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Address Wildfire Risk – Let’s Get Loud, Take Action!

Congress: Stop Wildfires From Getting Worse 🚫🔥

Ask lawmakers to work together to address wildfire risk

We’ve all been watching the terrible wildfires in L.A., our hearts breaking for all the lost and disrupted lives, the damage to people’s beloved homes, and the impact on treasured community spaces and local businesses. 

Early attribution studies are clear: Climate change is making these fires worse. Scientists are now using terms like “climate whiplash” to describe the conditions at play here — too much rain, then too little, plus chart-topping heat. These factors make wildfires more intense and destructive.

It’s clearly more important than ever to take fast, meaningful action to reduce wildfire risk — and we need both parties working on it.

Tell Congress to work together to reduce wildfire risk!

Your members of Congress are in D.C. to represent you. Tell them what’s on your mind, including:

  • What you’ve seen about the wildfires in the news or on social media — which stories have stuck with you?
  • How wildfires or other climate impacts are affecting your own family or community
  • Why you want them to work together to solve this problem

We’ve provided a template message for you to start with, but we strongly encourage you to personalize that message with your unique perspective. Your individual voice makes our collective advocacy that much more powerful.

Take action now by writing to your members of Congress.

 

How to use this tool 

Climate change and wildfires

Is climate change making wildfires worse?

Yes, climate change is a major contributor to worsening wildfire seasons. The peak years for wildfires coinciding with the warmest years on record nationwide. As climate change makes it hotter and drier, wildfire seasons last longer, creating more fires and burning more land.

In the United States, the wildfire season starts earlier and overstays its welcome well into fall. This extended season means more opportunities for wildfires to spark and spread. 

Additionally, extreme fires, which are extremely large and destructive fires, have more than doubled over the last 20 years. Extreme fires destroy homes, lives and forests that will never be able to recover. They generate huge amounts of air pollution which is breathed by a lot of people. And, because they are fueled by high nighttime temperatures in addition to high daytime temperatures, they spread very quickly and are extremely difficult to fight.

Can trees help address climate change?

Yes. America’s forests are special places that are cherished by our communities. They’re also hard at work, pulling the equivalent of 12% of America’s carbon pollution out of the air each year. We can increase the amount of carbon our forests pull out of the air by planting new forests in places where it makes sense. Young forests pull carbon out of the air at a very high rate as the young trees grow larger. 

By protecting, expanding, and managing our forests in a way that is climate-smart, they can reduce emissions up to 22% by 2030. Read more on why healthy forests are important for mitigating climate change.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I customize my message to Congress?

Yes! You aren’t required to, but it gives your message an extra edge and makes our collective advocacy more powerful. Customized messages have the greatest impact on congressional offices. Our message tool shows you a score of your customization while you’re editing. Thanks for writing!

How else can I help?

You only need to email your members of Congress once yourself. Then, share this page with any friends, family and coworkers who are seeing the wildfire news and want to urge Congress to act on climate.

Who is Citizens’ Climate Lobby?

A CCL volunteer speaks to a member of the community at an outdoor tabling event

Citizens’ Climate Lobby (CCL) is a nonprofit, nonpartisan grassroots advocacy climate change organization that exists to create the political will for climate change solutions by enabling individual breakthroughs in the exercise of personal and political power.

Our consistently respectful, nonpartisan approach to climate education is designed to create a broad, sustainable foundation for climate action across all geographic regions and political inclinations.

CCL empowers everyday people to work with their community and their members of Congress. Our supporters cover the political spectrum and work in more than 450 local chapters. Together, we’re building support for a national bipartisan solution to climate change.