THE FLAMES WON'T SPARE ANY ZIP CODE
As Pacific Palisades tragically evacuates, we're learning the hard way that climate disaster spares no one (and sadly many communities have known this truth all along).
THE PACIFIC PALISADES ARE BURNING, and with them burns the illusion that wealth or privilege can shield anyone from the climate crisis.
As I write this, tragically more than 30,000 people have evacuated their homes in Los Angeles, watching helplessly as wind-whipped flames devour million-dollar views and carefully manicured lawns alike. Thousands of people — kids, families — terrified as they flee the blaze, leaving behind crayon masterpieces stuck to fridges with alphabet magnets, family photos they didn’t have time to grab, the height marks penciled on doorframes tracking their children’s growth.
The median household income here is $208,042 — nearly triple the national average. But not even money can buy you immunity from a burning planet.
Let that sink in for a moment: In a neighborhood where 59% of households earn more than $150,000 annually, where 80% of residents are white, where the average home price surpasses what most Americans earn in a lifetime — nature reminded us all that wealth provides no shelter from what's coming.
And here we are, sadly exactly where climate scientists told us we’d be. For years, we’ve been asking ourselves “what happens when the inevitable reaches the doorsteps of the wealthy and powerful?”
Well, now we know . . .
No fucking emergency sessions of Congress to pass sweeping climate legislation. No worldwide summit of leaders finally screaming “HOLY SHIT, WE NEED TO FIX THIS NOW!” No mainstream media interrupting their regular programming to sound the goddamn air raid sirens. No corporate CEOs dropping everything to completely overhaul their industries.
Just press conferences full of empty promises, thoughts and prayers from politicians who cash fossil fuel checks, and meaningless corporate pledges about being carbon neutral by some far-off date none of them will be around to answer for.
My heart genuinely aches for every single person who’s lost their home or been forced to flee — human suffering is human suffering, regardless of bank balance, and I wouldn’t wish this terror and loss on anyone’s family, anyone’s children, anyone’s community. But as we witness this catastrophe unfold in one of LA’s most privileged enclaves, we’re forced to confront a reality that less privileged communities have been screaming about for decades.
Because here’s the truth that’s getting lost in the dramatic helicopter footage of burning mansions: While Pacific Palisades burns, countless other communities worldwide have been battling climate disasters with a fraction of the resources and none of the media attention.
Where were the breathless headlines when Bangladesh faced its worst floods in a century? Where’s the wall-to-wall coverage of the ongoing drought in Honduras that’s forcing entire communities to migrate? Where’s the emergency presidential visit for the Native American reservations dealing with unprecedented wildfires?
The climate crisis isn’t just burning the Palisades — it’s burning away the facade that we can keep ignoring this shit and hope it goes away.
These fires, fueled by Santa Ana winds that are growing more extreme with each passing year, aren’t some freak accident. They’re what climate scientists have been warning us about for decades while oil executives bought off our politicians, paid millions for propaganda campaigns, and laughed all the way to their carbon-spewing mega-yachts in the Mediterranean.
Want some numbers to curl your toes? Fifteen of California’s 20 most destructive fires have occurred in the last decade. The state’s fire season isn’t even a season anymore — it’s year-round. And as UCLA climate scientist Daniel Swain puts it, “Heat essentially turns the atmosphere into a giant sponge that draws moisture from plants.”
Translation: Everything is kindling now.
But this isn’t just about California’s tragic climate fuckery. It’s about the global climate crisis and who bears its burdens. While Pacific Palisades residents might still rebuild (if they’re lucky enough to have insurance that hasn’t dropped them or priced them out), communities in the Global South are losing everything to climate disasters with zero safety net. Here in LA, hundreds of firefighters and a fleet of aircraft spring into action (when the winds allow), yet many communities worldwide face similar disasters with nothing but buckets and prayers.
And let’s talk about that insurance for a minute. Because even this financial safety net is starting to fray at the edges . . .
How long until insurance companies truly collapse under the weight of endless climate disasters? How many more billion-dollar payouts can they handle before they either go broke or jack up premiums so high that even the super-wealthy can’t afford coverage? The math isn’t exactly working in their favor as these “once in a lifetime” disasters keep happening every damn year. We’re watching the entire concept of disaster insurance become obsolete in real time, and nobody seems to be asking what happens next.
This isn’t to minimize what’s happening in LA — more than 1,000 buildings destroyed, thousands displaced, and tragically, lives lost. Each of these is a profound human tragedy. But as we watch this disaster unfold in one of America’s wealthiest enclaves, we need to ask ourselves: What about the communities that don’t have the luxury of evacuation orders? What about the places where climate disasters strike without CNN setting up live shots?
The bitter irony is that the communities contributing least to climate change often suffer its worst effects. While the wealthy suburbs of LA pump out carbon like it’s going out of style (spoiler alert: it better be), indigenous communities, developing nations, and poor neighborhoods worldwide are paying the price. And now, in a twist of cosmic justice, even the wealthy are getting a taste of what’s coming.
To the residents of Pacific Palisades: I truly hope you’re safe. You, like all of us, have been betrayed by a system that prioritizes quarterly profits over human lives.
The same politicians who took fossil fuel money to look the other way, the same media conglomerates that downplayed climate warnings to protect their advertisers, the same corporations that fed us all lies about “personal carbon footprints” while they dumped millions of tons of CO2 into our atmosphere — they’ve failed every single one of us, regardless of our zip code.
Maybe now, as flames devour both mansions and modest homes alike, we can finally come together across all our divides — economic, racial, social, geographic — and demand real change. Because this isn’t about blame between neighbors anymore. This is about standing up to the powers that be and saying enough is enough.
No more valuing shareholder profits over human lives.
No more treating climate action as a luxury we can’t afford.
No more letting them pit us against each other while they destroy our only home.
Climate change doesn’t care about our property values. It doesn’t care about our stock portfolio. It doesn’t care if you live in Pacific Palisades or Port-au-Prince. And it certainly doesn’t care if you spend your evenings watching Tucker Carlson rant about how it’s all a hoax. The flames won’t stop to check your voting record or your favorite news channel. The storms won’t pause to verify whether you “believe” in them. Nature doesn’t negotiate with science deniers.
And until we start caring enough to do something real about it — until we stop letting fossil fuel companies, their pet politicians, and their media mouthpieces feed us comfortable lies while they count their blood money — we’re all just waiting our turn to burn.
Every single word of this. CODE RED FOR HUMANITY. 🌎🔥
Thank you, Jo as always… The fact that they cut the firefighters budget to give it to the cops is just more collapse. And the biggest fuckery is that we’re causing most of this in this country of capitalism and consumerism and flagrant “who gives a fuck about the climate” attitude. xx