Equilibrium/Sustainability — Presented by Southern Company — ‘Too late to evacuate’ after wildfire debris

View in your browser PRESENTED BY OVERNIGHT POLICY: Equilibrium/Sustainability ‘Too late to evacuate’ after wildfire debris © Getty Images Today is Monday. Welcome to Equilibrium, a newsletter that tracks the growing global battle over the future of sustainability. Subscribe here: thehill.com/newsletter-signup.  Record rain from storms on Sunday filled up California creeks and hillsides scorched by wildfire until they collapsed in “debris flows” across state highways, The Los Angeles Times reported. It’s another phase in the long wildfire story: a downstream consequence of rising heat and disappearing tree cover. Now when big rains fall on the burn scars, there’s no vegetation to hold the land in place, and with more than a foot of rain and 3 feet of snow expected in parts of the Sierra Nevada this week, the bare hillsides are at constant risk of turning into a potentially lethal avalanche of muck.  “If you are near a burn scar, it may be too late to evacuate,” the National Weather Service office in Sacramento tweeted. “Do not attempt to cross a debris flow. Take shelter in the highest floor of your home.” As the consequences of year-round wildfires intensify, we’ll kick off The Hill’s special week of first responder coverage — in honor of Thursday’s National First Responder Day — with a close look at the people risking their lives to control these blazes. Then we’ll see how young people from the world’s richest countries responded to a United Nations poll on climate action — that arrived at their fingertips via mobile gaming networks  For Equilibrium, we are Saul Elbein and Sharon Udasin. Please send tips or comments to Saul at selbein@thehill.com or Sharon at sudasin@thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @saul_elbein and @sharonudasin.  Let’s get to it. 'Insurmountable challenges’ in keeping America’s wildfires at bay © Getty Images Longer, more intense wildfire seasons are taking a  toll on both America’s forests and the people who risk their lives to protect them. But for many federal wildland firefighters, including the few women in their ranks, the camaraderie that comes with the job outweighs its physical and mental challenges.  Going “through the wringer”: Martha Schoppe, an Idaho-based smokejumper for the Bureau of Land Management, said she values the trust she has built with her coworkers, as she and her team of eight parachute into a massive blaze. At 42, she is one of only about a dozen women among around 400 American smokejumpers — an elite status she has found to be free of gender bias, as everyone goes “through the wringer” to survive training.   “If you do, you've proven yourself,” Schoppe told Equilibrium, noting that the jump itself, while exhilarating, is “literally three minutes” long. “Once we land on the ground, we're just another firefighter.” Just another firefighter? What that means in practice varies based on career stage, specific assignment and crew members. And although gender disparities have improved, there is still “an implicit bias that women aren’t necessarily cut out for this type of work,” according to Kelly Martin, president of Grassroots Wildland Firefighters and former chief of fire and aviation at Yosemite National Park. “Society kind of reinforces this notion that a firefighter is a tall, strapping white male,” Martin said. Retain, rather than retire: In addition to boosting pay, a provision in the Wildland Firefighter Classification and Pay Parity Act, introduced by Rep. Joe Neguse (D-Colo.) on Tuesday, would allow firefighters up to 180 days leave — today limited to three days — to care for family members. That could help retain women, who often leave positions “at the peak of their skill and expertise,” according to Martin, whose organization was involved in drafting Neguse’s bill. Martin acknowledged that there are “great women out there who are still in fire, that have had children and have made it work,” but stressed that “the challenges are almost insurmountable.” Federal agencies are facing a firefighter shortage, which Martin attributed to both the low pay and emotional challenges that come with the job.  These are both areas the bipartisan infrastructure bill is also aiming to address. At Grassroots, which also helped draft provisions in the bipartisan infrastructure act, Martin said she reminds elected officials how firefighters confront “catastrophic injury or death on almost a daily basis.” Included in the bipartisan bill is $600 million to increase salaries by up to $20,000 each year, while converting 1,000 seasonal workers to permanent positions.  