California's response to record wildfires: shift to 100% clean energy | Dana Nuccitelli

California's Democratic leaders are determined to fight the climate change that's ravaging their state

In America today, it's rare to see political leaders respond to a threat with an appropriate evidence-based policy solution. At the national level, more often we see actions that aggravate existing problems or create new ones. California - the country's most populous and economically powerful state - has been a welcome exception.

California has been battered by extreme weather intensified by climate change. From 2012 to 2016 the state was scorched by its worst drought in over a millennium. Weather whiplash struck in 2017, when much of the state broke precipitation records. This combination led to devastating mudslides and created the conditions for the most destructive and costly wildfire season on record in 2017, followed by the state's largest-ever wildfire in 2018, which broke the previous record (set in 2017) by more than 60%.