Los Angeles Times columnist Sammy Roth, who opposed Rick Caruso for mayor in 2022 because he said Caruso had no “climate plan,” has blamed “climate change” for the Palisades Fire and other fires that have devastated the city.
Roth’s column, “Los Angeles is a climate disaster. The fires will change nothing,” illustrates the potential for climate change to be used to evade accountability.
Roth wrote:
[A] global economy built on fossil fuels — and a U.S. political establishment funded in great part by fossil fuel corporations and their allies — brought us to this point. After two wet winters fueled the growth of grasses and brush — ideal kindling for fires — across SoCal mountains and hillsides, the last few months saw an abrupt shift to record-dry conditions. This kind of weather whiplash is a hallmark of global warming.
…
When the flames recede, and the smoke clears, keep talking about the climate crisis. Bring it up on social media, over dinner. Make it a defining issue when you vote. Support businesses whose leaders and practices reflect your values. Subscribe to news outlets that report on climate. Drive electric, if you can. Take public transit.
In other words, let the rich and powerful know that weeks like this one are unacceptable.
Roth says nothing at all about the lack of preparedness for the wildfires that he says climate change are making more frequent — the lack of brush clearance, the failure to fill the closest reservoir, the failure to pre-deploy firefighters to the affected areas, the failure to evacuate in a timely manner, the failure to notify local schools of the need to release children, the failure to deploy police to direct traffic during the evacuation, the failure to help residents retain their fire insurance, and above all the failure of political accountability in a one-party system that saw the mayor skip town.
One person who did prepare for the possibility of wildfires was Caruso, who constructed his Palisades Village mall out of fire-resistant materials and hired private firefighters to protect his property.
Roth opposed Caruso in 2022, when the latter ran and lost against then-Rep. Karen Bass (D-CA), writing that the billionaire developer had no “climate plan.” But Caruso’s plan for wildfires worked; Bass, if she had a plan, failed.
Bass also happened to be overseas on a diplomatic junket when the fires started, despite knowing in advance about the adverse wind event — evidently unconcerned about the carbon emissions caused by international travel on jets.
Roth also once accused white drivers in Los Angeles of polluting the air for black and Latino residents of the city.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
