The City of Malibu lost an estimated 800 homes in the Palisades fire, 300 of them along Pacific Coast Highway. The destruction here is devastating, but most people will see it, because the road remains closed while crews struggle to repair catastrophic damage to infrastructure, and home and business owners begin to navigate the agonizing slow and tortuous process of of clearing debris, negotiating insurance settlements, wrestling with a host of government agencies, and coping with grief and loss. People here are no strangers to natural disasters, but this community has never had to deal with such extensive destruction, not even in the aftermath of the 2018 Woolsey Fire. We have the story in our Discover section. Cover photo, concept and design by Urs Baur
All over America, individuals are coming together to rally, protest, speak up, and challenge the decisions being made by the second Trump Administration. The protestors’ message is that it is not too late. If we, the people, take action, make enough noise, refuse to be silenced, speak truth to power, the defunding of essential programs and agencies and the recent assaults on civil rights can be reversed.
Over the past weekend, thousands turned out at National Parks. In Joshua Tree, peaceful protestors hung an upside-down flag from Cap Rock. In Yosemite, hundreds marched across the valley floor chanting “Elon Musk has got to go,” and “Whose parks? Our parks!” In Yellowstone, thousands shouted “Public lands in public hands!”
In Vermont, more than a thousand protestors lined the road to a resort where Vice President JD Vance was taking a skiing vacation, after the arguably disastrous meeting between Donald Trump and Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The protestors held signs that said “Vance is a traitor,” “Go ski in Russia,” and “Stand with Ukraine.”
A San Francisco pilates instructor is organizing protests at every Tesla dealership in the country—Saturdays at noon. The campaign states that “tubas are welcome.” Because who doesn’t love a tuba?
The 2025 Women’s March on March 8 is expected to draw hundreds of thousands to sites around the world. We have more on the Los Angeles march in our Newsbeat section.
Those of us without the time or ability to join the march can still take a moment to call the White House: (202) 456-1111 or send an email: https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/. Or try calling Republican Majority Whip Tom Emmer(202) 225-2210 or Speaker of the House Mike Johnson: (202) 225-4000. The handy app https://5calls.org/ offers a quick and easy way to reach out to senators and congressmen
Perhaps the most important thing any of us can do during this frightening and unsettling time is to continue to embrace our humanity. Kindness, empathy, and civility cost nothing and make life better not just for others but for ourselves. Your TNT editor was reminded of that at a recent meeting in Topanga to discuss how this community can come together and make the canyon safer and more fire resistant. During a similar discussion on a social media platform in Malibu, she was told to take her “retrograde fake environmentalism and fanatical ecological voodoo and pound sand” by an appointed representative of the city of Malibu. He was speaking for himself, not in his role as a city commissioner, but the incident could easily have a chilling effect on one’s desire to speak out.
The Topanga meeting began with a short meditation. Meeting facilitator Scott Vineberg stressed that all suggestions were being made in good faith with the desire of making the community safer and better and that different points of view were welcome. The thing that most upset the individual during the discussion in Malibu was the statement that fires will happen again and we have to adapt. The Topanga group recognized that and approached the discussion from the perspective of what can be done to mitigate the impact.
It’s probably safe to say that no one is going to want to cut down all of their trees, not even for reduced insurance rates. Roger Pugliese, vice president of the Topanga Chamber of Commerce, made that point, and added that, while home hardening, landscaping maintenance, goats, and firebreaks are helpful in reducing the amount of flammable material near homes during a more localized fire event, nothing but luck is going to save neighborhoods from a hurricane of flame powered by 100 mph winds like the one that hit the Palisades. That is a hard truth, but no one accused him of “fanatical ecological voodoo” or told him to “pound sand.” This group of residents was open to hearing hard truths, not denying them because that wasn’t what they wanted to hear.
TCEP—Topanga Coalition for Emergency Preparedness—grew out of the destruction left by the 1993 Old Topanga Fire. It has been an essential resource for thirty years, and Topanga residents are already looking for the lessons from the Palisades fire with the goal of helping to make everyone here safer in the future. Positive change. That is inspiring in a time of so much disorder, division, and anger.
Stay safe, be well. Don’t forget to “spring ahead” for daylight savings on Sunday morning!
