Event 2: Field Trip

Thomas Fire & Electricity

On the evening of 4 December 2017, two separate fires started in Ventura County, California. More than a year later in March of 2019, the LA Times reported that investigators determined that Southern California Edison power equipment ignited the two fires that merged into the Thomas Fire. The Thomas Fire, in turn, led to massive mudslides and at least 21 deaths. Thus, the second event in this syllabus is designed to introduce participants to the realities of California’s increasing fires that are induced by electrical equipment as a way of thinking through the costs and consequences of electrification. This event challenges the popular conceptualization of electricity as part of techno-utopic solutions (electric cars, LED lighting, nuclear energy, etc.).

It also highlights the vast disparity in how different groups of people experience disasters related to energy infrastructure on the Central Coast. Images taken during the fires captured farmworkers having to continue their labor under a thickening cloud of toxic smoke (see below). For this field trip, you can learn more about how migrant farmworkers have been impacted by electricity equipment-sparked wildfires by requesting a Farmworker Reality Tour from The Center for Farmworker Families. These tours are designed to “effectively bridge the experiential and communication gap between the farmworker community and those of us who enjoy the fruits of their hard labor.” The center works especially closely with Oaxacan community members in Central California. Requests a tour here: https://farmworkerfamily.org/farmworker-reality-tour.

For more information on The Center for Farmworker Families, see https://farmworkerfamily.org/information.

Farmworkers toiling under a gray, smoky sky. Image via @oc_dreamersclub.