The bill would also launch new mental health programs, focusing on post-traumatic stress disorder. A MESSAGE FROM SOUTHERN COMPANY   At Southern Company, we achieved our interim net zero energy goal ten years early. Today, we continue our work toward a net zero future. 'ALL OF A SUDDEN IT'S SNOWING AND YOU'RE ON YOUR OWN' A history of low wages: Federal agencies have long paid firefighters low base salaries, with the idea that they could accrue overtime — much like how waiters depend on tips, according to Schoppe. CalFire employees, she said, make twice as much as their federal colleagues.  Even permanent employees face a layoff period at the end of the season, which makes it difficult to afford “astronomical” housing costs, according to Jon McDuffey, a fire and fuels technician for the U.S. Forest Service. McDuffey, 45, lives in a camper in Washington’s Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest. Constant crew, fall breakup: While Schoppe said she appreciates the camaraderie she gains from her crew, she stressed that life shouldn’t “revolve around that crew because it does break up every fall” — warning that when it does, many firefighters encounter mental health issues. “You're in this group of people with similar interests and then all of a sudden it's snowing and you're on your own,” she said. McDuffey echoed these sentiments, adding that a therapist recently helped him realize that he is “definitely in burnout phase.” Last words: “But I'm too stubborn to stop working,” he said. To read the full story, part of a Hill series this week on first responders, please click here. Poll: G20 youth demand swift climate action © Greg Nash Young residents of the world’s richest, most powerful nations paused their mobile gaming platforms to voice their support for bold climate action in their countries, urging the deployment of electric vehicles and renewable energy technologies in a new poll released by the United Nations.  Some 302,000 individuals ages 14-17 made their opinions heard in the G20 Peoples’ Climate Vote, which surveyed more than 689,000 people from October 2020 through June 2021 across Group of 20 (G20) member nations. And to reach as broad a population as possible, the researchers recruited respondents by placing advertisements in mobile gaming networks. In video games? Yup. Cassie Flynn, strategic advisor to the U.N. Development Program (UNDP), told Equilibrium she had been contemplating how to reach a diverse sample population in a low-pressure environment.  “And I looked up around me on the subway, and every single person was on their phone. Every single one,” she said, noting that the person next to her was playing Angry Birds. Ultimately, Flynn said she and her team created ads in 19 languages that appeared across popular gaming platforms — ranging from apps that would attract a younger audience to crossword puzzles that might attract older participants. With such a widespread pool, Flynn said they were able to observe clear differences in opinion among age groups — disparities that the authors said are “suggestive of coming shifts in public demand.” What did they find? The widest generational gap they discovered was in Australia and the U.S., where “under-18s” ranked 10 percentage points higher than adult respondents regarding general recognition of the climate emergency. That gap was at its greatest when it came to support for electric vehicles and renewable energy — 13 percentage points in the U.S. for electric vehicles and 10 percentage points for renewable energy.  A push before G20, COP26: Their results, compiled with the University of Oxford, were published ahead of next weekend’s G20 Summit in Rome and next week’s U.N. Climate Change Conference (COP26) in Glasgow. Members of the G20 generated about 75 percent of global emissions and account for more than 80 percent of the global GDP, as well as 60 percent of the world’s population, the authors said. The G20 countries included in the survey were Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S. — every member except the European Union and China. China, according to Flynn, was not included due to purely technical reasons, and the UNDP is working with a Chinese polling agency to compile a full data set, which will launch next year. A MESSAGE FROM SOUTHERN COMPANY   At Southern Company, we achieved our interim net zero energy goal ten years early. Today, we continue our work toward a net zero future. ‘A NEW WAY OF THINKING ON CLIMATE CHANGE’ Surprisingly, adults were slightly more in favor of green jobs. In the adult category, the highest support came from those in the U.K. (74 percent), followed by Australia, Canada and Germany (all 68 percent).  