Hell, in California
It feels as if we wake up to a cloud of smoke every morning. California has seen an unprecedented amount of fires this year that it feels this will become our new reality in the future. In the article from The Verge, Justine Calma, a science reporter who writes about the environment and climate change focuses her topic on the California wildfires we recently experienced. Justine Calma’s article, “2020 has set another record for being awful: the most acres burned in California” which was published September 8, 2020, shows the devastation that has become of California’s outdoors. The links she highlights in which she states the number of acres that were burned, 2.2 million to be exact, is linked to a government website, CAL Fire. This shows credibility because she is using factual statistics that is reported by the government. Another hyperlink of hers informs us how the mercury in Woodland California rose to 121 degrees Fahrenheit, that is linked to a verified twitter that is owned by the National Weather Service of Los Angeles. Justine Calma proves that her article is factual since it is linked to several credible government sources throughout her article.
As the article, “2020 has set another record for being awful: the most acres burned in California” continues, Justine continues to use hyperlinks that are linked to the source. Many of the sources linked are highly credible. The reason I see no discreditation is because she links her statements to government owned website. As many know government website are highly respected and have to give out factual statements for the good of the people. Another way I found her article credible is because she is using this article to inform people of the danger wildfires have cost. This is a matter not many people would lie about. Justine Calma also has an extensive amount of work that proves her to be credible. She has done extensive amount of due diligence when it comes to writing about the environment. She has written about Tropical Storm Wilfred and on tech corporations like Amazon, who are aiming for more sustainability in their company. Justine Calma has over 200 posts that show her citing and making her articles polished and professionally written.
From what I have read, the articles presented are valuable and credible. As this relates to credibility, the article I have read gives us an insight into the devastation the wildfires have been to California and the environment. With many acres burning, we hope that this will soon stop. It is always important to always have a credible source when discussing the climate and environment. These topics are some of the most sensitive. When we don’t look into the author and their history on this matter or alike, we fail to be credible as well. We need to dig deep into each source that is attached to an article and see for ourselves if what we see is true. As always, we have to never expect that we are reading is always going to provide us with facts.
References:
1. Calma, J. (2020, September 08). 2020 set another record for being awful: The most acres burned in California. Retrieved September 30, 2020, from https://www.theverge.com/2020/9/8/21427494/california-wildfires-2020-record-most-acres-burned
2. California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE). (n.d.). California Daily Wildfire Update. Retrieved October 06, 2020, from https://www.fire.ca.gov/daily-wildfire-report/
