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Dr. Farrukh A. Chishtie
On a fateful January morning in 2025, the skies over Los Angeles darkened as raging wildfires swept across Southern California, forcing thousands to flee their homes.

Towering flames, propelled by fierce Santa Ana winds, consumed neighborhoods, forests, and critical infrastructure, leaving an unprecedented trail of destruction. The January 2025 Southern California wildfires became emblematic of the climate crisis, highlighting the stark reality of a warming world where extreme weather events are no longer anomalies but recurring disasters.
California’s wildfires have long been a natural phenomenon, fueled by its dry Mediterranean climate and fire-adapted ecosystems. However, recent events have far exceeded historical norms. The January 2025 fires burned more than 250,000 acres of land, destroyed over 2,500 structures, and led to the evacuation of more than 150,000 people. These fires were exacerbated by record-breaking drought conditions, with 2024 marking California’s driest year on record, and unrelenting heat waves that pushed vegetation into a dangerously flammable state. Compounding the crisis, fierce Santa Ana winds gusting up to 70 mph spread embers rapidly, overwhelming firefighters and trapping residents in evacuation bottlenecks.
The financial toll of this disaster is staggering, with damages exceeding $10 billion. Yet, these costs pale in comparison to the long-term implications for public health, ecosystems, and community resilience. Poor air quality from smoke blanketed much of Southern California, triggering respiratory illnesses and exacerbating existing health disparities. Meanwhile, critical habitats for endangered species, such as the California condor and mountain lion, were obliterated, disrupting delicate ecological balances.
Beyond the immediate devastation, the wildfires exposed glaring systemic failures. Neoliberal economic policies, which prioritize profit over sustainability, have left communities vulnerable. Insurance companies increasingly refuse to cover fire-prone regions, forcing residents to shoulder the financial burden of rebuilding or to abandon their homes altogether. Government responses have been sluggish and insufficient, constrained by lobbying from fossil fuel industries and a lack of decisive climate action. These failures disproportionately affect marginalized communities, who often lack the resources to adapt or recover from such disasters
The flames consuming Los Angeles are a grim reminder of the escalating cost of inaction. To prevent future catastrophes, we must address the root causes of this crisis. This involves more than just firefighting—it requires a fundamental rethinking of our relationship with nature. Solutions must include comprehensive climate policies, investments in renewable energy, and a commitment to equity and ecological restoration. By integrating Indigenous land stewardship practices and adopting frameworks like occupational security, we can begin to forge a more resilient future. The time for transformative action is now, as the cost of doing nothing will only continue to rise.
The climate crisis and escalating wildfires
The January 2025 Southern California wildfires are not an isolated event but a manifestation of a broader climate crisis that is reshaping the natural and human environments. Over the past two decades, wildfires in California have grown in frequency, size, and intensity, driven by a confluence of climate change-induced factors. The data paints a clear and alarming picture: the area burned annually by wildfires in California has increased fivefold since the 1970s, with fire seasons lengthening and overlapping due to rising global temperatures.

At the heart of this crisis lies an intensifying feedback loop. Higher average temperatures, particularly during summer months, have dried out vegetation, turning forests and grasslands into tinderboxes. Prolonged droughts, like the one California experienced leading into 2025, have exacerbated this condition. Rainfall deficits over the last three years have left reservoirs depleted, streams dry, and soil moisture levels critically low. These factors combined to create the perfect conditions for the catastrophic January wildfires.
The role of extreme weather events cannot be overlooked. Scientists attribute these patterns to a changing jet stream, influenced by Arctic warming, which has contributed to more erratic weather across the western United States. California’s infamous Santa Ana winds, notorious for spreading fires rapidly, were unusually strong this January, reaching speeds of up to 70 mph. These winds carried embers across miles, igniting new fires even as crews struggled to contain existing blazes. Such wind-driven firestorms are becoming more common, underscoring the compounding effects of climate change on natural weather variability.
