California, In Argentina

Emi Boren

The headline may suggest that this article will talk about Silicon Valley, the film industry, or beautiful beaches. Unfortunately, the correlation between California and Argentina is the presence of forest fires. 

Cordoba, Argentina’s second most important province, is currently experiencing devastating fires. Cordoba is a landlocked large district, the hub of the auto industry, and an important agricultural province- growing important crops such as soybeans, corn, and peanuts. Cordoba City is 500 miles north of Buenos Aires. There are four hot spots located in the northwest of the province. These fires are sadly ranked in the top ten worst in the world.

So far, at least twenty thousand hectares of land have been burnt. Over 300 families have been displaced and have been moved to a refugee center. It is believed that this number will increase in the next few days.

The experts say the fires were 90% caused by humans, while the remainder of the fires has been attributed to lightning strikes. Additionally, the climate is only worsening the situation. There has been a minimal amount of rain as compared to past years, and prospects for future rain are bleak. 

The government’s reaction has been slow, to say the least. There is an ongoing “blame game” between provincial and federal authorities. The province of Cordoba is not politically aligned with the national government. Still, the joint effort from neighbouring provinces and the federal government to help out the local firefighters was belated. 

Due to multiple different factors, these fires will most likely continue occurring worldwide. However, we have the knowledge and resources necessary to fix this issue. There is only one Earth, and we must take action to help save it for ourselves and for future generations.