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Amos' Substack: The Real Environmental Crisis: Wildfires, Climate Hysteria, and the Overlooked Heroes of Conservation

How failed policies, media hysteria, and environmental litigation have fueled wildfires, distorted climate science, and sidelined America's true conservationists.

 

Forest Fires: A Nationwide Crisis

For nearly 35 years, catastrophic wildfires have plagued the western United States, primarily due to environmental litigation that has prevented responsible forest management. Organizations such as the Sierra Club, NRDC, and the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) have sued the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies into inaction, leaving our forests overgrown with dense, highly flammable underbrush. As a result, the fuel load has increased dramatically, setting the stage for devastating wildfires ignited by summer lightning and human arsonists.

These environmental miscreants have already destroyed a third of California’s forests, along with significant acreage across Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana, and other states. The crisis is no longer confined to the West—just last summer, wildfires erupted in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and throughout New England. In the past two weeks alone, 175 fires have burned 4,600 acres across North and South Carolina. We are amid a nationwide fire pandemic, all because we refuse to manage our forests as our ancestors and Native American communities once did.

Nearly five years ago, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a detailed report on declining bird species, identifying grassland birds as the most severely impacted. Their decline is primarily due to unchecked tree encroachment on grasslands, a problem that was historically managed by indigenous populations through regular controlled burns. Even in the western plains, junipers are invading grasslands by the millions. And yet, despite its own findings, the USFWS has done nothing to address this ecological collapse.

Climate Change: A Manufactured Crisis

After 35 years of relentless climate alarmism from figures like Al Gore and John Kerry, are you tired of the incessant fear-mongering about global warming? The media and environmental zealots push hyperbolic narratives daily, turning climate change into an ideological crusade. These climate advocates belong in circus trailers for public viewing.

For a dose of sanity, I recommend watching a recent interview on:

Freedom Research

EXCLUSIVE: Interview with Prof. William Happer – Climate Scare Is Based on Lies

Dr. Happer, a renowned physicist and professor emeritus at Princeton University, says that the real push for climate alarmism and related policies began in the early 1990s. “I was in Washington at the time as a government bureaucrat, and I could see it getting started. It was being pushed by Senator Al Gore and his allies,” he says in an interview with…

Listen now

13 days ago · 148 likes · 29 comments · Hannes Sarv

Hannes Sarv of the Freedom Institute speaks with Princeton University Professor William Happer. Happer, an emeritus professor of astrophysics and a true scientific mind (though he would never describe himself as such), lays bare the climate change myth. His conclusion? Climate change is a lie.

Happer dismantles the climate change narrative with calm logic and wit:

• Climate science is not science—it’s political theater. The further removed from research, the crazier the claims become.

• There is massive corruption in climate science, driven by money. Billions of dollars have been funneled into the manufactured "climate emergency."

• Understanding climate requires knowledge of physics and chemistry. Current research is robust due to satellite data, but it disproves the mainstream narrative.

• Warming trends have been ongoing since the late 1800s and have nothing to do with greenhouse gases.

• Historical warming periods, including the Roman Warm Period (200 BC–500 AD), the Medieval Warm Period (800–1200 AD), and even the 1930s, were warmer than today.

• The infamous "hockey stick" graph championed by Michael Mann and Al Gore is fraudulent.

• Climate computer models are garbage in, garbage out—completely unreliable.

• CO2 does not drive temperature increases; instead, CO2 levels rise after temperature increases.

• The claim of "scientific consensus" is political, not scientific. As Michael Crichton said, when people invoke consensus, they are pushing politics, not truth.

• Predictions of catastrophic weather events—rising sea levels, hurricanes, floods—are not supported by observable data. Roger Pielke’s work debunks these claims.

Bottom line: Climate change is neither a national nor a global crisis. CO2 is not a threat but essential for plant growth, forests, and food crops. We are witnessing a modern version of the Crusades—a religious, fervent movement driven by self-interested parties seeking power and wealth. While Happer does not explicitly state it, the economic collapse of the UK and Germany under the weight of climate policies clearly parallels past nationalistic fervor leading to ruin.

The Overlooked Role of Small Businesses and Private Landowners

Amid the constant media focus on markets, Trump tariffs, and big business, it is crucial to recognize that small businesses are the backbone of the U.S. economy. They account for 44% of the economy and create two-thirds of all new jobs. With over 33 million small businesses employing 45.9% of the U.S. workforce, they play an essential role, yet rarely make headlines.

The same pattern exists in conservation. The media fixates on public lands, which cover 30% of the U.S. landscape and are managed by five federal agencies:

• Bureau of Land Management (BLM)

• U.S. Forest Service (USFS)

• U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS)

• National Park Service (NPS)

• Department of Defense (DOD)

However, if you care about fish and wildlife conservation, the most critical landscapes are on private lands, which make up 71% of the country. Private landowners steward 80% of endangered species habitat. West of the Mississippi, these landowners are even more essential, as they own most of the region’s water resources—creeks, wet meadows, and riparian areas—the lifeblood of western ecosystems.

Like small businesses, private landowners receive little media attention. Yet, the untold truth of American conservation is this: Private landowners are far better stewards of the environment and our forests than federal bureaucracies.

Just as small businesses drive our economy, private landowners are the unsung heroes of species conservation. And yet, for 30 years, no administration has acknowledged their importance or tapped into their potential to support conservation efforts.

Conclusion

We face an environmental crisis not because of climate change, but because of misguided policies, litigious environmental groups, and federal mismanagement. Forests burn because they are not managed. Grasslands shrink because natural burning practices have been abandoned. Small businesses and private landowners, the true stewards of our economy and environment, are ignored in favor of centralized control and media hysteria.

It’s time to wake up. Recognizing the real causes of our environmental and economic challenges is the first step toward meaningful change.