Wilson and Bendix Weigh In on Impact of Trump’s Policies on Future Wildfires in Newsweek Article

January 15, 2025

Newsweek

Robert Wilson

Jacob Bendix

Geography & the Environment Department

Center for Environmental Policy and Administration

Climate Change

Energy

Federal

United States

Wildfires

Newsweek

Robert Wilson

Jacob Bendix

Wildfires ravaged Southern California this past week, leaving more than 20 people dead and thousands of homes destroyed. While climate change doesn't necessarily cause wildfires, it makes them more frequent and intense.

In past years, Trump has called climate change a “hoax,” and during his 2024 presidential campaign, he repeatedly sowed doubt about climate change.

“We well know Trump does not accept the science of climate change and the reality of climate change. He's very dismissive of it,” says Robert Wilson, associate professor of geography and the environment. “Certainly, I've seen no news account over the past week where he's acknowledged that climate change has played a role in making the wildfires in California worse.”

Wilson continues, “So, collectively, that is very discouraging because it seems to indicate that he's not going to do much to address climate change and he's not going to take the current and emerging threats of climate change, particularly with wildfire, seriously either.”

“The increased exploitation of fossil fuels that Donald Trump has promised would worsen our already severe wildfire problems. While there are numerous and varied contributing factors for large fires in the western United States and Canada all have one thing in common: dry hot conditions," says Jacob Bendix, professor emeritus of geography and the environment. “Fires require heat, and they require dry fuel. The higher temperatures are, and the less precipitation there is, the more readily wildfires are ignited and the faster they spread.”

He adds, “We know that using fossil fuels adds greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. And we know that the resulting climate change includes higher temperatures and increased frequency of drought. So there is pretty much a direct line from policies for fossil fuel use to increased wildfire.”

Read more in the Newsweek article, “Donald Trump's Policies Could Exacerbate Future Wildfires, Professors Warn.”