In California, there is a debate heating up over whether dead trees should be cleared and burned for biofuel before they burn where they are in yet another devastating West Coast wildfire, which are on track to become both more severe and more frequent thanks to rising temperatures and drier conditions due to climate change. A growing contingent of scientists and experts argues that converting these dead and diseased trees to biomass for energy production will “help to restore forests and reduce CO2 emissions.” As reported by Yale Environment 360, “Drought, a warming climate, and bark-beetle infestations have also killed 147 million California trees since 2013.” The article goes on to report that “scientists say these trees are poised to burn in California’s next round of megafires, threatening the range with blazes so intense they will leave some places unable to establish new forests.”

The United States’ Forest Service’s overzealous suppression of fires over the last century in California has backfired, allowing for the massive accumulation of vegetation that would have burned in natural, smaller-scale fires a hundred years ago, and is now abundant tinder for the next megafire. These increasingly common massive wildfires in California, on top of burning homes and entire communities, also “pollute the air with choking smoke, and release large amounts of CO2.” The 2007 Moonlight Fire alone created a staggering amount of carbon dioxide equivalent to yearly the emissions of 750,000 gasoline combustion car engines.