Climate Crisis in California Affects Wildlife

As California suffers through droughts, heatwaves and more deadly fires, many don’t realize how birds and other animals in these regions are being largely affected.

The rising confusion causes birds to feel disoriented, and not be able to migrate and find food the way they normally do.

Many species of birds have become endangered in our population.

In addition to temperature rises, sea level rises are also affecting birds such as the Wandering Tattler, Sanderling, Gadwall, Sora and more.

Sea level rising threatens these birds’ habitats from being wiped out.

If these birds go extinct in the near future due to climate change, there will be gaps in the food chain and cause other imbalances in the environment.

When one species falls, more will start to fall as well.

The number of fires in the north right now is damaging not only the environment and air quality, but it’s also injuring many animals in the process.

Although many fires have started simply because of heat and brush fire, many have been from irresponsible matches that were either left unattended or campfires in heavy forest areas.

The way to prevent this is to simply just follow the regulations in whatever city you are in.

Most campgrounds in California have strict rules about open fires and it’s important to follow them in order to protect our environment, air quality and wildlife.

It’s also known that in Palos Verdes there tend to be many goats that come in during fire seasons, to help prevent brush fires from starting by heat, according to NPR.

“These wildfires are hotter than before, these fires are longer than before, and a lot of it is because of climate change which is drying out the trees,” Environmental Science teacher Marie Kuhn said.

“Those little things individuals can do is carpooling, to reduce fossil fuel use, turning off lights when you’re not in a room are the immediate things.”

“If you want to go further, students can vote for people that align with climate change regulations…your vote holds a lot of power where we go with climate change.”