It finally happened. In a world where cities trip over themselves to virtue-signal their carbon neutrality pledges and heat czar appointments, Los Angeles—yes, that Los Angeles—just committed what the climate faithful might call a mortal sin: budget cuts to the climate bureaucracy. The horror!
Mayor Karen Bass’ proposed budget has the audacity to cut funding for the city’s Climate Emergency Mobilization Office. The office’s apparent mission? Mobilizing against an “emergency” so dire, it needed its own bureaucratic silo and, naturally, a “chief heat officer.” That’s not satire. That was a real job.
But now? Eight positions—poof—gone. Including the top-tier post that kept a watchful eye on the sun for its inequitable rays. The backlash has been predictably unhinged, culminating in this gem of a lament:
“Not only did we just go through the worst fires we’ve seen in a long time, but all the environmental justice organizations that are trying to fight climate change consistently in Los Angeles now just got told that this is not as important as the other things we have to pay for.”
Let’s unpack that. They just went through devastating wildfires—and somehow the takeaway is that more money should go to meetings, memos, and public engagement sessions about carbon footprints? No mention, of course, of actually funding more fire crews, equipment, or the management of overgrown fuel loads. Heaven forbid we invest in real firefighting—something that might tangibly prevent homes from burning—instead of subsidizing professional worrywarts whose primary tool is a Google Slides deck.
To be clear, this wasn’t just any office. It was a “landmark” institution, we’re told—because nothing says landmark like a freshly invented bureaucracy built around ideological panic. LAist, ever the reliable bullhorn of climate orthodoxy, wrung its hands:
“The proposed Los Angeles budget cuts could eliminate the city’s first chief heat officer, who focuses on the effects of heat in the city.”
That’s right. The office didn’t just talk about heat—it focused on it. Presumably with intense furrowed brows, graphs, and lots of community listening sessions about “lived heat experiences.”
And the timing? Divine comedy. The article notes these layoffs come despite LA recently experiencing “the worst fires we’ve seen in a long time.” Never mind that wildfire trends in California—when viewed over decades—don’t support the alarmist claims. But nuance doesn’t sell panic, and it certainly doesn’t fund departments.
The ultimate tragedy, according to advocates, is that cutting these positions means LA might not hit its aspirational goals—like becoming carbon-neutral in all buildings. Because there’s nothing more realistic than retrofitting every structure in a sprawling metropolis based on computer models with confidence intervals wide enough to drive a diesel truck through.
The critics are not just disappointed—they’re offended. LAist summarized their mood:
“This is devastating to the movement.”
The “movement,” of course, refers not to any quantifiable success in reducing temperatures (spoiler: there hasn’t been any), but rather to the steady growth of bureaucratic fiefdoms funded by taxpayer dollars under the guise of climate salvation. When those funds are threatened, we’re treated to sanctimonious cries of “injustice.”
And that’s the core irony here: A city whose leadership talks endlessly about “sustainability” suddenly discovers that, economically speaking, its own policies are unsustainable. When ideology meets insolvency, something’s gotta give. And for once, it’s not the taxpayer.
If there’s one silver lining, it’s this: Maybe, just maybe, some of that reclaimed funding will be redirected toward real firefighting capacity—boots on the ground, engines, training, forest management—the kind of thing that actually saves lives when the hills inevitably ignite. Because unlike “climate equity frameworks,” fire doesn’t wait for a task force.
The heat officer may be out of a job. But if LA’s budget office keeps trimming the fat, it might just bring down the fever of institutionalized climate hysteria too.
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