The ecological impacts of these fires extend far beyond their immediate devastation. Entire ecosystems that evolved with occasional fires are now struggling to adapt to the unprecedented scale and frequency of modern wildfires. Ancient forests, which act as carbon sinks, are being replaced by fire-prone scrublands, accelerating global warming. Wildlife faces habitat loss and fragmentation, as demonstrated by the destruction of critical ranges for species like the California condor and the Pacific fisher. This biodiversity loss reverberates through the entire ecosystem, disrupting food chains and ecological services.
What makes the January 2025 fires particularly troubling is the sheer speed with which they spread. A warming climate is fueling what experts call “megafires”—blazes that burn over 100,000 acres with extreme intensity. These fires create their own weather systems, including fire-generated thunderstorms, which further complicate firefighting efforts. In 2025, such phenomena became increasingly common, with one blaze in Ventura County growing from 5,000 acres to 30,000 acres in less than 12 hours, fueled by wind gusts and dry conditions.
The evidence is clear: climate change is not just amplifying natural fire cycles—it is fundamentally altering them. As temperatures continue to rise and droughts become more severe, California’s wildfires are poised to grow even more destructive. Without immediate and substantial climate action, these disasters will only escalate, with devastating consequences for communities, economies, and ecosystems.

Ecological devastation
The January 2025 Southern California wildfires not only inflicted massive human and economic losses but also devastated fragile ecosystems that are essential for environmental and climate stability. While fire is a natural part of California’s landscape, the intensity and frequency of recent wildfires have far surpassed the resilience thresholds of many ecosystems, pushing them toward collapse. These fires leave behind a stark legacy of biodiversity loss, degraded habitats, and disruptions to critical ecological processes.
Loss of biodiversity
California is home to some of the most diverse ecosystems in the world, from coastal sage scrublands to ancient redwood forests. The 2025 fires destroyed significant portions of these habitats, threatening the survival of countless species. For example, the California condor, already one of the most endangered birds on the planet, faced additional habitat loss as flames scorched its nesting grounds in Ventura and Los Angeles counties. Similarly, mountain lions, which play a crucial role as apex predators, were forced to flee fragmented habitats, making it difficult for them to hunt or reproduce effectively.

Smaller species, such as insects and amphibians, suffered even more catastrophic losses. Insects, the unsung heroes of pollination and nutrient cycling, often cannot escape fast-moving wildfires, leading to local extinctions that ripple through the food chain. Aquatic species also face dire consequences as ash and debris from burned areas flow into rivers and streams, altering water quality and depleting oxygen levels.
Destruction of carbon sinks
Forests play a crucial role in mitigating climate change by sequestering carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. However, the scale of the 2025 wildfires reversed decades of carbon storage, releasing millions of tons of CO₂ into the air in just a matter of days. This shift contributes to a dangerous feedback loop: as wildfires emit greenhouse gases, they exacerbate global warming, creating conditions for even larger fires in the future. The destruction of ancient forests, such as the oak woodlands in Los Angeles County, represents a loss not just of carbon storage but also of biodiversity and ecological stability.
Soil degradation and water cycle disruption
The immediate aftermath of a wildfire often leaves the land vulnerable to erosion and long-term degradation. The loss of vegetation removes the root systems that stabilize soil, leading to landslides and sediment runoff during subsequent rains. In Southern California, where winter rains often follow fire season, this cycle is particularly destructive. In January 2025, flash floods in fire-scarred areas caused significant damage to infrastructure and further harmed ecosystems already weakened by fire.

The disruption of the water cycle is another major consequence of wildfire-induced deforestation. Trees and plants play a critical role in retaining groundwater and maintaining humidity levels in the atmosphere. When large swaths of vegetation are burned, these natural processes are interrupted, reducing rainfall in the long term and exacerbating drought conditions. This cyclical damage perpetuates a landscape increasingly prone to more severe fires.
Long-term ecological imbalances
Wildfires of this scale leave scars that take decades—or even centuries—to heal. In some cases, ecosystems may not recover at all, as invasive species such as cheatgrass outcompete native plants in fire-damaged areas. These invasive species are not only less effective at supporting native wildlife but also create landscapes that burn more readily, perpetuating a cycle of destruction. The cumulative effect is a state of ecological imbalance that undermines the resilience of entire regions.
