Weekly Briefing: What does climate change mean for America's wildfires?
September 17, 2025
Last week, CCLers heard from Dr. Daniel Swain, an incredible climate scientist, researcher, and guest speaker on our September Monthly Meeting.
Wildfires are not a new phenomenon, but we’re seeing an escalating crisis of wildfires intersecting with highly populated areas. Between 2015 and 2025, 13 of California’s 20 largest fires in history occurred—the most devastating of which struck the greater Los Angeles area earlier this year. Dr. Swain is confident we can decouple wildfires from catastrophe with the right education, tools, and policy.
Dr. Swain holds joint appointments as a climate scientist within the California Institute for Water Resources within University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources (UCANR), the Institute of the Environment and Sustainability at UCLA, and as a research partner at the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research. We’re grateful he was able to share his time and knowledge!
You can watch the full Monthly Meeting recording, including CCL’s national highlights and suggestions for fall outreach activities, at the link below.
Watch the Meeting
In other news this week
Our August mobilization: In August, CCLers mobilized en masse to contact their members of Congress ahead of the appropriations process. Together, we sent 12,859 emails to lawmakers encouraging them to fund key climate and clean energy programs. Check out this recap of our mobilization, featuring an appropriations update on how we’ve made a difference so far.
Take action this week
If you have a little time: Write to Senators about the Fix Our Forests Act. The Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry will be the next set of lawmakers to consider the Fix Our Forests Act. We took this action together on Saturday’s Monthly Meeting, and have already generated 1,414 messages. We need as many constituent emails as we can get to push this legislation forward so our forests can keep pulling climate pollution out of the atmosphere. Check out our easy action tool to see if your Senator sits on the committee, and if so, send them a message.
If you have more time: Plan to attend CCL’s 4th annual Inclusion Conference. This free, virtual event takes place September 26 and 27. This year’s theme is “Rooted in Care, Growing in Community.” The speaker lineup is packed with talented individuals, including poet and prose writer Jacob Shores-Argüello, Ukeme Awakessien Jeter, Mayor & Council President of the City of Upper Arlington, OH, and Pamela Benson Owens, President and CEO of Edge of Your Seat Consulting, Inc. Don’t miss out—register today.
Featured chapter: CCL Vermont - Read their feature here!
Upcoming trainings
9/25: Bringing Policy Support from Trusted Messengers to Congress - This training explains how to identify and engage community leaders who are especially influential on their members of Congress. These leaders are called trusted messengers. This training also explains how to work with a trusted messenger to customize CCL’s editable template policy support letter and the best way to deliver the completed and signed letter to Congress. Join us!
10/02: What Did the Clean Energy Tax Credits Achieve In Emissions Reductions? - CCL volunteers put a lot of work into pushing and protecting the Inflation Reduction Act, but how much did our efforts achieve for the climate? CCL Research Manager Dana Nuccitelli crunched the numbers and has the answer. Join us!Recent Posts