Written by Johan Halpern

The beginning of 2025 in California was marked by devastating wildfires that ravaged tens of thousands of acres, burned thousands of homes, and tragically claimed dozens of lives. Some argue these fires were caused by climate change, while others contend their origin can be attributed to incompetence, negligence, and overall poor decisions made by our elected officials. This essay will critically assess and ultimately challenge both notions. So tuck in your seatbelts; this article won’t be as dull and uninteresting as you might have thought when you clicked on it.

Many assert that these wildfires are a direct consequence of climate change. To critically assess this perspective, it’s important to examine the context surrounding such claims. 

1. According to the headline of an article by the World Economic Forum about the severity of climate change, “we have three years to save the planet from climate disaster.” This was written in 2017 – it’s been eight years. They have since deleted the article. 
2. Greta Thunberg once posted a quote from a now-deleted article that read: “A top climate scientist is warning that climate change will wipe out all of humanity unless we stop using fossil fuels over the next five years.” Her post was written in 2018, and she deleted it five years later in 2023 after the prediction was evidently repudiated.
3. Just for kicks, I googled “climate change experts saying we will die soon”, and what popped up did not surprise me at all. One headline read: “Scientists Warn 1 Billion People on Track to Die From Climate Change”. Another headline detailed  how, a few years ago, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC) claimed that the “World will end in 12 years if we don’t address climate change”. Subsequently, this claim led to an incident at one of her rallies, where a supporter suggested a new campaign slogan: “We need to start eating babies… we don’t have enough time; there’s too much CO2.” The individual further stated, “Even if we bombed Russia, there would still be too many people.” (This video surfaced before the war in Ukraine ever began.) While the woman was likely trolling AOC, the congresswoman appeared to nod along to most of her statements, and AOC refrained from directly refuting any of her claims as well.

As I mentioned before, I urge the reader to do a quick Google search, and you will find literally dozens of examples that are probably more ludicrous than these, if you can believe it. Nearly every time, without failure, these “experts” are wrong, and we plebes are forced to suffer the consequences of their ineptitude.

To challenge the idea that climate change was the primary cause of these wildfires, consider the following questions:

1. If the fires were caused by climate change, why don’t fires of the same magnitude occur everywhere else with similar temperatures? 

2. If the fires were caused by climate change, why didn’t they happen during summer, spring, or fall, when the weather is warmer?

3. Is human negligence suddenly not a factor anymore? (especially when several criminals have been arrested recently for arson/attempted arson in relation to these fires!) 

4. If the fires were caused by climate change, why do areas with harsher drought and heat conditions than California not have comparable wildfires?

5. If climate change is responsible, doesn’t that mean fire safety policies would have made no difference and are essentially useless?

Thus I find this notion implausible and unlikely to amount to any real axiom.

Now let’s critically assess the second notion: that the fires’ origin can be attributed to incompetence, negligence, and poor decisions made by our elected officials. Consider the following:

For years, millions of gallons of water have been redirected to the ocean rather than being stored in reservoirs, a decision made by Governor Gavin Newsom. Budget cuts may have played a role as well, such as the $17 million reduction to the Los Angeles firefighting budget by Mayor Karen Bass. The implementation of Proposition 1, which we California voters approved in 2014, secured a $7 billion bond for water supply projects; eleven years later, and not a single one of these projects have been completed. Further scrutiny is warranted regarding other fiscal blunders, such as the allocation of $50 million for lawsuits against the Trump administration and $2.6 billion annually for healthcare programs benefiting undocumented migrants, both of which have contributed to the state’s growing debt of $68 billion. Mayor Bass broke her promise not to travel internationally as Mayor of Los Angeles by roaming around Ghana during one of the most perilous and grave moments in LA history – though I suppose this should not be too much of a surprise, considering she has violated this promise five times prior!

My notion is that our elected officials acting like clowns is all part of a larger strategy: the Cloward-Piven Strategy. 

Per Wikipedia, “The Cloward–Piven strategy is a political strategy outlined in 1966 by American sociologists and political activists Richard Cloward and Frances Fox Piven. The strategy aims to utilize ‘militant anti-poverty groups’ to facilitate a ‘political crisis’ by overloading the welfare system via an increase in welfare claims, forcing the creation of a system of guaranteed minimum income and ‘redistributing income through the federal government’.”

In simpler terms, the Cloward-Piven strategy aims to speed up the fall of capitalism by overloading a government—it works best with an inefficient bureaucracy, like we have here in California—with a bunch of demands that they know can’t or won’t be met, thus leading to the fall of capitalism and the rise of socialism. 

Whether or not this strategy directly applies to California remains uncertain; however, it aligns with the apparent mismanagement observed within the state’s government. Additionally, the Cloward-Piven strategy is often associated with left-wing political ideologies, and Governor Newsom’s administration is widely regarded as one of the most progressive in the country. These inefficiencies (and others) in our state’s government have undoubtedly exacerbated the challenges associated with these wildfires. The one somewhat commendable action taken by an elected official here in California might be Governor Newsom showing up uninvited on President Trump’s Tarmac to discuss issues related to the wildfire. Then again, if he could have handled it himself, the meeting never would have happened in the first place! 

Ultimately, do you think climate change was a factor in these wildfires? Do you believe the Cloward-Piven strategy is at play here in California? I’ve presented the facts, now you may decide for yourself.