The January 2025 fires underscore the urgent need to prioritize ecological restoration as part of the broader response to climate change. Protecting biodiversity, restoring damaged habitats, and addressing invasive species are critical steps to rebuilding resilient ecosystems. Without such efforts, the environmental cost of wildfires will continue to escalate, compounding the challenges of climate adaptation and mitigation.
Neoliberalism’s role in the crisis
The January 2025 Southern California wildfires provide a stark example of how neoliberal policies have exacerbated climate disasters. This economic and political ideology, which prioritizes deregulation, privatization, and profit over collective welfare, has not only underfunded critical disaster prevention systems but has also irrationally propped up the fossil fuel industry—the very sector driving global warming and intensifying climate-related catastrophes.
Propping up the fossil fuel industry
At the heart of neoliberalism's climate failures is its unwavering support for the fossil fuel industry. Despite mounting evidence that burning fossil fuels is the primary driver of global warming, neoliberal policies have perpetuated subsidies, tax breaks, and deregulation for oil, coal, and gas companies. Globally, governments spend an estimated $7 trillion annually in subsidies for fossil fuels—a staggering figure that highlights the disconnect between climate science and policy. This financial support ensures the industry's continued profitability while encouraging practices that contribute to the conditions fueling California’s increasingly destructive wildfires.

The fossil fuel industry’s influence is particularly evident in its lobbying against climate regulations. Even as California experiences record-breaking heatwaves and droughts linked to climate change, fossil fuel companies continue to pressure lawmakers to weaken emissions standards and delay renewable energy transitions. This irrational prioritization of industry profits over public safety not only perpetuates climate change but also exacerbates its impacts on vulnerable communities, as seen during the January 2025 fires.
The failures of profit-driven systems
Beyond propping up the fossil fuel industry, neoliberalism’s broader profit-driven ethos undermines community resilience. One of the most glaring examples is the behavior of the insurance industry. In fire-prone regions of California, major insurers have systematically dropped coverage for homes and businesses, citing unsustainable risks. By prioritizing short-term profits over long-term stability, these companies have left countless residents without financial support in the face of disaster. During the 2025 fires, thousands of displaced families were forced to cover their losses out of pocket, further deepening socioeconomic inequalities.
Privatization has similarly weakened critical infrastructure and fire prevention efforts. Programs like controlled burns and forest management, proven to reduce wildfire severity, remain underfunded due to budget cuts driven by neoliberal fiscal policies. The result is a dangerous buildup of flammable vegetation in forests and urban wildland interfaces. Such short-sighted cost-saving measures prioritize immediate economic efficiency over the safety and resilience of communities.
Deregulation and environmental exploitation
Neoliberalism’s emphasis on deregulation allows industries to operate with minimal oversight, often at the expense of environmental and public health. Fossil fuel companies, shielded by these policies, continue to pollute with impunity, exacerbating the very conditions that make wildfires more frequent and intense. Meanwhile, real estate developers exploit weakened zoning laws to build homes in high-risk fire zones, putting lives and property in danger while reaping profits from unchecked expansion.
Land use policies also reflect this mindset, prioritizing profit over ecological sustainability. Logging, deforestation, and urban sprawl disrupt natural fire cycles and degrade ecosystems, leaving landscapes more vulnerable to megafires. These activities demonstrate how neoliberalism’s commodification of natural resources creates a cycle of exploitation and destruction that disproportionately impacts low-income and marginalized communities.
Shifting risks to the public
Under neoliberal systems, the costs of climate disasters like wildfires are increasingly shifted onto individuals and communities. Lower-income households are disproportionately affected, as they often lack access to resources, insurance, and recovery programs. These families are more likely to live in areas with older infrastructure and fewer safety measures, making them especially vulnerable to displacement and economic hardship during and after disasters.
Additionally, privatized disaster response services have left public safety systems woefully underprepared. Firefighting resources, including personnel and equipment, are often stretched thin due to funding tied to private contracts and market-driven budgets. During the January 2025 fires, firefighting efforts were hindered by inadequate public investment, illustrating the dangers of profit-oriented approaches to critical infrastructure.
