Many people may feel like their life is in flames right now due to COVID-19 or political reasons. However, many people’s lives are literally in flames since forest fires are at an all-time high right now. 

According to BBC.com, scientists say wildfires have been the worst they’ve been in 18 years, and their growing frequency and severity have been related to climate change. 

You might have noticed the weather feeling different this year. This is due to climate change, which is making temperatures start at 95 degrees and then the next day drop to 50 degrees. Climate change is happening due to pollution and the awful impacts we humans put on our planet. 

How might we stop this? There are many ways to help our carbon footprint and one easy way is to eat less meat.  

The vast amount of global warming is caused by carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide combined. The processing of just over two pounds of beef results in more greenhouse gas emissions than running a vehicle for three hours, which consumes more electricity than keeping your house lights on for the same time span. Factory farms also generate enormous amounts of dust and other pollutants that contaminate the environment. 

A less easy way, but very efficient would be to invest in solar energy. Solar energy systems obtain pure, renewable energy from the sun. The installation of solar panels on your home helps counteract greenhouse gas pollution and reduces our mutual dependency on fossil fuel. 

Traditional energy originates from fossil sources including coal and natural gas. They release greenhouse emissions, which are the main source of air pollution and global climate change, as fossil fuels are burnt to generate energy. Not only are fossil fuels bad for the atmosphere, but they’re also a dwindling resource as well.  

Now that all of the educational stuff is out of the way, it is important to see the humans behind the fires. 

In 1997, I was born in Paradise, Cali. It is a beautiful wooded town, a little quaint, but it is easy to be engulfed in the large oak trees and the fragrant pine trees. I never lived in Paradise, but it was close to my hometown and my best friend lived there and we would switch off weekends. I spent a lot of time in those trees. 

In 2018, Paradise was burned to the ground by the legendary Camp Fire. That same best friend at the time just started her family and bought her new home all by herself. She lived in it for about eight months before having to evacuate her toddler, two dogs and with her boyfriend. They exited safely. Her first house was not that lucky and plateaued to the ground.

Now in 2020, my hometown Oroville, CA is currently undergoing the Bear Fire and the people who are not evacuated quite yet are breathing in hazardous smoke. The sky is bright red all the time, but also hazy and grey. Ash is hailing on everyone, looking like and almost-beautiful snow-capped day, but in a place that does not snow. Oroville holds all of my memories for the first eighteen years of my life and now it will be plateaued to the ground.

This is becoming more common each year. Fires are happening all over and it can even happen in Grand Junction. 

One day we can be living our mundane lives and then, bam, we will have to evacuate and everything we have known is just gone. Lives are lost. Homes are lost. Pets are gone. Possessions that you will never get back are gone. We had a fire recently and it could have gone way out of hand. Would you have been prepared?  

This must be controlled better, and it is up to us to fix it. We must be more conscious of our decisions. Buying sustainable products, eating less meat and investing in solar energy is good for the planet that we all share. 

There are many other ways to fight climate change, but as long as we do it together, we can conquer anything.