Among the under-18s, support was the highest in Australia (73 percent), while only 71 percent expressed support in the U.K., 68 percent in Canada and 68 percent in Germany. The biggest such gap was in South Korea, where adults were 56 percent in favor of green jobs, while under-18s were only 49 percent in favor.  More adults than young people also demanded that companies pay for the pollution they produced — a conclusion that the authors said indicated a need for more public education. The findings were most severe in Indonesia, Japan and Saudi Arabia, where less than a third of under-18s wanted polluters to pay. But for the most part, climate action was more urgent to the young. The gaps between generations, which varied among countries and among issues, could signal the potential of future voters to “usher in a new urgency and a new way of thinking on climate change in many countries that we haven't yet seen really step up,” Flynn said. What about young Americans? Flynn said that 74 percent of those surveyed were in favor of clean energy, 73 percent wanted to conserve forests and land and 72 percent wanted climate friendly farming. Last words: “It's all in the 70s — and then in the adults, it's all in the 60s,” she said.   To read the full story, please click here. Money Monday © Getty Images Fewer discounts this Christmas, a wealth tax for billionaires and how a rise in oil prices all brings “ a test of your conviction.”  Rural America looks down the barrel of a chilly, pricey Christmas High international prices for propane have drained the nation’s supplies, leading to price hikes that could leave millions of rural Americans feeling a chill this winter, The Wall Street Journal reported.  Propane futures prices have jumped 50 percent since a year ago, according to the Journal.  This winter will also be a grim one for holiday season discounts, which retailers traditionally used to clear inventory and get customers in the door, a second Journal report said.  But backed-up supply chains and heightened demand have cleared inventories, and allowed retailers to raise prices “after years of rampant discounting and deflation,” according to the Journal  This year will still see discounts — but within a range of 5 to 25 percent, rather than the historical 10 to 30, the report added A wealth tax for billionaires could pay for climate and social spending package Sen. Joe Manchin (D.-W.Va.) has voiced his support for a tax on billionaires to pay for a climate and social policy bill, The Hill reported. The tax would affect fewer than 1,000 of the U.S.’s wealthiest taxpayers, according to The Wall Street Journal. The bill would impose an annual tax on the unrealized capital gains of billionaires — or increases in stocks that have not been sold, which “are the main type of income for some very wealthy people,” according to the Institute for Tax and Economic Policy. If approved, this legislation would also circumvent opposition from Sen. Krysten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who has denounced “any increases in marginal tax rates on corporations, capital gains or individuals,” the Journal reported. The sweeping bill is now expected to be in the $1.75 trillion range, rather than the initially proposed $3.5 trillion, the A.P. reported. That’s “less than what was projected to begin with, but it’s still bigger than anything we have ever done in terms of addressing the needs of America’s working families,” House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) told CNN on Sunday. Climate-focused investors are missing out on high-emission rally For years, green funds beat the market, but now they’re paying for it — at least for the moment — as oil prices soar, The Wall Street Journal reported. The choice to stay off fossil fuels — or keep faith in them — is “a test of your conviction,” Lee Baker, president of Apex Financial Services, told the Journal. “It’s hard not to ride the wave when you see an opportunity.” Ironically, the high prices are caused in part by that very disinterest in fossil fuel financing — creating the very lack of supply that is driving up prices, the Journal reported. The growing sweet spot: energy stocks which claim an environment, social and governance (ESG) flavor. “You’ve got to try to find that tricky middle ground. You can make money here and be ESG compliant and conscious at the same time,” asset manager Phil Orlando told the Journal. Please visit The Hill’s sustainability section online for the web version of this newsletter and more stories. We’ll see you on Tuesday.  Sign Up for Equilibrium/Sustainability Forward Equilibrium/Sustainability Privacy Policy  |   Manage Subscriptions  |   Unsubscribe Email to a friend  |   Sign Up for Other Newsletters The Hill 1625 K Street, NW 9th Floor, Washington DC 20006 © 1998 - 2021 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

Link