According to a new investigation by The Guardian, political appointees at the interior department have sought to play up climate pollution from California wildfires while downplaying emissions from fossil fuels as a way of promoting more logging in the nation’s forests.
These appointees manipulated their message, in support of President Donald Trump, suggesting that thinning California’s forests through logging would help prevent future forest fires.
New emails obtained by The Guardian show a coordinated effort to frame carbon emissions from the 2018 California wildfires in order to aid industry profits by encouraging the cutting down of forest trees. The Guardian goes on to say agencies, top positions are filled by former lobbyists, and dozens of investigative reports have revealed agencies working closely with major industries to ease pollution, public health and safety regulations. And this is all the trump administrations doing.
The Trump administration has tried to make it appear that over-regulation, mismanagement, and forest protection are responsible for the severity of recent wildfires, says EcoWatch. A recent review concludes, however, that climate change is the main reason behind California’s wildfire risk.
The Guardian presented the emails to scientists who agreed that misleading language had been used, and/or they had cherry-picked the data, and/or exploited a disaster in order to help the industry.
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