California Wildfires: An Equitable Response to Long-Term Needs

As climate change fuels increasingly intense weather events worldwide, UUSC remains in solidarity with those impacted by the California wildfires. The fires have claimed 27 lives and displaced thousands of people. Communities facing wildfires endure the loss of life, material possessions, and their sense of safety and stability. 

Unfortunately, this period of profound tragedy is part of a larger pattern: California, Colorado, and Hawai’i have experienced catastrophic wildfires over the past five years. As President Trump sets his plan in motion to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, global greenhouse emissions continue to rise. UUSC’s partners in the global south are losing their ancestral lands due to the climate crisis and face existential risks every day.  

UUSC cultivates long-term partnerships with communities facing systemic injustice, including those impacted by climate change. We know that crisis response is only the first step, and long-term resource management requires careful attention to equity. We urge state and local governments to meaningfully include frontline communities in decision-making, to respect their specialized knowledge, and to ensure their sustained access to resources. 

Californian leaders’ response to this crisis will shape the state’s future. UUSC charges them to go beyond recreating pre-existing systems and instead chart a path of community-centered equity and justice.