Musings

  Wine and Wildfires: A Journalistic Essay of Climate Change, Grapes, and Engineering a Solution  Fire It was Summer 2020, and the world was on fire. Southern California was on fire. Napa was burning down. Oregon was on fire. And it seemed like fire was the only one on the loose. Because the rest of us were on pandemic lockdown.  I remember bits and pieces of that apocalyptic season, when I was working on my Master's research at Cal Poly Pomona amid lockdown and social distancing.   I remember driving home from the lab, unsure if my family would need to evacuate. Gusting winds were swirling white ash every which way, and the air was choking with burnt-orange haze. This is what I remember of the 2020 wildfire season that would go down in history. At the time, Oregon wasn't yet on my radar, other than daily news headlines about the fires. I actually wouldn't step into the picture of Oregon fires until 2023, when I began my PhD at Oregon State University . Tha...