The LA Fires: How Can We Help?

Dear friends,

The whole world has watched in horror as massive fires rage out of control in southern California. While the Santa Ana winds are dying down and firefighters are beginning to turn the tide, the devastation is truly epic. Thousands of homes, schools, and shops have been destroyed, impacting the lives of every economic class.  

One of the communities severely impacted by the wildfires is the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) of Caltech, where many of NASA’s most noteworthy science missions are proposed and executed, including the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers and, most recently, Europa Clipper, which is already on its way to Jupiter’s icy moon in search of signs of life.  

More than 200 scientists, engineers and staff at JPL have lost their homes and possessions, and the fires are not yet fully under control. The people of JPL are friends, collaborators and colleagues of the SETI Institute. They include SETI Institute alumni and researchers we work with on numerous missions and projects.

I am reaching out to our community to solicit help and support for our friends at JPL. 

If you would like to help, Caltech has established a dedicated fund that directs 100% of the proceeds to those at JPL impacted by the fires:

https://giving.caltech.edu/areas-to-support/relief

If you’re interested in the broader relief efforts underway for all affected by the LA fires, be wary of those taking advantage of the situation for criminal gain.  One way to find trusted organizations is through Charity Navigator. You can visit this site for more information:

https://www.charitynavigator.org/discover-charities/where-to-give/palisades-fire-2025/

Many factors have led to the devastating fires sweeping through the Los Angeles area, but principal among them is human-induced climate change and associated global warming. Our climate crisis is a planetary-scale phenomenon, not something happening “someplace else.”

Everyone on Earth is being affected and will be affected. And for those of us living and working in Northern California, we are no strangers to wildfires.  It is for this reason that I urge your support. If we don’t come together and work together as one human species to both adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, the long-term habitability of planet Earth will clearly be threatened.  

To learn more about our changing climate and how space science is informing a better understanding of the impending crisis, visit:

https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/

We’re all in this together – so let us all please behave accordingly!

Sincerely,
Bill Diamond