The fast-moving wildfires that raced across large swaths of southern California over the past month have been historically devastating. Driven by high winds and dry conditions, they have claimed the lives of at least 29 people and damaged or destroyed more than 16,000 structures, resulting in tens of billions of dollars in property losses.
Much of the blame can be placed on climate change, according to experts like Ruth Heindel, the Dorothy and Thomas Jegla Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies. An interdisciplinary biogeochemist who has conducted field research in Greenland, Antarctica, the Colorado Front Range and central Ohio, Heindel’s research aims to answer questions about the impact of changing climate and land use on sensitive alpine and polar ecosystems. Her lab’s work in Antarctica is the subject of an exhibit through the end of the month at the Bulmash Exhibition Hall in Chalmers Library and the inspiration for the “Something Blue” exhibition in The Gund through April 13.
Heindel took a few minutes to discuss the recent wildfires that ravaged the Los Angeles area and the role that climate change played in the calamity — as well as the role it could play in other natural disasters moving forward.
How might the recent wildfires in California be related to climate change?
I think about it in two different ways. For places that are dry, we expect climate change to make them drier. And in a warmer climate, precipitation events tend to be more extreme. Both extremes are happening more often, where you get a lot of precipitation happening that primes all of this vegetation to grow — basically, combustible material — and then you have these longer and more extreme droughts that then make the actual combustion more likely and then able to take off more rapidly.
Should we expect to see more frequent fires that are more difficult to contain in the future?
Yes. You can think about the severity of wildfires in terms of the amount of land burned and in terms of how hot things are burning. All of that is expected to increase. Another aspect of this that you could layer in is thinking about where people are living because, with housing pressure, you have more people moving into these kinds of forest interfaces where it’s really mountainous, there are more trees, and it’s really hard to fight fires. And so you have more people living in the places where the fires are more likely to occur.
Are wildfires, in turn, contributing to more climate change?
Yes. Just last week, we talked about this feedback in my “Earth Systems” class (ENVS 231). It’s because you have warmer conditions that are ripe for a higher rate of wildfire, and then these wildfires are also emitting CO2 (carbon dioxide) into the atmosphere, and that is then increasing the greenhouse effect and adding to more warming.
How is climate change impacting the severity and frequency of other types of natural disasters?
With the intensification of the water cycle, we can expect these more extreme precipitation events that can lead to a lot of flooding. Hurricanes also have been strengthening, and the rate at which they strengthen is happening more quickly. That all has to do with the heat content of the ocean. We often think about experiencing climate change on land as the air temperatures warm, but the entire ocean itself is now warmer, and that holds a lot of energy that can then power these really strong hurricanes. Tornadoes are another that we have definitely seen. We’re seeing tornadoes outside of a season that we would usually think of, and we’re also seeing tornado warnings in places that haven’t typically seen them before.
What can humans still do about climate change at this point from a policy perspective?
We have already experienced warming and we will continue to experience warming, but the degree of that warming is very much up to us and how much additional emissions are going to be put into the atmosphere. Sometimes people can feel like, “Oh, there’s nothing we can do,” but every 10th of a degree is going to make a difference. Anything that we can do to limit additional carbon emissions into the atmosphere is going to make a difference, even if it feels like it’s not enough. And of course, anything we can do to put people in power who are going to be pursuing those kinds of policies.
How does your research contribute to this work?
A lot of my work is focused in Antarctica, and the polar regions are especially sensitive to climate change. The region that I’ve been working in hasn’t experienced a lot of changes, but it will.
Another angle to my research is focused on atmospheric deposition. This is basically stuff in rainwater that’s not water itself; it’s particles or ions that are dissolved in rainwater that come down with it. In addition to emitting CO2 emissions, wildfires emit lots of other chemicals into the atmosphere, and all of that eventually will come down in rainwater. With certain forms of nitrogen that were regulated with the Clean Air Act, there have been massive improvements over the last three decades that these wildfires basically are going to completely reverse.
What is your favorite habit that regular people can adopt to fight climate change?
The one I’ll mention right now is just eating less meat. Producing meat takes a lot of resources — land and also water. A lot of the grain that we grow in the U.S. is just used for feeding animals. It’s a lot more efficient use of space and resources if everyone is eating a more plant-based diet.
What’s a book related to the topic that you might suggest?
I’m just starting a book by Ayana Elizabeth Johnson called “What If We Get It Right?” It’s positive and solution-oriented, trying to envision the world that we actually want to build — what does that look like? We already know a lot to get us there. I’ve been really enjoying it because it is more of an uplifting call to activism rather than just being kind of a doomsday-type thing.