The world is burning and we need to act

[Bloomberg]( Follow Us //link.mail.bloombergbusiness.com/click/21494346.58668/aHR0cHM6Ly90d2l0dGVyLmNvbS9ib3Bpbmlvbg/582c8673566a94262a8b49bdB031f5f63 California’s [fire season]( has become the state’s most destructive in modern memory, spreading into Oregon and forcing mass evacuations. A suffocating heat wave coupled with strong seasonal winds have made the West Coast especially vulnerable to lightning strikes, causing [thousands of fires](. And as global temperatures rise, so do the oft-ignored risks of wildfires that can lead to avoidable deaths and billions of dollars in damage. Our failure to confront climate change has put California — and other places around the world, including Australia — and its fire-prone landscape directly in the crosshairs, as Bloomberg Opinion writers have documented over the years. [The U.S. Has to Get Serious About Wildfires]( — Bloomberg’s editors [California’s Wildfires Burn Through America’s Climate Illusions]( — Liam Denning [Mr. Prime Minister, Your Country Is Burning]( — Daniel Moss and Tim Culpan [A Decade of Climate Science Confirmed What We Already Knew]( — Faye Flam [Wildfire Took Your Home? Don’t Count on Insurance Rebuilding It]( — Liam Denning [Asia’s Haze Is a Danger for Everyone]( — Adam Minter [Russia’s Burning! Climate Change Is to Blame]( — Leonid Bershidsky [Ask Your Central Banker If Climate Change Is Hurting You]( — Nathaniel Bullard [California Utilities Face an Expensive, Wildfire-Filled Future]( — Liam Denning Western U.S. Will Keep Burning Unless Fire Policy Changes]( — Bloomberg’s editors This is the Theme of the Week edition of Bloomberg Opinion Today, a roundup of our top commentary published every Sunday.  Like Bloomberg Opinion Today? [Subscribe to Bloomberg All Access]( and get much, much more. You’ll receive our unmatched global news coverage and two in-depth daily newsletters, The Bloomberg Open and The Bloomberg Close. Before it’s here, it’s on the Bloomberg Terminal. Find out more about how the Terminal delivers information and analysis that financial professionals can’t find anywhere else. [Learn more](.  You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Bloomberg Opinion Today newsletter. [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022