National Geographic - USA (2021-03)

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

EXPLORE

ILLUMINATING THE MYSTERIES—AND WONDERS—ALL AROUND US EVERY DAY

PERHAPS FIRES, STORMS, AND VIRUSES FED BY CLIMATE CHANGE

SHOULD BE CALLED WHAT THEY ARE: MAN-MADE NATURAL DISASTERS.

When ‘Natural’

Disasters Aren’t

VOL. 239 NO. 3

IN THIS SECTION

Woodpeckers and Fire

Moonlit Rope Walk

Artworks From Snares

History in Their Words

BY ELIZABETH KOLBERT

A

AT A NEWS CONFERENCE in mid-August of last year,

California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, announced

that there were 367 “known” wildfires burning in

the state. “I say ‘known’ fires,” Newsom said, “but

the prospect of that number going up is very real.” A

couple of days later the number did, in fact, increase,

to 560. A few weeks after that, many of the blazes

were still burning, and one—the Doe fire, north of

Santa Rosa—had grown into the largest conflagration

in California history. The smoke from the state was

so bad that it veiled the sun in New England. By the

time most of California’s flames had been put out

in late November, at least 31 people had been killed

and tens of thousands evacuated.

Even as more than 15,000 firefighters were battling

the California wildfires, Hurricane Laura was bear-

ing down on Louisiana. As it passed over the Gulf of

Mexico, it strengthened at a near-record rate. In just

24 hours it zoomed from a Category 1 to a Category 4

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