Recently, World Weather Attribution researchers from the United States, the Netherlands, Denmark, Belgium, France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom shared findings about future fire risk in Los Angeles. Because of climate change, my city can expect weather extremes similar to what we experienced last month about once every 17 years. Compared to pre-industrial conditions when humans did not burn fossil fuels, this represents a 35% increase in likelihood of seeing such dramatic weather.
It may have once been hard to fathom projections like these but in Los Angeles last month, the spectre of climate change became all too real. Lifelong Angelenos will tell you they’ve never experienced anything like it. To start, summers have felt hotter than ever and winters are all or nothing. And then came the seemingly unquenchable fires which, according to early research from UCLA, were likely larger and more intense because of climate change.
As we continue to plow through the data connecting climate change to the fires, and as we begin the long process of recovery, we must speak honestly and forcefully about what happened: in L.A., we experienced a climate amplified disaster. In other words, climate change supercharged the fires here, making a devastating situation even worse. We are not alone in experiencing this phenomenon. In the past six months, climate amplified disasters, like the floods in Spain and Typhoon Yagi in Vietnam, have left scores of people dead and many more without homes or livelihoods.
Because of the complexity of climate change itself, that aspect of global extreme weather events may be under-communicated. Results of the Center for Climate Journalism and Communication’s Temperature Check survey, released in fall 2024, revealed that even amongst experts like journalists and academics, it is this very complexity that creates the greatest barrier to talking and writing about climate change.
So, though most people in the U.S. believe climate change is real, we may need help linking climate change with catastrophic events like the fires here in LA. What can you or I do about that problem? Check out climate attribution resources to confirm a climate connection, then use words that work. I prefer the phrase “climate amplified disaster” because it unites the issue with the impact. It also acknowledges that climate change is not the only reason a weather event became catastrophic as a confluence of factors are often at play. For example, though the ignition source of the Los Angeles fires is not yet known, data confirms that the blazes can be considered a climate amplified disaster.
Language is a gateway to transformation. If we can identify and state the issues at hand, we can organize around those issues. As we begin to rethink and rebuild, let’s ensure we do so with climate change in mind, using materials and processes that can protect us in the future, and promote health and wellbeing now. The survival of our communities, our city, and our planet depends upon it.
Allison Agsten is Director of USC Annenberg’s Center for Climate Journalism and Communication