Broader implications
The January 2025 wildfires highlight the irrationality and dangers of neoliberalism’s continued support for the fossil fuel industry and its profit-driven approach to disaster response. By enabling the very industries driving climate change, neoliberal policies have exacerbated the conditions fueling wildfires and undermined the resilience of communities and ecosystems. This system prioritizes short-term economic gains for corporations over the long-term health and safety of people and the planet.
To address these failures, we must challenge the neoliberal framework that dominates global governance and economic systems. Shifting subsidies away from fossil fuels and toward renewable energy, strengthening climate regulations, and prioritizing equity and ecological restoration are essential steps in preventing future disasters. Without a fundamental shift in priorities, the consequences of climate change will continue to escalate, leaving vulnerable communities and ecosystems to bear the brunt of a crisis largely driven by profit-driven policies.
A path forward: Occupational security as a sustainable solution
The January 2025 wildfires in Southern California highlighted the urgent need for systemic change in how we address climate disasters. Traditional approaches, steeped in neoliberal policies, have proven insufficient, reactive, and inequitable, prioritizing profits over people and ecosystems. Occupational security, an innovative framework for resilience and justice, which I shared back in our January 2025 Subh-e-Nau Monthly as well, offers a holistic solution by addressing the root causes of climate vulnerabilities while ensuring that human and ecological well-being are safeguarded in an interconnected and sustainable manner. This approach not only reimagines disaster management but also challenges the profit-driven systems that perpetuate inequities and environmental degradation. The full published peer reviewed paper can be found here: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14427591.2024.2346177
Occupational security: A systemic shift
At its core, occupational security focuses on protecting the essential life activities of both humans and non-human species, recognizing that all forms of life are interdependent. This systemic approach moves beyond piecemeal, reactive strategies by addressing the structural factors driving climate disasters. By safeguarding the natural and human occupations that underpin resilience—such as sustainable land use, biodiversity conservation, and community-driven planning—this framework ensures that ecosystems and societies can adapt and thrive despite ongoing climate challenges like wildfires.
Occupational security provides a much-needed alternative to neoliberal systems that irrationally maintain fossil fuel industries, weaken public infrastructure, and exacerbate vulnerabilities. It emphasizes long-term sustainability over short-term economic gains, prioritizing investments in renewable energy, ecological restoration, and inclusive disaster preparedness. This framework encourages a shift away from treating nature and communities as expendable resources and toward fostering harmony between human development and environmental stewardship.
Addressing systemic inequities holistically
One of the most profound failures exposed by the January 2025 wildfires was the disproportionate impact on vulnerable populations. Marginalized communities, often located in high-risk fire zones, faced inadequate infrastructure, limited access to insurance, and insufficient support for recovery. These inequities are symptoms of a neoliberal system that shifts risks onto individuals while prioritizing corporate interests.

Occupational security addresses these inequities by advocating for universal protections and government-led support for disaster victims. This includes:
Comprehensive Public Support Systems: Governments must provide accessible insurance, affordable housing in safe areas, and targeted recovery programs that prioritize the needs of low-income and marginalized communities. By taking responsibility for disaster mitigation and recovery, the state can reduce reliance on profit-driven industries that abandon vulnerable populations in times of crisis.
Equitable Resource Allocation: Public investments should focus on bolstering resilience in underserved areas, including funding for early warning systems, firefighting resources, and community education initiatives. These efforts must be tailored to the unique needs of at-risk populations to ensure no one is left behind.
Empowering Local Communities: Occupational security emphasizes the importance of involving communities in planning and decision-making processes. Localized strategies, informed by the experiences of those most affected, are key to creating equitable and effective solutions.
Transforming disaster management
Occupational security calls for the dismantling of profit-based, unethical systems that prioritize corporate gains over public safety. The insurance industry, for instance, has increasingly abandoned fire-prone regions, leaving residents to shoulder the financial burden of rebuilding. Similarly, fossil fuel companies continue to exacerbate climate risks through unchecked emissions, all while receiving subsidies and political protection. Occupational security demands the end of such practices, advocating instead for public-led initiatives that prioritize human and ecological well-being.
Key transformations include:
A Just Transition Away from Fossil Fuels: Redirecting subsidies from fossil fuels to renewable energy and nature-based solutions like reforestation and wetland restoration. These efforts would not only reduce emissions but also create sustainable jobs and enhance community resilience.
