By: Neerja Caprihan
The start of the year should have been a celebratory Lights-Camera-Action time but January brought traumatic news. Los Angeles saw the worst form of lights in the form of wildfires that callously burnt away huge swathes of land, and properties. The cameras captured the shocking stories of loss and devastation left in their wake. The indefatigable fire-fighters and spirited aid-workers from different walks of life swung into action to bring them under control.
According to an NBC News report 1 that quotes data from JP Morgan, total economic losses from the Los Angeles wildfires could reach $50 billion. There are several other statistics – unfortunate losses of lives, acres burned, wind speeds, rainfall metrics, structures razed to the ground, response times, and so on. But as always in the cases of such disasters, no metric can ever come close to counting the emotional losses and psychological wounds that leave a mark forever. A catastrophe is a catastrophe, no matter how it came about and what the factors were that triggered it.
As it turns out and as most of us suspected deep down, environmental degradation and persistent pollution had a part to play 2. It may not have been the cause, but it certainly made it significantly worse.
We are reaching a time when it feels like we are all sitting on top of a dormant volcano in the shape of our planet. One never knows what will erupt, when, where and with what consequences. For centuries, philosophers from across the world deconstructed all matter to be a combination of simpler elements 3. It would seem one or the other of these elements rages periodically, causing havoc and irrevocable damage. One could argue that it’s their way of reminding humanity of the careless, if not outright pathetic, job we are doing of protecting our planet. There have been floods and droughts, earthquakes and landslides, tornadoes and hurricanes and innumerable cataclysmic wildfires. Even if nothing actually goes wrong, does it not seem that every place one has visited in the past few decades seems to have deteriorated, climatically and topographically? Surely that is a sign in itself.
It’s another wakeup call then. We saw the lights and cameras. Now we need collective action – from each one of us, and not just from the firefighters. For those who are safe at your home, take a mindful look at the companies you have been investing in, and incorporate changes that keep you aligned with your values. Become a socially-responsible citizen and invest in a better planet, in more ways than one.
PHOTO CREDIT: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/bombermoon
VIA SHUTTERSTOCK
FOOTNOTES AND SOURCES:
1https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/california-wildfires-what-we-know-palisades-eaton-los-angeles-rcna188239
2 https://edition.cnn.com/2025/01/14/climate/los-angeles-fires-worse-global-warming/index.html
3 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_element
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