Our Santa Monica Mountains Wildland Urban Interface region is particularly vulnerable to climate-induced hazards. Wildfires and flooding are expected to significantly worsen over the next few decades, with sea level rise, powerful storm events, prolonged droughts and extended periods of extreme heat all projected to increase.
In recent years we’ve been seeing significant signs of that future showing up, with new temperature records being set seemingly every month, crippling multi-year droughts, and catastrophic fire seasons that are becoming year-round events. We are living amidst the greatest environmental crisis that humanity has ever faced. And for those of us who live and work in the Santa Monica Mountains we feel its impacts more than most.
The Malibu Foundation, a non-profit organization created to support the community of Malibu and its neighbors as they work to rebuild after the Woolsey Fire, saw an urgent need to bring local stakeholders together to prepare for the next wave of fires, floods and heat waves. In a collaborative effort with other concerned groups, including Climate Resolve, Pepperdine University’s Sustainability Program, Resilient Palisades, the Resource Conservation District of the Santa Monica Mountains, the Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Foundation and UCLA Sustainable LA Grand Challenge, the Foundation led an assessment of the climate-related hazards that are affecting our communities in the Santa Monica Mountains (Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, the Palisades, Topanga and Westlake Village) and examined the extent to which we are prepared for them.
The report, which was released this month, titled “Our Climate Crisis: A Guide for Communities in the Wildland Urban Interface” indicates that we all have a lot of work to do. Fortunately it also includes a much-needed plan of action to get that work done.
The study found that our region is far from ready to deal with the escalating challenges we will all face. The critical infrastructure in the area is at risk and inadequate to meet current needs during the emergencies that climate hazards will create. The region has an unreliable power grid and telephone/cellular communications system, it relies heavily on drought-stressed imported water supplies, and a majority of primary roads (which double as emergency evacuation routes) are at increasing risk of damage from flooding, landslides, and future post-wildfire debris flows.
Through surveys and focus groups, the Malibu Foundation found that most of us who live and work in the area are inadequately prepared for emergency situations, either because we lack awareness of the risks, lack the resources, or both. And despite our region’s perceived privilege and wealth, the study revealed relatively large percentages of vulnerable populations in the region, including older adults and people with physical disabilities, people living alone, low-income residents, and a significant day laborer population with English as their second language.
Our region is as complex as it is special, with multiple government agencies, emergency response organizations, community groups and distinct neighborhoods providing the services and support needed to survive in this unique region. The report makes clear that, in the face of worsening climate change, collaborative action by all of these groups, as well as individuals, is essential to avoid the worst impacts of the multi-pronged climate hazards. To facilitate action, the report includes specific practical recommendations for residents, neighborhood groups, local governments and regional agencies that can be simultaneously undertaken to rapidly increase resilience in the area. History has shown us that joining together to take action against a common threat strengthens social bonds, improves lives and often results in other unforeseen benefits, in addition to neutralizing the threat. Bottom line, we need to all work together!
We know there is an urgent problem, but now we have some clear solutions to act on and to direct our local leaders to act on. The Malibu Foundation has allocated a significant part of their budget for 2022 to purchase emergency radios and communications equipment for residents in parts of the region with the least reliable emergency communication systems, and collaborating with the Los Angeles Emergency Preparedness Foundation to create and train citizen fire brigades that can provide rapid response to wildfire emergencies in remote parts of the region. They are also supporting regenerative agriculture projects, renewable micro-grids and resilience hubs, and promoting changes to the local building codes that will result in safer homes and public structures that are also carbon neutral, to increase local climate resilience and slow the impacts of climate change.
Written on behalf of The Malibu Foundation by;
· Trevor Neilson, a Malibu resident, Co-founder of the Climate Emergency Fund and Co-founder of the Malibu Foundation
· Santa Monica’s Dean Kubani, internationally recognized expert in urban sustainability
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