Opinion: Marshall Fire begs the question: “Will we respond to climate change by design or by disaster?”
“It’s going to be by design, or it will be by disaster.” That was the quote I heard related to how we respond to climate change. Perhaps this, expanded to include other areas, should be the theme for the Council’s upcoming goal setting session. The Marshall fire reminds us that climate change’s drier conditions plus stronger winds makes it incumbent on us to do our best to reduce the risks. We may need to increase the work on our Open Space areas by doing more thinning and using more controlled burns. We also should put some serious focus on helping all homeowners, especially at the city’s edges, reduce their risks and those they might impose on their neighbors, by ensuring that all buildings are more fire resistant. Given climate change’s increased flooding, we really, really, really need a comprehensive flood management plan, so that we know what improvements or other actions are worth doing, which ones should have priority, and how we are going to fund them. With the proposed