Restoring Ecosystems for Resilience: Protecting and rehabilitating natural landscapes, such as forests and wetlands, that act as buffers against wildfires. These ecosystems also provide critical habitats for wildlife, ensuring the continuity of ecological processes essential for human and environmental health.
Integrating Indigenous Knowledge: Indigenous practices of land stewardship, such as controlled burns and forest management, offer time-tested solutions to wildfire mitigation. Occupational security recognizes the value of these approaches and calls for their integration into modern disaster management strategies.
Full support for disaster victims
A key pillar of occupational security is the acknowledgment that disaster recovery must prioritize the dignity and well-being of affected individuals, communities and ecosystems. Governments should implement comprehensive disaster response systems that include:
Immediate financial relief and housing support for displaced families.
Free access to healthcare for physical and mental health impacts caused by disasters.
Long-term recovery plans that rebuild infrastructure, restore livelihoods, and strengthen community resilience.
Policies ensuring that disaster victims are not exploited by predatory industries or left without recourse when insurance companies withdraw coverage.
Support for protection of biodiversity and recovery of ecosystems incorporating indigenous wisdom and related practices.
Toward a resilient future
The occupational security framework redefines resilience as a collective, equitable effort to protect the interconnected web of life. By focusing on sustainability, justice, and compassion, it offers a pathway to address the root causes of systemic inequities and climate disasters like the Los Angeles wildfires. This approach requires governments to lead decisively, rejecting the neoliberal model of privatized risk and instead embracing a vision of public-led, inclusive disaster preparedness and response.
The devastating fires of January 2025 serve as a stark warning that the status quo is untenable. The choice is clear: continue with systems that perpetuate harm, or embrace transformative solutions that ensure the security of all life. Occupational security offers a roadmap to this brighter future—a future where communities, ecosystems, and economies thrive together in harmony. It is not just a framework; it is a call to action for a sustainable and equitable world.

Lessons for Pakistan: Addressing local pollution and climate disasters
The January 2025 Southern California wildfires offer crucial lessons for Pakistan, where local pollution and climate vulnerabilities are interlinked, creating compounded challenges. Rapid urbanization, industrial emissions, and unchecked deforestation contribute significantly to air, water, and soil pollution, intensifying the impacts of climate-induced disasters like floods, heatwaves, and glacial melt. These shared challenges highlight the urgency for Pakistan to adopt systemic, sustainable solutions. Local pollution exacerbates climate risks by weakening ecosystems and public health, making communities less resilient to disasters. In urban centers like Karachi and Lahore, high levels of air pollution—partly from fossil fuel combustion—trap heat, worsening urban heatwaves. Similarly, untreated industrial effluents contaminate rivers, diminishing their capacity to manage extreme flood events. These vulnerabilities parallel California’s challenges, where poor environmental regulations compounded wildfire impacts.
Integrating Pollution Control and Climate Action
Pakistan can draw on lessons from California by integrating pollution control into broader climate resilience strategies:
Reducing Fossil Fuel Reliance: Transitioning to renewable energy sources like solar and wind can cut air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions simultaneously. Redirecting subsidies from fossil fuels to clean energy can also reduce the financial burden of health and disaster recovery.
Enhancing Natural Defenses: Reforestation and wetland restoration can absorb pollutants while providing natural buffers against floods and heatwaves. These efforts align with occupational security principles by protecting ecosystems essential for human and ecological well-being.
Improving Urban Infrastructure: Investing in green infrastructure—such as urban forests, improved drainage systems, and pollution-free public transport—can mitigate both pollution and disaster risks in densely populated areas.
Equitable Disaster Preparedness
The impacts of pollution and climate disasters disproportionately affect marginalized populations in Pakistan, who often lack access to clean water, healthcare, and resilient infrastructure. To address these inequities:
Strengthening Public Services: Governments must prioritize affordable healthcare, clean drinking water, and accessible disaster recovery programs for low-income communities.
Empowering Local Solutions: Community-led pollution control initiatives, informed by traditional ecological knowledge, can provide context-specific resilience strategies, as demonstrated by localized wildfire management in California.
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