From ClimateREALISM
By Linnea Lueken
An article from the Associated Press (AP) states that wildfires are getting worse due to climate change, which exposes farm workers to more smoke and may affect their health. This is false. Wildfires aren’t getting worse, so farmers and workers can’t be exposed to more smoke or particles for that reason.
In the AP article, “Wildfires grow on climate change, and their smoke threatens farmworkers, study says,” the deception is clear and direct. The study in the title is a health survey on air quality monitoring in mandatory wildfire evacuation zones, and the abstract paragraph asserts that wildfires are getting worse due to climate change, but does not provide evidence for this. The only explanation given for the statement is that the intensity and frequency of fires “are expected to increase with global warming.” The study also says that California’s 2020 fire season is “unprecedented” — which is wrong, because Climate Realism explained in time, here. These baseless claims provide cover for AP to write the following:
As climate change increases the frequency and intensity of wildfires around the world, a new study shows that farmworkers are paying a heavy price for being exposed to high levels of air pollution. And in Sonoma County, the focus of the work, researchers found that programs aimed at determining when it is safe to work during wildfires are not enough to protect farm workers.
The first and last climate change time is mentioned in all articles. Despite the climate change hook at the beginning, it really has nothing to do with climate change, while the other part focuses on how farm workers are forced to work in unsafe conditions and what kind of occupational safety protocols should be implemented to reduce it. smoke inhalation when wildfires occur in areas with a lot of agriculture.
The study itself also uses climate change only as a hook, while many researches on monitoring air quality during the fire outbreak in Sonoma County in particular, and then make policy recommendations for employers of agricultural workers to provide wages and warnings. post-exposure health care coverage.
In a classic case of failing to use the available evidence to counter a pet theory, the researchers conveniently ignored the quiet fire season in history that occurred since the 2020 outlier, even though the reversal occurred before the publication date of July 2024. A Climate Realism a post covering years of mild fire seasons quoted one scientist as admitting that California has some of the most extreme inter-annual variability in temperature and precipitation, and that “it’s normal to go from record wet year to record, or nearly so.” notes , a dry year and just like that.”
The number of hectares burned by wildfires in the United States declined quickly after the peak in the 1930s, and only since the 80s began to see an overall mild upward trend. (See image below)
But what is interesting is that the prevalence of drought, the main variable affecting the spread of wildfires, has not increased significantly during this period. What has increased is the amount of fuel available due to the mismanagement of forests due to the good but ultimately foolish philosophy of environmental preservation, and the increasing number of people living in fire-prone areas.
On a global scale, wildfires and carbon dioxide emissions are highly correlated, when looking at the best NASA satellite data. (See image below)
Data from NASA and the European Space Agency both show a significant decrease in wildfires during mild warming, as discussed in Climate at a Glance: Global Wildfires. Also, as discussed in many Climate Realism posts, here, for example, even the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change did not find evidence for an increase in wildfire weather in recent decades or projects such an increase in the future.
If climate change doesn’t lead to more severe fire seasons, it can’t increase the threat to farm workers from wildfire smoke – that’s as simple as that.
Farm workers were not evacuated despite mandatory evacuation orders during wildfires, causing them to inhale dangerous fumes while working not a climate issue. AP and the authors of the study are doing damage to the cause by trying to force the connection. Maybe they believe that being linked to climate change will get additional funding for the program, and they may be right. However, in doing so, they are spreading misinformation about wildfires and climate change and thereby undermining efforts to promote public presentation and discussion of the truth.
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