This isn’t normal. But I know exactly why this happened.
I’m writing this from a friend of a friend’s house in Long Beach, California, where I’ve been staying since I evacuated my home last Wednesday due to the Sunset Fire in Hollywood. In the previous 24 hours, I had been watching our city go up in flames from the west and the east, planning rapid response and doing what I could for my communities being affected. I didn’t think that soon after I would be the one frantically coming home to gather all my own things. I’ll never forget seeing notifications on my phone pile up within minutes about the latest fire in Runyon Canyon, and walking outside in the night to see all the neighbours asking each other: “should we leave?“ The ash in the air and the sight of flames in the close distance felt apocalyptic. I took a video of my room, in case it would be the last time I saw it. I haphazardly threw things in suitcases. I hugged my roommate. And I left.
Los Angeles is burning, and the destruction is all-encompassing. Everyone’s most visited app is now Watch Duty. We’re waiting for the latest fire to pick back up or grow, knowing that at any moment the winds might strike once again. Entire neighbourhoods are gone. Friends and community members are facing staggering losses. I’m scared and devastated, but above all, I’m furious. This didn’t have to happen.
For the past several years, I’ve been a proud climate justice organiser with Sunrise Movement, an intersectional movement of young people fighting to stop the climate crisis, hold politicians accountable, and force the government to end the era of fossil fuel elites. We are on a mission to put everyday people back in charge and build a world that works for all of us, now and for generations to come.
Those in power like to drown out what’s obvious: This country is built to watch us burn, in more ways than one. The visibly growing climate disasters – neighbourhoods flooded, homes swept away by hurricanes, deadly heat waves, cities on fire – are one of the many ways that our most marginalised communities are being continuously attacked. Climate disasters are a symptom of these oppressive systems that are built to hurt us, hold us down and keep us quiet. And we shouldn’t continue to wait for our most privileged members of society to be impacted for us to understand that it’s only going to get worse.
Los Angeles, the place I call home, has been facing unprecedented wildfires in all directions. This isn’t a natural disaster. This is a man-made catastrophe, born of decades of greed and negligence. For over 50 years, oil and gas executives have known their industry was driving climate change. They knew their emissions would intensify droughts, create dangerous heatwaves and spark wildfires like the ones currently ravaging Southern California. Instead of stopping what they were doing, or telling the public, they doubled down. These billionaires lied to the public, bankrolled campaigns to block climate action, and raked in $757 billion annually in government subsidies – money that could have gone to rebuilding communities, strengthening fire prevention, or investing in renewable energy. Instead, it’s lining the pockets of the wealthiest individuals in the world.
Climate disasters are a symptom of these oppressive systems that are built to hurt us, hold us down and keep us quiet. And we shouldn’t continue to wait for our most privileged members of society to be impacted for us to understand that it’s only going to get worse
In just 10 days, Donald Trump will be inaugurated as the next President of the United States. His administration represents the very challenges we face today. During his first term, Trump dismantled crucial climate policies, jeopardising the future of our planet. He also rolled back vital regulations on clean air, water, wildlife and toxic chemicals – protections that safeguard public health and our environment. In his second term, Trump is poised to double down on his harmful agenda. A billionaire himself, Trump has promised oil and gas CEOs massive tax cuts and the rollback of climate progress in exchange for $1 billion in campaign contributions. He’s assembling a cabinet filled with billionaires, oil executives, and climate deniers to shape his administration. On day one, he’s vowed to dismantle the climate progress we’ve fought hard for in the past few years. Trump has promised oil executives to eliminate regulations that don’t benefit the fossil fuel industry, dramatically expand oil and gas drilling, and grant massive tax breaks to oil billionaires – all while letting the fossil fuel industry dictate climate policy.
As long as profit and elite greed continue to reign over people’s safety, we will continue to hurtle towards destruction, regardless of political party. I don’t have faith in presidential elections. What I have faith in, is our collective power, if we choose to use it.
In the midst of all this, I have watched communities rise to take care of each other: mutual aid spreadsheets, GoFundMes created, resource sharing, friends of friends taking each other in, and large-scale distributions run by everyday people. At the end of last week, hundreds of people attended a mass call with Sunrise Movement, and hundreds more signed up to attend one next week. We’re making a plan to disrupt business as usual and expose the corruption of politicians who have sold out to Big Oil.
We can’t sit back and let billionaires and corrupt politicians destroy our future. We need to stand up, fight back and demand a government that puts people over profits. This fight won’t be easy. The fossil fuel industry has deep pockets and powerful allies. But there are more of us than there are of them. If we come together, we can win. Movements have topped dictators before and brought about real change. We can do it again.
My hope comes from our people. Hope that we’ll channel our fear and anger into action. Hope that we’ll rise up and demand a livable future for ourselves and generations to come. We have the power to create something better, but it’s going to take all of us.
Andrea Cañizares-Fernandez is an Ecuadorian-American writer, artist, actor, abolitionist, and climate justice organiser based in Los Angeles. Follow her on Instagram, and see more of her art here.
Learn more about the Sunrise Movement, and find out more about how you can get involved, here.