires, but still insisted that forest management plays a larger role. He also said that in Finland they don’t have forest fires because the people their rake their forests, and suggested people in California do the same thing.

“Trump: Not raking weeds contributing to fires In an interview with Fox News, President Donald Trump suggests poor land management is more to blame for raging wildfires in California than climate change.”

Maybe Jerry Brown is right. Maybe the science around the historically destructive California wildfires will convert climate change skeptics into believers. If that includes Donald Trump then we will truly be amazed.

Leo Vidal

I am a lifelong Democrat with a passion for social justice and progressive issues. I have degrees in writing, economics and law from the University of Iowa.