In times of crisis and wildfires, we need to fix what we can. | Local spin

It looks very sweet, “Mother Nature.” This expression originated nearly 800 years ago: to recognize and honor life-giving aspects of our natural world.

But I think those weren’t the words of adoration I said during the record-breaking heat wave. Nor were those words uttered in the early hours of Sunday morning when rare thunderstorms swept our region.

My first word on Sunday morning was “earthquake.” Instead, I jump out of bed at 2 am to witness a gorgeous sky lit by simultaneous strikes of lightning, with a supportive band of rolling thunder and boom. He was magnificent, majestic, omnipotent. It looked much better than an earthquake – at that point.

But we all felt the timing was bad. Mother Nature was angry, not caring. Although California’s bushfire season is now year-round, the August storm is bad news for a region that has not had heavy rain since April.

So far in 2020, we have faced a pandemic, economic shock, and the most intense political divisions in our lives. That’s all before the storm.

Today, we are a community facing another disaster or three. As of the weekly print deadline, 1,500 buildings near River Road and San Benancio have been threatened, with the fire contained only 7 percent, displacing families and animals, and potentially damaging crops with smoke.

This is the river of fire. As I was writing this, the Carmel Fire broke out on Cachagua Road with nearly 500 acres burning and zero percent containment four hours later. The evacuation orders were immediate. Then overnight from August 18-19, the Dolan Fire in Big Sur burned 2,500 acres.

You must wait for the collective desire to return to normality. Fact: It is time to prepare to live with the ups and downs and plan accordingly.

2020 is one of the hottest years on record so far, according to NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies. Death Valley reached 130 degrees last week, an all-time record on planet Earth (debatable because 134 degrees were recorded there in 1913, but without current weather technology). This summer, the Siberian city of Verkhoyansk has reached over 100 degrees, the first time that temperatures recorded over the Arctic Circle have reached three figures. It is unlikely that this trend will change in our life.

However, we can do a few things, starting now.

First, remember the Prayers of Purity, the North Star in Troubled Times: Accept the things that I cannot change, have the courage to change the things I can change, and the wisdom to tell the difference.

Second, let’s be really honest. While there are many structures at risk in these fires, this is not a big surprise. The interface between prairie and urban areas is a growing concern for fire officials, as human infrastructure is adjacent to fire-prone areas.

Every major fire our society has faced in the past 40 years has had to force us to separate wild lands better from urban areas, lest we build in the wrong spaces. Individual desires – to live in nature and in privacy – conflict with the group. We simply have not adopted smart policies to ensure adequate spatial separation from our forests, despite the big fires we have dealt with: in Pebble Beach, Carmel Valley, Palo Colorado, Big Sur, Carmel Highlands. River Fire is simply the most recent version of this story.

A river fire is another wake-up call: Local governments should not approve of developments that increase density in wilderness areas. The seniors’ living facility with the help of a proposed River View in Las Palmas is one example of a good idea, but in the wrong location. Other projects will also increase density near wilderness areas: Harper Canyon, Paraiso Hot Springs, and more homes in San Benancio, Corral de Tierra, and Las Palmas. The Monterey County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors should stop this expansion.

Finally, take a stand on the environment. Put solar power on the roof of your home, take advantage of incentives for an electric car, walk or ride your bike to the store, buy local food and shop locally. Do what you can to save energy and reduce carbon emissions.

We cannot solve all of the world’s problems. But we can start addressing our own. With a little prayer, reducing our personal footprints plus some clearer and smarter public policies, we can take some vital steps. Mother Nature will thank us.

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