An Open Letter to the NYTimes

Re: Their Hit Piece on California and Climate Change

[This commentary originally appeared as a series of tweets in response to the New York Times opinion piece on “The End of California.” Available at the end of this article. Neither its format nor contents have been altered.]

As intriguing as this this NYTimes article appears, it does a disservice to claim California is uniquely affected by climate change. I dare say every state in the nation suffers from the same root ailments as California in regards to the topic of climate change. You just have to look closer.

California’s primary challenge is based on infrastructure failures brought about by insufficient spending due to insufficient taxation. This is not a uniquely California problem. Given that every state has its own challenges environmentally speaking, everyone is on thin ice.

In California’s case, fire and drought make for a deadly combination. Worsened by the fact we are also a state poised on the cusp of earthquakes at any time, California could go from one of the wealthiest States potentially in the nation to one of the poorest, overnight.

But every state can say this for different reasons. Climate change is a symptom of a greater problem. Each state has economic issues, often exacerbated by…