2 massive wildfires burn thousands of acres, force evacuations in Florida Panhandle
USA TodayMAR 17 2022
Florida isn't acting fast enough to address its climate emergency. The Sunshine State is repeatedly mentioned in IPCC reports because of its vulnerability. The window is closing, and Florida is on the front lines of a hotter planet.
Florida's leadership is doing the best it can, in a rare show of bipartisan cooperation. There's a tremendous amount of flammable timber left on the ground from Hurricane Michael. State staffing shortages and contracting logistics inhibited the clean-up, and residents must be patient as the fires rampage.
It's easy to dismiss any extreme weather event as a consequence of climate change, but in reality they're usually influenced by a myriad of factors that have nothing to do with it. More research is needed before we can establish any direct causal link between the two.